Jackie Stewart hitches a ride with Derek Bell and his Brabham BT26A during the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.
Both drivers ended up retiring from the race. Curiously, it was Derek who retired before Stewart, which leads us to believe that this photograph was taken pre-race.
MORE: The best of Jackie Stewart
MORE: Video – A profile of Derek Bell
Photo of the Day: Hitching a ride is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
A 600 cubic inch 1970s engineering marvel – one of the earliest tube frame IMSA cars is now up for grabs!
In 1976 IMSA decided that they’d allow full tube frame cars to compete in their premier North American Road Racing series – the result was complete madness! Manufacturers scrambled to construct big horsepower tubular monsters, and this Corvette was one of the very first. 
John Greenwood built the car with the help of chassis designer Bob Riley – together they crafted a pair of incredible Greenwood Corvettes. This particular car was the latter of the two.
Powered by a 600ci Donovan big block, the ’77 built Greenwood GT Supervette was constructed entirely from lightweight chromoly at great expense – making it’s 900 odd horsepower even more ferocious. 
It all added up to an outright victory in the Manufacturer Champion Camel GT Challenge All-American GT Division of 1978. The car has also raced at Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Hallett, Lime Rock, Brainerd, Daytona, Sears Point, Portaland, Sebring and Riverside – just to name a few. Canepa call it “one of the most successful and historically significant Corvettes in IMSA history”. 
Despite having spent such a considerable amount of time competing across a huge range of tracks during its era, the car presents itself immaculately in 2014. This is because it was completely restored a little over ten years ago, and has been used in just five vintage events since. 
No doubt it’s completely over the top, even within the context of 1970s racing cars. It’s a 900 horsepower, Jerico four-speed monster with some of the most unapologetic bodywork you’re likely to ever see. Personally, we’d love to own it! 
If you feel the same way, be sure to get in touch with Canepa to discuss further details. This car is described as being completely sorted and ready to race – we like the sound of that! 
Further information: Canepa Design
For sale: 1977 IMSA ‘Supervette’ is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
The 2014 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) 12 Hours of Sebring support races brought some classic race cars to the 3.7 mile airport based race track.The photos speak for themselves however they can’t convey the sensory over load the drivers of historic cars such as the Porsche 935, Ford GT40, Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, Mini Cooper and others experienced. Sebring attacks all the drivers senses with the concrete runway pounding the body into submission, smells of burning rubber and race gas mingling with those of popcorn, BBQ and campfires, eyes having to squint as drivers race into the setting sun at over 170 miles per hour on the back straight…Sounds terrible but the drivers love it and so do the crowd. HSR drivers had a chance to race in front of the largest crowd they may ever encounter. The spectator was estimated to be a conservative 170,00 plus over the four days of racing.
Notable amongst the HSR cars was the 1972 BMW CSL of Scott Hughes. Consider this; Scott won an Amelia Award in the BMW CSL class at the world famous Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on Sunday March 9th. On Tuesday March 11th he was unloading the very same car at Sebring ready to hit the track.
Rumours are that the Grand Marshal for the Classic Motorsports Mitty presented by Hagerty may take the wheel of the above mentioned CSL and turn some laps at Road Atlanta April 24-27th. Why is this interesting? Well the Grand Marshal is the winner of the 1975 12 Hours of Sebring in a BMW CSL & winner of the 1976 24 Hours of Daytona, again driving a BMW CSL. None other than Brian Redman.
Visit HSRrace.com
Images Chuck Andersen
Photo Gallery: HSR Sebring 2014 is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
What a terrific idea! Fijen.net has come up with this brilliant collection of illustrations detailing the cars, liveries and numbers of every single Formula 1 World Champion. It presents a fantastic opportunity to visualize not only the evolution of car development, but also the onset of new driver eras. We can’t help but wonder – what’s next?
Illustration: The cars of every F1 World Champion is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Taken during 1977, this photo showcases Patrick Depailler behind the wheel of the incredible Tyrrell P34B, which he took to the podium five times in the space of the year.
MORE: Watch Patrick Depailler tear through Long Beach one year later, in 1978.
Photo of the Day: Patrick Depallier’s Tyrrell P34B is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
In 1957 MG built the fastest car in the world, before transporting it all the way from Britain to Bonneville to prove it.
The car was powered by a 1.5 litre twin-cam supercharged engine, the driver was none other than Sir Stirling Moss. This captivating 1957 documentary tells the story of their campaign to break a handful of world land speed records by exceeding 4 miles per minute (240mph).
MORE: Sir Stirling Moss – Racing Legend (video)
Two years later the record was again reset by Phil Hill in a revision of the same car.
MORE: Remembering Phil Hill (1927-2008)
Video: Building the fastest car in the world is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Rubens Barrichello makes some quick alterations to his Ferrari whilst under braking during the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.
MORE: Rubens Barrichello – Born to race
The incident was caught on video here:
Photo of the Day: Three-wheeling Rubens is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Piquet could drive like the wind, but he certainly wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. This video captures some of his most entertaining (and sometimes abrasive!) moments.
