The only man who will ever become the champion of both Formula 1, 350cc and 500cc Motorcycle racing turns 80 today.
By the end of 1960 a young John Surtees had already won seven Motorcycle World Championships during the course of just four years – a feat which he achieved by winning both the 350cc and 500cc Championships in 1958, 1959 and 1960. Still this didn’t mark the crowning moment of Surtees’ racing career – he would go on to race both Sportscars and Formula 1, becoming F1 World Champion in 1964 whilst driving for Ferrari.Such feats are highly unlikely to ever be repeated – so let’s reflect on the achievements of John Surtees whilst he celebrates his 80th birthday. Enjoy!
This fan-made video raises some very interesting points.
Many will argue with great reason why Ayrton Senna remains the greatest racing driver of all time, however it is significantly less often that people speak with specifics regarding what exact traits made this so. What talents may Ayrton have had which placed him on a different level to the other greats of his time? What did he do differently to the rest? Whilst this fan-made video doesn’t necessarily represent our opinion, it certainly is very interesting. Enjoy.
With seventeen straight wins from 1968 to 1969, driven by Charlie Kemp, this 450-horsepower 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 R is known as the ‘winningest’ Shelby ever. And you can buy it.
Only 33 Shelby GT350 Rs were purpose-built for racing, making them as rare as they are potent. This particular car was built in ’65 and taken into possession in 1966.
Its first owner, Roger West, won the SCCA Southeast Division Championship, but then started racing a GT40 and sold the Shelby in 1967.
Charlie Kemp put down the cash and bought the car late in ’67, along with a set of spares and the services of Pete Hood – the GT350 R’s mechanic. The first time they took the car out Charlie broke the lap record at Montgomery, Alabama, and blew up the motor as well.
Charlie and Pete then took to developing the car, extracting every last horsepower from the engine, throwing away any weight that wasn’t working to go faster, and tuning the suspension and handling to the nth degree.
They won the SCCA Regional at Daytona overall, took an overall victory in the Nationals and then the ’68, ’69 and ’79 Division Championships.
Along they way they won 17 straight races and set a new top speed record for GT350 Rs at riverside. At Daytona in ’69 they really stretched the car’s legs, hitting 184 miles power hour and going faster than not only any GT350 R had ever been before it, but any Shelby 289 at all.
“That record still staggers me—to move that brick through the air that fast. At first, we didn’t believe the timer” – Carroll Shelby
Charlie briefly sold the car, but bought it back and remains its owner today. In the 2000s he and Pete Hood restored it to full as-raced specification in its signature livery and it is one of a very rare group of cars which can offer the services of both its greatest driver and mechanic in preparing and looking after it today.
It’s painstakingly-documented, and its history, photographs and artifacts have been collated in an aluminum-covered book.
We’re big fans of the Martini stripes here at Motorsport Retro, so it’s with great excitement that we heard rumor circulating regarding Martini’s return as Williams’ primary sponsor for the 2014 F1 season – and it’s all because of a shirt.Speculation began when a slip-up by an officially licensed F1 merchandise store saw the Martini branded shirt leaked online. Since then, digital detectives have gone on to uncover considerable evidence that the Australian GP in 2014 may in fact see the Martini stripes return to an F1 race car.
Martini have been one of the all time fan favorite liveries, and it’s great to think that they might be coming back to F1 – perhaps even with some classic grid girls? Here are a few artists impressions from around the ‘web of what a new Martini Williams car might look like:
The battle between Alain Prost and Alan Jones during the 1981 German Grand Prix was one for the books. Fought out across Hockenheim, Prost took the pole yet it was to be Jones who would claim the fastest lap during the race. Neither would win the race, yet the pair-up is still remembered as one of the great sparring matches in Formula 1 history.
RM Auctions wrapped up their inaugural Paris auction on the 6th of February, setting new world records for a stunning 1955 Jaguar D-Type and ex-works 1982 Porsche 956. The event was packed with glorious historic race cars, and these are the top five.
1955 Jaguar D-Type
This absolutely gorgeous 1955 Jaguar D-Type, the seventh customer D-Type built, has an extensive early racing history at the hands of four-time open-wheel Australian Drivers’ Champion Bib Stillwell.
Running a 3,781cc dual overhead-camshaft inline six that puts out somewhere in the realm of 300bhp, it’s in great nick, ready to race and eligible for pretty much any historic racing event you could desire to enter.
It set a new world auction record for the model, selling for €3,696,000.
