Month: October 2011
I’ve been searching high and low for the artist of this piece. Anyone know who did it?Motor racing of every flavor has a rich tradition of inspiring artists but there seems to be something in particular about cycle racing that leads artists towards beautiful narratives.
Perhaps it’s simply because a motorcyclist’s body is exposed: Think of a cycle racer aggressively leaning into a turn, shoulders set, head leading the body, the tension between action and balance. It immediately evokes a mood, an attitude; the form just lends itself to storytelling. Even if we’re not trying to tell a story, the orientation conjures one in our minds.
Automotive artists may feel compelled to exaggerate the driving position of the pilot to help convey that mood. But with the cycle racer, the motorcyclist is so much a part of the form of the racing machine that the artist can naturally, or even unintentionally, combine them.
Either way, there’s so much absolute brilliance in these comic-like ligne claire illustrations that it both makes me want to hit the track and pick up the brush.
See the enormous collection of art pieces, advertising, and illustration in BullitMcQueen’s Flickr set.
Categories
Cobras at Sebring, 1965
Another in a long—and hopefully growing—list of examples of digging some slides (or photos, or film cans) out of the attic and getting them online. Rockhouse66 has added some slides that his father shot at the 1965 Sebring Endurance race to the Shelby American Automobile Club forums.
From their box seats over the pits they had an excellent vantage point to capture the details of some of the racers as they entered the pits. SAAC members have already pointed out the unconventional battery location and the brake duct wings. It’s little details like these that can often only be captured from these unconventional angles, which often means that these spectator shots can be “better” than the professional on-track images that were published at the time. Love it.
More on the SAAC Forums and on Rockhouse66’s Photobucket.
Over on the Angola Off Road forums, commenter Kadypress has been uploading his collection of photos and news clippings from several of the Grande Prémios de Angola of the early-mid 60s. It’s fantastic to see the Ferrari LMs and Porsche 904s and the occasional older machine on the streets of Luanda with the palm fronds whipping in a stiff coastal wind. These tropical settings make these amazing machines seem all the more exotic.
Grande Prémio de Angola 1964 Grid 
Willy Mairesse’s winning Ferrari 250 LM 
Willy Mairesse won the day completing 100 laps of the Circuito da Fortaleza street circuit in the Equipe National Belge Ferrari 250LM in 2 hours 31 minutes. Gerhard Koch took the GT class in his own privateer Porsche 904.
Click on over to the discussion thread for more.
Anyone familiar with the recent versions of the glass and concrete control towers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway might wonder why they call it “The Pagoda”. After all, they really only has a passing resemblance to the Japanese* architectural style—particularly between ’56 and ’98.
Not so with the pre-1956 versions.
1913 Pagoda Construction 
1913 
1954
1938
* A few emails have pointed out that the pagoda isn’t strictly a Japanese design. What we think of as the pagoda has its origins in Nepal before migrating through Tibet to China and the rest of Asia. Thanks for the clarification everyone.
I love these little atmospheric snippets in James Hakesley’s video from the Sunday of the Revival. Following the weekend from across the Pond isn’t easy. While I get to see plenty of photos and video clips from the track, or even the pits, the little moments captured here really give me the feeling of being there. Great stuff.
Speed. Safety. Long Life. Economy.
Everything you’d expect of motorcycle tires you get in Firestones.
Most miles per dollar.
Note the winners who choose and stick to: Firestone Motorcycle Tires
FOURTWENTYSEVEN!
Confidence! A “427 Cobra” reeks of it. There’s nothing timid about one of Carroll Shelby’s new “Snakes”: He’s built an automobile for individuals* who not only appreciate fine cars, but really know how to use one.
When first told of the plans for the new car, even his team racing drivers said, “what are we going to do with an additional 215 horsepower?” Typically, Shelby had the answer—he put it on the road with a totally new suspension design. A computer-engineered geometry that fills every slight depression and variation in the road surface with pure horsepower. It’s delivered in such a smoothly engineered manner, however, that the Cobra can no longer claim to be a true sports car in the classic tradition. Yes…it still looks the same…almost. But it sure doesn’t taste like tomato juice!
Owning a new “427” Cobra isn’t quite like your first sports car…remember? There won’t be any excuses to the young fellow with the channelled ’32 that lives down the road about how “this car was meant to cross the winding roads of Europe not burn rubber for three hundred feet.” Or the old saw about the power not coming in till you got to 4500 R.P.M. A Cobra will blow them all off from point “A” to point “B,” whether it’s a stoplight gran prix or a twenty-four hour enduro. In short the Cobra is an automobile, a real one in the Shelby tradition. In case you don’t know what a “real one” is, stop in at your Total Performance Ford/Cobra dealer and find out. If you happen to live in one of those rare areas where performance isn’t as “total” as you’d like, write to us and we’ll tell you where it is!
* We build only 500 a year, how individual can you get?
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Via Hell for Motors
Lovely snips shot by Roy Pagliacci of the 1969 Monza 1000km. Some from (what looks to me like) turn 8, and a few heatbreakingly brief glimpses of cars entering the banking for the final time. Bellissimo!
Keep digitizing those old film cans, people.
Luc Ghys’ photos from events around continental Europe are always magnificent, so you can imagine how pleased I was when an email from him popped up letting me know about his snaps from the Goodwood Revival. I was immediately drawn to this set he shot of Goodwood’s event remembering Fangio. Usually when I think of the Revival I inevitably immediately jump to all the imagery I can find of the legendary TT revival and the high-performance high-beauty high-dollar machines.
This eclectic mix of cars from El Meastro’s past, however, reminded me of something vitally important, and something I so love about the era: Variety. Just look at this mix of machines; and this is by no means a complete collection of Fangio’s racers. There’s everything here: from the Grand Prix cars for which he’s most known, to the Carrera Panamericana and Mille Miglia machines, to smaller voiturette racers. Almost more amazing than Fangio’s five Formula 1 World Championships is that while he was winning them, he was also competing in anything else he could find.
Just look at the buzz that gets generated today when Montoya moved to NASCAR, or Raikkonen hit the rally course (or NASCAR, himself). I applaud these drivers for attempting to take on the variety of racing opportunities available to these top-tier drivers. But that excitement wanes when I consider that this is newsworthy at all. Of course Kimi should want to rally! Of course JPM should want to turn left for two hours! These cravings for new races and racing cars still exist in every driver; it’s just a shame that contemporary racing teams seem to frown on these “unnecessary extra-curriculars”.
Not so in Fangio’s day. Thank you Goodwood for reminding us. Thank you Luc for sending along these images so we could all see.
More of Luc’s Goodwood Fangio Tribute and Revival photos at his (gigantic) gallery of racing photos.