Bon!
The Circuit Bugatti was quite unpopular at the time, but it looks lovely in this footage. It’s also fantastic to see open-wheel cars in the LeMans pits.
Categories
Tag: Ferrari
I clicked on over to Amazon and pre-ordered this one seconds after I heard about it.
As a graphic designer (that’s my day job, I’m a web designer) and a racecar geek, there’s no way Sven Voelker’s Go Faster: The Graphic Design of Racing Cars couldn’t be on my shelf. I didn’t even have time to translate the German blurb before I was adding this one to my cart. Look for a review on The Chicane when I receive it.
Ok, here’s that translation now, courtesy of Google which is less than elegant in its conversion but gets the job (mostly) done:
“Strip strike, numbers, colors and logo – the visual appearance of a race car needs so you can distinguish the car at first glance from the other when it raced at top speed. Most do not know, however, that the race cars from Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati and Lotus, its appearance is not the work of brand strategists and graphic designers, but often due to chance. Go Faster collected over 100 examples of car design, these carefree anarchy of the document creation process. In the book, each brightly decorated cars will be presented next to an unpainted, white model. This juxtaposition Go Faster takes his readers not only with a fast ride through images in racing history, but shows exactly how the graphics modulates the appearance of a racing car. “This book by Prof. Sven Voelker published by Gestalten Verlag, linking not only gasoline junkies and graphic designer, but definitely belongs in every bookshelf of these two groups.”
I can’t wait to read it.
Categories
Targa Florio 1966 Film
Is there anything more romantic than the Circuito Madonie?
Professional Italian Production:
And amateur shot 8mm:
Bellissimo.
We’ve had quite a bit of focus lately on the factories and workshops that turned out our dream machines. Winter has hit the upper Midwest and the garage must be calling.
These scenes were photographed in preparation for the 1953 Mille Miglia and the wrenches were spinning furiously amongst the Italian makers. The home race is always reason enough to turn up the heat a bit.
OSCA
Maserati
And of course, the rather more commanding Ferrari floor.
Here’s Mike Hawthorn checking in on the 250MM Spyder he’d be piloting for the race. He DNFed that year, but his car is still looking amazing 56 years later. The race would be won by the 250’s larger brother, Giannino Marzotto’s 340MM Spyder.
Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari 250MM Spyder 
Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari 250MM Spyder Today
Knowing where to place your pressure sensitive labels is an important part of your slot racing team strategy. Now you won’t be in the dark when you’re assembling your GTO or DB5.
Revell Corvette Stingray Assembly Instructions 
Revell Slot Car Bodies Ad 
Revell Chaparral Assembly Instructions 
Revell Aston Martin DB5 Assembly Instructions 
Revell Cobra Slot Car Assembly Instructions
Remember slot racers, magnets are for wimps; and me.
via.
We pulled into Elkhart Lake for the 2009 Kohler International Challenge with Brian Redman last Friday night hoping to catch the parade of vintage cars from the track into downtown Elkhart Lake for a small concours d’elegance on the streets of my favorite small town. Parked in front of Siebkens, the crowds and the rain kept us from taking in too much of the rows of gorgeous machines lining both sides of the street. So, as is traditional, we disappeared into the Siebkens bar for a few Spotted Cows. When we finally made our way back into the streets, we caught this procession of the cars making their way back to Road America.
I’ve identified as many of the machines as I could in this video. It really says something when there’s just too many GT40s and Cobras to accurately identify which one belongs with which driver. Ah, Elkhart.
How could I have missed this? Road America is only a few hours drive away and somehow I completely missed the chance to see some marvelous vintage Ferraris at a racing pace in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. The series is open to pre-1980 machines, and divided into disc and drum brake classes.
The drum brake class featured two—two!—Maserati 250Fs on the starting row. Ultimately the pole-sitter, Peter Giddings, won the drum brake race by more than 30 seconds. No surprise there, Giddings has won most of the events since the series started in 2000. So chalk another one up for Giddings. No matter though; whatever the official site lists in standings for the event, the folks hanging out at the Turn 5 fence and the Hurry Downs benches were the real winners. It’s a bit of a rarity to see vintage machines from Maranello racing hard here in the Midwest and I’m really kicking myself for missing the opportunity.
Veloce Today has a wonderful gallery.
If you’re in Quebec, don’t make the same mistake I did. The next Shell Ferrari Historics will be hitting Le Circuit at Mont-Tremblant from July 24 to 26.
It’s only been a few short days since this year’s Mille Miglia and already videos are starting to trickle online. There’s aren’t just quick shoot and post phone-cam videos either. Some of these are quite lovely, like this first short video from Ricky Montalvo. He was able to stake out some of the more interesting areas the Mille passes through—the tiny villages that are ordinarily closed to automotive traffic. These picturesque little towns make for some lovely vantage-points to take in the amazing field of Mille Miglia participants and some excellent atmospheric shots of spectators. Take a look.
Holy crap.
The much-discussed 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa #0714TR sold this weekend at RM Auctions’ Leggenda e Passione sale in Maranallo. It brought in a staggering €9,020,000. This of course, shatters last year’s record 250 California sale by a good $2Million. Why do I even bother anymore?
Martin Chisholm is offering a marvelous 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Barchetta. She is a beautiful, Rossa Corso wonder. A squat, dense muscle powered by an early iteration of Colombo’s famous V12 that would later prove so successful for the various Ferrari 250 variants that are in such high demand. This version of the V12 was based on the earlier 212, but bored out an extra 10mm and stroked to 58.8 mm for a total displacement of 2715 cc. The extra oomph under the bonnet made 224S #0218ET good for a perfectly reasonable 210 horses at 7200 RPM.
The 225 was developed with the twisty mountain sections of the Mille Miglia in mind, but since she was developed alongside early prototype versions of the 250, she was quickly overshadowed by her big brother in Italy. Fortunately, 0218ET was headed for American shores. This Barchetta, was an Alf Momo car, quickly prepped and ready for club racing in the States.
Bill Spear gave 0218ET her debut at the 1952 Sowega Air Force Base races and brought her in at 5th overall. Not a bad start.
Of course, what makes this car really desirable was her entry in the ’53 Sebring 12 Hours Race. Bill Spears shared the car with Phil Hill. Unfortunately, in a rare mistake, Phil had an off-course excursion that cost them the race. In the early days of Sebring, the grass surrounding the course was a very treacherous place and Phil managed to find the foundation of a disused and demolished barracks. The hit to the rear wheel took out the differential, forcing the team to call it quits for the race.
The car bounced around from racer to racer for several years, before becoming a toy of a Hollywood businessman. Finally the car was rescued by noted collector Gary Schonwald who located the long missing original engine and restored 0218ET to the remarkable shape you see her in today. She looks Concours and Historic Mille Miglia perfect.
Carrozzeria Vignale did an absolutely incredible piece of work crafting the body of this little barchetta back in 1952, and despite the more impressive statistics of the scores of Ferrari models that have followed in the wake of the early barchettas, there is no model that I find more romantic than these early V12 series.