Categories
Historic Racing Photos Racing Ephemera

Dutch National Racing’s 1969 Formula Ford Launch. Media Hilarity.

  • Nick Brittan with the Netherlands Ford cup
  • Nick Brittan in a Dutch National Team Formula Ford
  • Showing off the Netherlands Ford cup

These images from the media announcement of the 1969 Formula Ford championship and the Dutch National Team’s vehicle debut are quite an interesting case-study in how sporting media drops have changed in the intervening years.

Today’s racing press events are glitzy orchestrated affairs: Dance music pulses as the curtain drops. A sheet is pulled from the waiting car before the unveiled car rotates on a stage bathed in carefully selected spotlights. Smiling media-trained drivers bedecked in sponsorship logos emerge from the side of the stage to shake hands with auto executives amid the popping flashbulbs of a baited motoring press.

These shots are exactly the opposite of that. It is a beautifully spontaneous mess:

“Hey Boss, Nick Brittan is here.”
“Who?”
“Nick Brittan. The director of the International Formula Ford Championship. He’s got the trophy with him. I’ll bring him back.”
“Let’s take a few photos while he’s here.”
“Sure thing, Boss. Should I just park the car in front of those ashtrays by the elevators?”
“Yes. And get him to awkwardly pose on the car like he’s a glamour model while we’re at it.”
“Yes Sir! This is going to be great!”

Categories
Automotive Art Grand Prix

Ginther’s Bricks

Flickr user Biczzz has created this astoundingly nuanced sculpture of Ginther’s 1965 Honda RA272 from simple Lego. The level of detail Biczzz has managed to achieve here is really incredible. Sure, I’ve made my share of blocky Lego cars, but these gentle curves, the suspension bits, the windscreen! I’ve seen die-cast models with less detail.

Maybe with some practice, I could make a generic 60s F1 car from Lego. But this isn’t a generic 60s F1 car. You can plainly recognize it as the car that took Honda’s first victory in Mexico. Overcoming the constraints inherent in sculpting from Lego and still managing such a finely crafted result is absolutely fantastic!

Previously: Flying Bricks

Categories
Grand Prix Historic Racing Photos

In the Grandstands at Tripoli

Rudolf Caracciola in his Mercedes-Benz 1.5 liter W 165. Tripoli Grand Prix, May 7, 1939

How long to you think this palm tree would last in a contemporary racing circuit’s stands?
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Categories
Vintage Racing Advertising

Dan Gurney. Winner.

Winners go with Bell.
Dan Gurney.
Winner: Mosport 200 — Mosport, Ontario 1968
Winner: Motor Trend 500 — Riverside, Calif. 1968
Winner: Rex Mays 300 — Riverside, Calif. 1967
Bell Helmets
See your local Bell Helmet Dealer

Via Swiss Stash

Categories
Ferrari Historic Racing Photos Lost Track

Premio la Trinidad, 1959

Julio Pola – La Trinidad 1959

These images from a wonderful thread on Pasion a la Velocidad reminds me that road racing in the Americas was so much larger than we typically remember today. For every Sebring or Paramount Ranch or Bahamas Speed Week or Argentine GP, there were countless communities that closed off a few blocks and made a weekend of it.

  • Stanguellini Formula Jr.
  • Ferrari at Premio Trinidad
  • Panhard at La Trinidad 1959

Again, I’m struck by the beauty of these tropical racing venues. These vistas from the Circuito Cuidad Satelite la Trinidad prove that the views from the countryside surrounding Caracas, Venezuela were every bit as majestic as those from Sicily or Brescia.

See the full thread for even more photos and remembrances from the Venezuelan road racing community.

Categories
Classic Sportscar Gear Racing Ephemera

Shopping the 1968 Cobra Parts Catalog

Who needs racing cams? I got performance heads here! Get your close ratio gearboxes!
Browse the complete catalog and daydream at Mustang Tek.

Categories
Ferrari Racing Ephemera

Factories at Work: Ferrari Design Studio

Categories
Lost Track Video

Brynfan Tyddn on Film

I know, I know. Another Giant’s Despair/Brynfan Tyddn post… But when Cliff uncovered this glorious clip of the 1955 running, there was no way I couldn’t share it.

Results from the hillclimb at Etceterini.

Previously: A one, and-a two, and-a three.

Categories
Racing Ephemera

Laser-Cut Vinyl? No Thanks.

Break out the dagger brush and your mahl stick and pop open a can of 1-Shot.

Categories
Gear

Race Tech of Yesteryear: Ferrari Craft’s Wool Seals

The team at Restoration & Performance Motorcars has posted a how-to on making wool seals for 1934 Aston-Martin Lagonda M45 Rapide on their blog. Tools required: spoon, ball-peen hammer, scissors and a razor blade. I’ve replaced plenty of cork seals, but I’ve never seen a wool seal before.

I’m sure there’s a long tradition of wool seals that I don’t know about from tractors or something, but this use of natural materials in an application in which we’d never consider using them today fascinates me; and it makes complete sense. Wool is fire resistant, it maintains a lot of its shape and insulative properties when it’s wet—or soaked with bearing grease. It’s this kind of ingenuity that keeps reinvigorating my interest in these machines.

See the complete process on Ferrari Craft. And go put a spoon in your toolbox.