1982 Porsche 956 Group C Sports-Prototype
The Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert and Jürgen Barth driven third place member of Porsche’s iconic lockout of the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans podium, this 1982 Porsche 956 Group C Sports-Prototype was another record setter at RM Auctions’ sale, going for €2,352,000 on the day.
That 24 Hours of Le Mans performance came in just its second race, and marked the beginning of a successful racing career that spanned close to four years at the highest level, and at the greatest endurance racing events in the world. Along with Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert and Jürgen Barth, it was driven by the likes of Derek Bell, Stefan Bellof, Alan Jones and even Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.
A storied and awesome example of one of the greatest race cars of all time.
1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider
This beautiful machine claimed fifth place in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1955, experienced great success in the United States with Phil Hill at the wheel, and enjoyed some sneaky steering at the hands of Carroll Shelby under the pseudonym of John S. Smith.
It’ll get its new owner past the bouncers at events like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans Classic, and more, and with its recent restoration to authentic Monza livery and excellent condition, it’ll be a lot of fun.
To pick it up at the Paris Sale you would’ve had to go higher than €1,960,000.
1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS
This 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS is absolutely immaculate; a wonderful example of Porsche’s early sportscar racing history. It’s also the only 904 finished in irish Green, and that caused quite the commotion in its time!
Like most big-ticket cars, this 904 has a glittering period racing history. It was raced extensively and successfully by Frazer Nash works driver and Porsche privateer Dickie Stoop.
It has a 185 bhp DOHC air-cooled flat four sitting in mid-mounted configuration behind the driver which will be happy and magnificent at full song thanks to a recent restoration by Porsche four-cam specialist Bill Doyle.
1936 Delahaye 135 S
Last but certainly not least is this awesome vintage Delahaye 135 S, which is believed to be one of just seven surviving cars and which claimed an impressive €1,008,000.
It’s recently received a painstaking and accurate restoration and is now in breathtaking condition.
Advanced for its time, the Delahaye’s chassis featured boxed rectangular rails, central crossmember, welded-in floor and independent front suspension to keep things stiff and balanced and to handle the stonking 3, 557 cc six-cylinder up front.
The car has an unbroken lineage, impressive considering its age, and was campaigned extensively in motorsport throughout ’36 and ’37, including a second place overall and class win in the ’36 24 Hours of Spa.
It has spent some time as a road car throughout its near 80 years, but a painstaking and extensive restoration in 2005 returned it to its 1937 racing glory.
Sheer elation as Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell win the 1981 24 Hour of Le Mans. The car was a Porsche 936 powered by a 935 2.6l turbo and the duo won by a staggering 14 laps.
Just sit and imagine the noises that this pack would have been making at this moment. The 1981 DRM Norisring six hour – Zakspeed’s Ford Capri Turbo leads the Lancia Montecarlo Turbo in a battle which we imagine would have sounded absolutely incredible.
Forget auto museums, often the most interesting cars are hidden away like this.
This cool video takes us inside the storage facility Audi use to preserve the most iconic racing machines the marque has ever built. From IMSA champions to rally heroes and the legendary Silver Arrows – the variety of celebrity cars behind held side by side here is staggering. In this clip we’re afforded a short into Audi’s racing history, before being given a tour of the uber-cool facility. Enjoy.
Multi-cam edit allows you to fully appreciate the hand and footwork involved in driving like Senna.
More than a million people have enjoyed this video, and it’s easy to see why. Whilst here at Motorsport Retro we prefer to dig deep into the depths of the internet machine and claw our way back to the surface with rare, unseen footage – sometimes there’s a piece which despite it’s established popularity, absolutely must be brought to our audience. Even simply as a reminder, this clip is worth watching. The camera pointing to the footwork is particularly special – something we take for granted in modern racing times however a perspective which was certainly less common during the days of Senna. Enjoy!
In 1995 and 1996 the DTM and ITC had it all: great racing, hi-tech cars, superstar drivers and three willing manufacturers hell-bent on making it the best racing series in the world. These were the halcyon days of state-of-the-art, over-the-top touring car racing.
WHAT WAS IT?
If you had a blank sheet of paper to come up with the ultimate blueprint for a race championship, you wouldn’t go far wrong if you looked back to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and its world-bashing younger brother, the FIA International Touring Car championship (ITC) from 1995-96.
The DTM was already Germany’s premier national race series, and its popularity was growing in leaps and bounds in the early 1990s. With Class 1 regulations, and three willing and able manufacturers as the lynchpin, the groundwork was in place and by 1994 the big-budget, high-tech fuse was lit and ready for take off.
