Los Angeles based photographer Erik Jensen has dropped a set of never before seen photos of the April 1953 road races at Pebble Beach on his site. Motorsport photography will never again be as good as it was in the era that these shots were taken. No amount of telephoto lenses and levels of zoom will replace the immediacy of these photos—there’s simply no substitution for being able to get closer to the action than contemporary motorsport allows.
Among my favorites of the set is the photo above, which shows Hildebrand’s Nardi-Fiat battling K.J. Davis in his MG TD. Just look at how hard the MG’s suspension is working as Davis tries to catch up. There’s also this fun ‘staged’ shot of Ken Miles crossing the finish line in his Special. He was indeed the winner of the under-1500cc race, but apparently there was no adequate photo captured of the actual race win, so a quick photo-op was thrown together. Hilarious.
You’ll remember the panic that ran through the classic sportscar press last summer when David Love’s brakes went out as he rounded Laguna Seca during last year’s Monterey Historics. The car quickly met the wall and suffered an ugly black scar down her passenger side.
I’m happy to report that David took the car to this year’s Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance and it looks wholly restored. Looks perfect.
Sports Car Digest has a wonderful gallery from the event, where Porsche was the featured marque… Check it out.
I headed to the InterMarque Spring Kickoff event this morning in St. Paul, MN, which had a very good turnout of vintage sportscars despite the gloomy weather. The highlight of the show for me was this homebuilt Crosley Special, garage-built in 1951 and with hillclimb and gymkhana history in Indiana going to back to the mid 50s. It was a stunning little car, and far and away my favorite of the day.
As gorgeous as this little Crosley was, it was by no means the only show-stopper on hand. There was a very strong showing from a variety of makes: Plenty of Citroens, MGs, Healeys, Triumphs, and Jags—with a few Maseratis, pre-war luxury cars, and a few vintage bikes as well. A wonderful mix of cars, in conditions ranging from Pebble Beach Competitors (the Daimler pictured below has competed there), to well preserved, to rusty and rattle-canned. Excellent variety of cars at virtually every level of collecting.
Usually I try to space out my posts about cars for sale. The Chicane’s focus has always been about the larger world of classic motorsport, and car collecting and sales are only one small part of the sport. Furthermore, I always try to extend the time between posts about a particular make for sale and it was only 2 days ago that we featured a lovely Ferrari 500 TRC. Although I know I tend to prattle on about vintage Porsches, we really do try to represent many different makes and models of racing cars. It is, after all, the variety of cars that makes vintage racing so interesting. But when Jan Lühn contacted me about this one-off, Vignale designed, 212/225 Ferrari that just arrived in his showroom how could I not share it with you?
I’m a sucker for the European interpretation of the tailfin, which has become the hallmark of American automotive design of the late 1950s. It’s been made as big and as aircraft-inspired and rocket taillight adorned as possible stateside on businessman’s chariots and weekend cruisers. The european take on it though, has always appealed to me more—looking as functional and necessary as on this 212 as the solo tailfin of a D-Type.
Often the Ferrari coupes of the era are a little too much like a miniature luxury car to me. They look like lovely little cars, but lack the exotic good looks and racy stance of the spiders. Not so with this 212. The huge headlamps inset into the grille opening, the sloping roofline, and the great big competition fuel cap put this car’s appearance firmly in the utilitarian racer camp. The silhouette brings to mind the Ferrari effort at the 1952 Carrera Panamericana and the 340 Mexico, but this car predates them by almost a year, and—to my eye—looks like a more lithesome, subtle machine; simpler and more precise. Ferrari 0179 EL was originally built early in the lifecycle of the 212 engine. The V12 was still a bit persnickety and after cylinder failure very shortly after she was built, the engine was swapped at the factory with the 225 before it was ever delivered to her first purchaser. After changing hands in Italy several times, Luigi Chinetti imported the car to the States and delivered her to a sports writer in Texas, Loren McMullen. These bits of automotive history always get under my skin. I know more than a few journalists, some of them have been quite successful. I don’t know any that drive Ferraris. This guy McMullen wasn’t the owner of a printing group or the city paper’s publisher or even the editor in chief—he was on the sports desk and imported a Ferrari.
Naturally, McMullen raced the car a bit in Texas. In one race meeting in 1961, he raced against one of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals, one of which crashed out of the race. McMullen negotiated the purchase of the car’s big V8 and it was somehow shoehorned into the 212. The power of the American V8 was such that some modifications were required. An air scoop added to feed the huge volume of air needed, and a new rear windscreen—reportedly necessary after the acceleration force of the new engine caused air to push the rear window out!
Some time later the car was imported to Holland and restored—apparently immaculately—by Piet Roelofs. Today, the car looks absolutely majestic. Everything from the paint to the interior to the engine bay looks ready for a weekend drive up the coast or the next Concours. There’s no information on Jan Lühn’s site on the car yet, but I’m sure details will be arriving on their inventory page.
