The Chicane

The 12 Hours of Sebring is just 2 weeks away. While the running LeMans style start we see here in the 1965 race is sadly a thing of the past, I feel obliged to take notice of it each year on the racing calendar. The Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance has always been America’s greatest toehold into international sportscar racing and—despite the changes that continue to plague contemporary motorsport—will always have a place in my heart each year alongside Monaco and LeMans.
This video, like our last look at Sebring, comes courtesy of Nigel Smuckatelli’s Flickr stream. Regarding the tremendous start Delmo Johnson’s Corvette had, Nigel says, “According to my research Delmo Johnson had the car in gear so when he hit the starter he took off. Also he didn’t bother buckling his seat belt or close his door. Not sure if you could tell but when he pulled out of his space and made a right to go down the track the door flew open. For more than a full lap he had to hold tightly onto the steering wheel because, on that rough track, he almost got thrown out of his seat. By the second lap he had managed to get buckled in.” Yipe! Nigel wrote an article about the ’65 race for Sports Car Digest last year. Check it out.
I forgot how much I like the old-style Goodyear Blimp.
Update: Much more footage from the ’65 12 Hours of Endurance here.

They may be faster. They may be more comfortable. They may be more practical. But modern sportscars—even modern supercars—absolutely get their asses handed to them when it comes to engine sound. Case in point, the 1967 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale.

The 8C Competizione, as remarkable as it is, never stood a chance.

From Nigel Smuckatelli’s tremendous Flickr stream comes this alarming bit of late-50’s sportscar madness.

The 1959 Sebring 12 Hours practice sessions bedeviled the teams with frequent hard downpours. Despite being able to prepare for rain during the main event, it looks from this footage that the sliced tires that passed for rain-tech in the day weren’t quite up to snuff. The first half of the race started normally enough; with Ferraris and Lister-Jaguars battling it out for the top spots. At half distance though, the sky opened up and that’s when this footage kicks in.

Here you’ll see Ricardo Rodriguez’s OSCA hydroplane and spin. He brought the car home in 47th, which looks from the results to be the second to lowest finishing car—although given the low displacement, it was within 90 seconds of the Index of Performance winning Laureau/Armagnac D.B. Panhard. Later Bob Holbert’s Porsche RSK performs a similar dance move, but he fared better in the race overall with a class win (fourth overall). Robert Roloson’s Stanguellini though, ups the ante with the terrifying crash at the close of the video; Hitting a pole hard and flying up in the air like your little brother’s Hot Wheels. Despite the car being destroyed by the hard crash, Robert can be seen jogging out of harm’s way in the aftermath, after the Stanguellini is lifted up off of him by a group of 6 or 8 people(!). Terrifying!

Nigel says that the car’s owner, Sandy MacArthur, sold the wreck for $100 and the drivetrain and rear axle found its way into a Crosley Special.

We last looked at the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours in August of 2009.