The racing was fraught, competitive and flame-spitting, with a healthy chunk of hug and kisses contact throughout the field. Kerbs were to be bounced over rather than driven round, titanium floor plans provided F1-style showers of sparks, brakes glowed molten orange, engines roared a beautiful cacophony; it was an unapologetic assault on the senses.
THE HARDWARE
Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and Opel provided 2.5-litre engines which produced around 450bhp with semi-automatic gearboxes (if they chose), active suspension and ABS (also if they chose), all wrapped in a body shape based on a silhouette of a model from within their range. Then the vital ingredients: passion, enthusiasm, and a desire to entertain to a level previously unknown, and you have Class 1 in a nutshell
Manufacturers got behind the DTM and ITC in a big way, all of them providing enormous hospitality possibilities for guests; an open paddock meant that the thousands – make that tens of thousands – of fans at the events could see and meet their heroes.
Spectators were recognised as an important part of the show, with the manufacturers offering discounted tickets to their vast workforces and production line staff to fill the stands and cheer on their personal brand. Supply them with caps, flags and fireworks, and we had a three-way biased party.
The opening and closing rounds (two races in a day as well to keep the fans happy) were held by tradition at Hockenheim in Germany, the stadium section of the circuit perfect for raising the proverbial roof. Fireworks, smoke flares, flags, and a drivers’ parade that had the teams push their cars to the grid through the stadium to wave at the packed stands.
THE MACHINERY
The cars were purpose-built high-tech racing cars, clothed in a road car body. The driver sat way back, and low, to get better weight distribution, and in a safety move, some were moved to sit as close as possible to the centre of the cockpit.
The two races took place on Sundays, with a 30-minute gap between. Crews were allowed to repair damaged cars for only 22 minutes before having to make the grid.
This led to some extreme packages, and none more so than the design of the C Class. The whole front end, including engine, suspension, cooling and electronic systems could be removed by uncoupling the pipes, and sliding it off the four locator pins, and a brand new unit was installed in time to start race two! Their best time for an engine change was just over 10 minutes.
Opel had an active suspension system designed and built by the Williams F1 team, Alfa had a semi automatic gearbox (useful for Alessandro Nannini).
The one ‘special’ that never truly had the lid lifted on it was Mercedes’ weight transfer package. While Opel and Alfa had four-wheel-drive electronic transmissions, Mercedes stuck with what it built for the road – rear-wheel-drive. The trick up AMG’s sleeve was a pair of ‘tunnels’ that ran along the door sills on the floor of the monocoque, front wheel to back wheel. In the tunnels were floating weights, operated hydraulically. The car was ‘taught’ the circuit in the first session – the braking and acceleration points, and transferred the weight automatically during laps, a bigger version of what a kart racer does with his weight, getting it next to the driven wheels at the back on acceleration, and moving to balance out the braking…
Former Grand Prix driver Tiff Needell tested Klaus Ludwig’s Mercedes C Class at Hockenheim for Top Gear TVat the end of 1994. Here is his take on the series and the car…
THE ACTION
We’ve not even fired up the engines yet! It was an unmistakable noise. The Alfas growled, the Mercedes had a purposeful high-pitched rasp, and the Opel was quiet and unassuming – until you put the animal skills of the likes of Keke Rosberg and Klaus Ludwig behind the Calibra’s wheel.
The ITC was an official FIA championship and Bernie certainly kept an eye on its progress, surveying the level of hospitality and re-christening the series, “ITC: The International Catering Championshp”.
It had races from Germany to Italy, to Brazil and Japan. Then there was the mid-season week-long Thunder in Helsinki festival, the ITC’s Monaco – even if the harbour circuit was in the Industrial part of Finland’s capital. Drivers Rosberg, JJ Lehto and rally legend Markku Alen were racing, and Mikas Hakkinen and Salo were on hand to give the mad Finnish fans another reason to party.
As for the racing. It was pure gloves off action. Sure the cream rose to the top, but two races meant that the second race always had an extra element: the car wasn’t needed for at least two weeks after… It was war.
“Mitsubishi brought out some brilliant engines for their world rally program. It’s frustrating to look back on it because a Starion with one of those (Lancer) Evo-type engines as a touring car would have been an absolute rocket-ship!” – Kevin Bartlett
Mitsubishi’s Starion had all the ingredients for a great race car, but a tonne of untapped potential meant it never quite got there.
While it dominated Australian Group E production racing, its time in Group A touring car racing was frustrating. Mitsubishi Starion: The Series Production stars and Group A cars tells the story over at the Shannons Club.
Ride onboard the ’78 Matra powered Ligier F1 car, and listen to that V12 scream!