At the Coronado Speed Festival four years ago we had a Torrey Pines reunion; among the five cars there that actually raced at Torrey Pines were the ex-Phil Hill 2.6 Ferrari Barchetta and MG Magnette 0878, which my Dad had driven. Standing between the two cars on the pre-grid I was reminded of the last time I had stood in the same position, at tech inspection at the first Santa Barbara road races, Labor day, 1953. I told an amused Phil how while standing behind his former car–then owned by Howard Wheeler–Wheeler had started it up and sprayed wet carbon dust on my new blue denim trousers. For two months I wouldn’t let my mom wash them, and she refused to let me wear them!
We towed from Pasadena on Friday and checked into the Mar Monte hotel next to the bird refuge, and I was sent to the dining room while our entourage left for the King Supper Club on upper Milpas St, where they watched a stripper while eating their steaks. At the hotel, my waiter pointed out to me Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie at the next table, there to film “Johnny Dark” at the races. In the film Curtis plays Johnny, an ambitious auto engineer who is unaware that the Brass see the sports car he is developing only as a publicity stunt. In the film Curtis’ rival for the Boss’ daughter (Laurie) wins the race in the experimental car after Hill’s Ferrari (pictured above) conks out while leading. In the real race, Hill in his 2.9 Vignale bodied car wins after Bill Stroppe spins his Kurtis into the ditch at turn two. The film car is the Woodill Wildfire, a Glasspar bodied Willys. When we went to the film at the Crown Theatre in Pasadena, they had the car in the lobby. Woodill built and sold only a few. It had a slightly different grill and tail from the standard Glasspar body and was quite good-looking. When I entered UCSB in 1960 I found Mike Woodill, son of the builder, living in my dorm. Mike and I had some success building push carts for the then popular college sport of push cart races. At this race only the pits were on the grass between the start/finish and the double back stretch rather than on the opposite side by the hangars. There was a little tower there, and the film has some shots of the cars from the tower, including a staged one of Hill’s car dying, and a real one of the Cannon Spl being pushed to the grid. Turn one was marked by bales and cones and was sharper than in later races; Stroppe spun there too, and Ernie McAfee in his new Siata 208s hit the hay three times on Saturday. His car was entered in the Concours at the Biltmore later in the day; after judicious hammering, he borrowed some red nail polish from my Mother to retouch it!
Most race weekends prior to this had practice on Saturday and four races on Sunday. Here, Ken Miles used his newly gained influence to have a program of six or seven shorter races each day. Hill and Jim Lowe in his new Le Mans Replica Frazer-Nash staged a good battle in the big bore production race, Lowe holding off Hill’s Ferrari for several laps. But though both models supposedly qualified for production status according to the FIA, both were disqualified for having locked rear ends! Miles, of course, won the semi-main in his first MG special R1. Dad finished seventh both days in Magnette 0878, pictured here at Palm Springs with uncle Pete Jacobsen at the wheel for the novice event.
What a beautifully photographed example of the Ferrari 500 TRC. This dramatic angle in particular is eye-catching. Hard to imagine an angle that this car wouldn’t look great from though. This paint is absolutely remarkable. I love the choice of this almost buttery english white for the stripe. It is so much richer and full of character than a pure white and contrasts the red marvelously. The polished grille and Borrani’s almost make it look over-restored. It’s some of the shiniest chrome I’ve seen this side of the Oakland Roadster Show. That is not to call this car a trailer queen that’s lived a pampered life. Chassis 0686 MD/TR has been around the block once or twice. Some of those blocks were the 1957 Mille Miglia (10th overall, 2nd in class), the ’57 Nurburgring 1000km (1st in class), the LeMans 24 Hours, the ’58 Cuban Grand Prix, and Sebring. That’s quite a resume for any car. To even compete in such a storied list of events is noteworthy, to be a strong contender at them seals the deal. That she came through all that and look this good is remarkable. Ok, she doesn’t just look this striking by chance. Although this isn’t her original bodywork (it was reskinned during her restoration by Ferrari specialists DK Engineering), the 0686 has been reunited with her original engine after spending some time with an ill-advised American V8 engine swap. Despite her rebody and exquisite detailing, the car is a regular competitor at the Monterey Historics and looks well poised for next year’s Mille Miglia. Stunning.
More on dealer Kidston’s details page and DK Engineering’s restoration gallery.
The Bell Star helmet, launched in 1966, was the world’s first full-face motorsports helmet. That Bell would introduce a quantum technological leap forward like the full-face had come to be expected. After all, Bell invented the motorsports helmet in 1954, significantly upgraded the design with the addition of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam a couple years later and quickly earned the admiration and support of the world’s top motorsport racers and enthusiasts.
Many famous drivers such as Jacky Ickx, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve and many others have all worn the Bell Star to protect their head in the seventies. Fast-forward 40-odd years to 2009 and Bell is again launching a helmet called Star Classic to the delight of true classic car enthusiasts and historic car drivers. The Star Classic reintroduces the same shape as the famous Bell Star from the seventies but is produced to the latest safety standard (Snell SA2005) using the most modern production techniques and high tech materials.
