The Chicane

This Weekend at Auction: Alfa Romeo TZ Coupé

Post author By Harlo
Post date May 20, 2011
No Comments on This Weekend at Auction: Alfa Romeo TZ Coupé

Race history at the Targa Florio? Check. Le Mans? Yup. Tour de France? Uh-huh. Monza 1000KM? You bet.

Say any one of these things about any single example of a car and you’ll have my attention. Say all of them about a single car and you’ll have a lot of people’s attention. When the car you’re talking about is an exquisite 1964 Alfa TZ Coupé, you’ll have everyone’s attention.

There’s no question that the TZ is a striking machine. One of only 112 made, any Tubulare Zagato is a rare beast. One of the very few early Audodelta prepped machines (those made before the wider homologation production) and with well documented race history. Hell, it’s damn near unique.

This Alfa-Romeo TZ #750006 is crossing the block this weekend as part of RM’s Ville d’Este auction. And it says something about the caliber of machine that they’re presenting this weekend that the TZ isn’t even one of their featured lots. But if you look a bit beyond the sea of vintage Ferraris on offer (a 275GTB, a Scaglietti 500 TRC Spider, a 375MM Berlinetta) you’ll come to lot 126.

Restored to her 1964 LeMans livery by Piet Roelofs Engineering, she looks aggressive, mean even. Despite the relatively light 150 horsepower that the 1.5liter DOHC straight 4 was pulling, Giampiero Biscaldi and Giancarlo Sala managed 15th overall in the 24 Hours (10th in GT). In a field of Ferrari 330s and GTOs and Porsche 904s, that’s a wonderful result that Scuderia St. Ambroeus must have been pleased with (with her sister car finishing 13th for the team).

A truly stunning example of a remarkable car and a masterpiece of design for Zagato—I do so miss that flat-back era of design. I’d say there’s little doubt she’ll reach her estimate of €475.000-€575.000.

More at RM’s catalog. Previously.

Update: Well, the TZ sure met it’s reserve alright, selling for €627,200.

Classic Sportscar

Dammit. They took my Borranis.

Post author By Harlo
Post date May 19, 2011
3 Comments on Dammit. They took my Borranis.

This is what happens when you park your immaculately restored Alfa Romeo Tipo 159 in a bad part of town.

Historic Racing Photos

Pete Lovely, 1926—2011

Pete Lovely in a Jag at the 1952 Torrey Pines
Pete Lovely at the 1953 Pebble Beach in a Giaur
Pete Lovely, the hot rodder

Pete Lovely in a Cooper Mk VIII Streamliner

Automotive Art

The Art of Peter Hutton

There’s something so very compelling about illustration that rides the line between realism and sketch. It’s a bit impressionistic, a bit cartoonish, a bit technical illustration. I’d argue that in Peter Hutton’s case, it’s the best bit of all of these. The vibrance of the colors and the loose gestural form of the lines give a charming crafted feel. But the cutaways, and certain details are so very precise that it exhibits the best artistry of technical illustration. The loose, unfinished sections—like the tires on many of the bikes and formula cars—might just be my favorite parts of each illustration. Coupled with the explanatory passages about the car in Peter’s hand, these pieces would make any garage into an art gallery. Really amazing stuff.

Lotus 38 by Peter Hutton
Bentley Speed 6

Available, along with dozens more, as a variety of products from Peter’s web shop.

Event Ferrari Video

It’s Mille Miglia Time!

Well, they’re off from Brescia to Rome and back. And photos and videos are starting to arrive online. Sorry, this is going to be a long one.

Hope that’s not too much of an overload. I’m sure more will continue to surface throughout the next week.. I’ll keep an eye peeled for the good stuff.

Lost Track Video

Vaca Valley in Action

In case you needed more inspiration to load up the new Vaca Valley racing simulator track.

Lost Track Racing Ephemera

A Virtual Return to Vaca Valley

Post author By Harlo
Post date May 12, 2011
No Comments on A Virtual Return to Vaca Valley

YES! Rudy Dingemans wrote in to point us to his build of a raceable version of the Vaca Valley raceway; ready for you to download and run in the rFactor and GTR2 racing simulators. The track itself may continue to crumble in the lowlands outside of Vacaville, but we can climb back into our digital Cobras for another spin on this great lost American racetrack.

Rudy credits our 2009 post on Vaca Valley as an inspiration: “It was this article that originally caught my eye. And gave me the idea me to bring back this track from the dead (well, at least virtually)”. The Chicane might have brought the track to his attention, but Rudy’s build of the track looks to have far exceeded our little show-and-tell of the venue. The stills look fantastic!

I’ve spoken before about what a marvelous idea it is to use racing simulator and video gaming tools to revive the lost palaces of motorsport, and I’m overjoyed to have played some small part in bringing back another track.

Head on over to the NoGrip Racing community to download the track: either the rFactor version (which has some additional details) or the version for GTR2.

Rudy says, “Hope it will help people enjoy racing this track again, or get to know it (to drive, it’s actually a bit trickier than it looks).” Thanks Rudy, for the service you’ve done in keeping Vaca alive.

Classic Cycle Video

A Kind of Passion

I like this approach of video-as-snapshot that this piece from Squadra Sutge: little moments, brief glimpses, peeks into the Jarama Classic Moto race weekend. I also like that it focuses on the pits. The temptation is always to capture the track, but time spent in the paddock is time well spent. The pleasure of just hanging out with the vintage racing community is the unexpected treat of camaraderie that every vintage racer discovers at their first race meeting.

Beautifully shot and assembled. The Johnny Cash doesn’t hurt either.

Historic Racing Photos Racing Ephemera