Soak up the fascinating precision of racing hero Jacques Laffite as he ushers the ferocity of the Ligier Matra V12 around Monza during the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. The clip is of course, from Lap of the Gods. Laffite would go on to place 4th overall in the event, with Niki Lauda, John Watson and Carlos Reutemann taking the podium. The race was marred by the tragic death of Ronnie Peterson towards the beginning of the event, who would go on to place 2nd in the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship posthumously.
Watch in awe as the ever-charismatic King-Kenny gets back on the horse and rides.
It goes without saying that Kenny Roberts is an absolute legend, but we’ll go ahead and say it anyway. He spent six years racing 500cc Yamahas, and managed to finish the championship season in the top three five of those times. He won the 500cc World Championship in 1978, 1979 and 1980. The latter of those was achieved on this very bike, the 150hp, 200lb YZR500 that this video sees him get back on and ride. An awesome high-quality piece shot at Laguna Seca USA, enjoy.
On this day in 2001, Dale Earnhardt lost his life at the 43rd Daytona 500.
One of the greatest moments in NASCAR history was most certainly the day that the much loved Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500, for the first and only time in 1998. This video captures the magic of that moment, and it is with it that we remember him:
The mechanics of the Ligier-Renault 1.5L V6 turbo lay bare in preparation for the 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix. Rene Arnoux and Philippe Alliot drove for Equipe Ligier at the event, with Jacques Laffite having broken both his legs at the beginning of the British GP just a couple of rounds earlier.
While it’s probably not something we should be waving our arms around and celebrating too much, fights between drivers who couldn’t settle the score on-track certainly make for good entertainment! When it comes to impromptu sledging or boxing matches, NASCAR is the undisputed king, and this video runs through ten of the very best. Enjoy.
“Cars, and especially race cars, represent the perfect mix of art and function in my mind. The exterior design. The mechanicals. The sounds and smell. The sensation of speed. All of it draws me in.” – teej
Teej is a photographer after our own hearts. He has a life long love of classic cars, and is passionate about using and appreciating them in ways that do them justice, whether that’s behind the wheel, looking through a lens or walking the pits and paddock.
“It’s why I like to track my own cars whenever I get the chance to – vintage only – I like to know I can bring a car to its limits and enjoy it. But if I am at the track and not driving, then I have my camera in hand looking for something interesting.” – teej
His work reflects his passion. It’s vibrant and emotive, capturing the intricate interplay at work in race cars, balancing between power and beauty; development and aesthetic; perfect balance and raggedy-edge thrills. We love it.
He’s been kind enough to display some of his work with us here, and we’re thrilled to be able to share it with you. Enjoy, and make sure to head to his website, Facebook page and Instagram feed for more.
“Racecars are so beautifully simple in their intent: go fast. With my photography I try to keep that simplicity alive and capture cars in a way that the viewer can appreciate the details, or imagine the sounds, or what it would be like to be the driver.”
“I try to make sure that the sensation comes through in the photos – whether it’s feeling the earth drop at the corkscrew or the lateral forces going through a fast corner. I hope you enjoy!” – teej
For more than 10 years now, G.H.MUMM has been the champagne befitting any celebration, taking centre stage during the magic moment that caps a superlative victory ceremony. G.H.MUMM, the official Formula 1 Champagne.
The podium at 2006 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix was full of firsts.
Pedro de la Rosa ( McLaren), Jenson Button (Honda) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
After going 113 races without a win, Englishman Jenson Button finally got to taste the Champagne on the top step of the podium. In tricky wet conditions and despite lining up way back in 14th on the grid, Button sliced through the field to take a memorable and popular win in his Honda.
It was also the first and only podium for Spainard Pedro de la Rosa, who had slotted into the vacant second seat at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR.
German Nick Heidfeld was also in the party mood, after scoring BMW Sauber’s first ever podium with a fighting 3rd place.
The only man who will ever become the champion of both Formula 1, 350cc and 500cc Motorcycle racing turns 80 today.
By the end of 1960 a young John Surtees had already won seven Motorcycle World Championships during the course of just four years – a feat which he achieved by winning both the 350cc and 500cc Championships in 1958, 1959 and 1960. Still this didn’t mark the crowning moment of Surtees’ racing career – he would go on to race both Sportscars and Formula 1, becoming F1 World Champion in 1964 whilst driving for Ferrari.
Such feats are highly unlikely to ever be repeated – so let’s reflect on the achievements of John Surtees whilst he celebrates his 80th birthday. Enjoy!
The best rumor we’ve heard all year.