Famous Bell Star design as worn by famous F1 drivers in the seventies
High tech lightweight carbon-Kevlar® composite shell combined with multiple densities liner
Snell SA 2005 homologation for highest level of safety
Available with Hans® “post” clips fitted as original equipment and FIA 8858 label
Recommended Retail Price: euro € 570.00 + Tax euro € 660.00 + Tax (with Hans® clips) Via: BellRacing.info
It was only a year ago that the UK radio personality grabbed headlines when he was the top bidder on the ex-James Coburn 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The car captured the imagination of the sportscar collecting world both for it’s gorgeous lines and for the astronomical sum that the car commanded. Now it looks like Evans is again the envy of the Ferrari world by picking up the ultimate.
This photo that Evans posted on his Twitter feed lets the world know that he’s the purchaser of 1963 Ferrari GTO chassis #4675. The car was sold via private treaty by RM Auctions in the past few days, which led to wide speculation both over the purchaser and the amount paid. None of you will be surprised to learn that GTO ownership is an exclusive club indeed—not only are the cars incredibly rare and incredibly expensive, but once one is in hand the owner rarely parts with it. I’ll fight my seething jealousy just long enough to congratulate Mr. Evans on his admission to the club.
On a clear, crisp Friday in April of 1953, with the sun beginning to warm the hillsides just north of San Luis Obispo, California, Harvey Mayer unloaded from its trailer the 1100cc OSCA belonging to Randy MacDougall—Pebble Beach bound—for the purpose of blowing the cobwebs out of the engine and fine tuning for the weekend’s activities, and took off up the road, the tow car in lame pursuit.
At Torrey Pines a few months earlier Randy had driven the car to second place, behind Von Neumann’s Porsche SL, wearing the blue paint it had arrived with from the factory. But now resplendent in its new Italian racing red livery, the OSCA managed to catch the eye of a wary California Highway Patrol officer, who duly pulled Harvey over. Now having very good eyes, our pilot had certainly seen the CHP as soon as he had seen Harvey, and in those pre-radar days, the officer had not been able to clock the OSCA over the mile necessary to issue a speeding ticket. But he circled the little bolide carefully, pulled out his ticket book, and began writing. The first OSCA on the West Coast, this car had the headlights recessed in the little round grill opening, and not fared into the fenders as later MT4s would. So despite being liscensed for the road, the car was illegal.
“Your headlights are too low to the ground, and too close together.” the cop said, handing Harvey the ticket as the tow car drew up behind. “You’ll have to fix it before you can drive it on the road again.”
Back the OSCA went onto the trailer, and I noted its passing from the parking lot of the Paso Robles Inn, where our equipe had stopped for early afternoon cocktails. Into the lounge I went.
“Harvey has just gone by towing the OSCA” I announced.
“What color was it?” asked my Father suspiciously. He knew it had just been painted, and figured I didn’t.
“Red” was the answer, but it didn’t convince the rest of them. They were made believers when, near Greenfield in a growing twilight, we came on the OSCA, on its trailer, hitched to Harvey’s tow vehicle, precariously tilted along the side of the two lane road. He had had a flat tire. This was fixed, but in pulling off the road where the shoulder was steeply graded, the carburetor of the tow car had become starved for fuel, and it would not restart. The tank was low on gas, and the pump was not getting any into the carb. We had no gas can between us, but we did have some fuel line, and eventually Harvey was able to siphon some gas out of our tank and pour it into the starved carb, and his tow car sputtered and off we all went, arriving at the Pine Inn in Carmel well past the dinner hour.
Harvey had become quite paternal about the OSCA, and for good reason. No more beautiful race car existed. Its thin aluminum skin was sleek and utterly unique, its little twin cam four an engineering jewel. Randy, a writer by profession, published a humerous little piece in one of the sports car journals of the day accusing Harvey of trying to keep him away from his own race car, of refusing to answer the telephone when Randy called, and of leaving teddy bears to bounce around in the cockpit to keep Randy awake when actually racing the car. This was not a bad idea. Randy put the car into the haybales twice in front of me during Sunday’s race, doing severe damage to the carozzeria. and he did not come close to showing the car’s potential. But Harvey drove it in the novice event, and as the smallest engine in the race, started dead last on the twisty, narrow, pine=lined track. In four laps he threaded his way through the field and caught the leading Jaguar Porsche, going on to win. Years later, Harvey would be the fastest West Coast Lotus driver.
Ken Miles won Randy’s event in the first outing of his R1 special. I always thought that if Harvey had driven the OSCA in the main instead of Randy, that the debut of Miles’ car would have resulted in a second place.
Update: Tony Adriaensens sent along a pair of photos of the OSCA in question taken at Torrey Pines. Leaving open the debate of when exactly #1122 changed her colors. Thanks Tony!