Perhaps the following comment sums up why he might have been a little bit misunderstood: “A journalist once asked me, being honest who was the best you or Senna? I said – well I’m alive!”
The three-time Formula 1 World Champion certainly isn’t afraid of speaking his mind, which is what makes this video so entertaining. After watching it we can’t help but wonder what F1 might be like today, if drivers were more candid.
MORE: Well timed photos capture Nelson Piquet and Eliseo Salazar getting into an on-track biff!
Video: Nelson Piquet talks trash is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
During braver times, 1926 Indy 500 winner Frank Lockhart roared down Daytona Beach at nearly 200mph.
This piece of footage shot from both air and ground captures the moment in 1928 when legendary driver Frank Lockhart was killed whilst attempting a land speed run on Daytona Beach. The date was April 25th, and the car was the Stutz Black Hawk Special Streamliner – a supercharged 200mph build. Lockhart reached 198.29mph (319.1km/h) during his warmup run before losing control and rolling violently down the beach during the return pass. Braver times indeed.
Video: 1928 Land speed record attempt goes horribly wrong is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Screeching tyres and tarmac – take in the heavenly sounds of the Subaru Impreza in full rally trim.
“This has got to be one of the finest 360p videos on YouTube,” exclaims one user – we’re inclined to agree. Pixel for pixel – this video delivers incredible value. Take in the pure engine sounds as one of the most iconic rally chassis’ goes all out… And yes, we noticed that the race number changes too!
Video: Subaru Impreza Tarmac madness is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Whilst battling it out for the ’93 IndyCar Championship – a pair of F1 legends from different eras went head-to-head.
1980 was two-time Formula 1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi’s last year racing in F1. It was also the year that Nigel Mansell arrived, then a young British driver who would go on to carve his own legend into the history of the sport – winning the 1992 F1 World Championship. Although time dictated that these two icons were to experience individual F1 careers that would barely overlap, IndyCar was to be a completely different story.
MORE: The best of Emerson Fittipaldi
Emerson Fittipaldi had been racing CART since the mid 1980s, winning the 1989 Championship ahead of Rick Mears and Michael Andretti. By 1992 Nigel Mansell had become the Formula 1 World Champion, however found himself without a drive in 1993 for political reasons. Signing up for CART instead, Mansell slipped into the pond with Fittipaldi and immediately began battling it out. Although neither would win this race in Cleveland (Canadian Paul Tracy took the top spot), the event would see one of their greatest duels caught on camera. Enjoy!
MORE: Nigel Mansell explains the difference between F1, and his 1993 IndyCar
Magic Moments: Nigel Mansell vs Emerson Fittipaldi (1993) is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Chris Amon’s Ferrari 312 drives past the burning wreck of Lorenzo Bandini in 1967. Bandini crashed whilst chasing Denny Hulme, who would go on to win the race. Bandini would succumb to his wounds three days later.
MORE: Trio at the Top – The story of Kiwi legends McLaren, Hume and Amon
MORE: One-off GP winners – Lorenzo Bandini
Photo of the Day: Chris Amon in Monaco (1967) is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Clay Hunwick is a young guy making waves in an old man’s game.
Whilst most young racers dream of F1, Le Mans and Touring Cars, Clay’s ambition is to make a living racing classic cars.
Clay has a passion for historic racing machines, and in particular American built muscle cars. His glorious sounding 1957 Corvette is something pretty special, as are his talents behind its wheel.
He’s currently carving a name for himself and his ‘Vette whilst campaigning in the Australian historic racing scene, hustling the big American Chevrolet around lighter, and more nimble cars such as the Porsche 911.
Clay is part of the Deus Vintage Corvette Racing Team, and this is his story – a happy tale of a young man and his family, enjoying their passion for classic racing machinery.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of Motorsport Retro Films too!
Thanks to Deus Customs.
MSR Films: Hollywood Heavyweight – 1957 Corvette Racer is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Relive the glory of the 1970 24 hours of Le Mans in stunning high res!
The 1970 Le Mans 24 hour was famously won by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood in the glorious Kurzheck Porsche 917 – an aerodynamic monster powered by a 4.5L flat-12. Using period footage from a documentary shot on the, this digitally mastered high-resolution video is an absolute pleasure to watch. Enjoy.
Video: The 1970 Le Mans 24 Hour is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
How the most successful F1 driver of all time came to win his first Grand Prix.
With so many exciting hot shots on the grid in 2014, now is a good time to look back and celebrate one particular hot-shot’s maiden win from 1992, a guy that went on to become the most successful Formula 1 driver in history.
By Andy Hallbery
August 30, 1992, Belgium: It was your typical Spa race day for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1992. The so-far dominant, all-gizmo Williams-Renault FW14B was running away with the World Championship, and in one, on pole position, was series leader Nigel Mansell. Alongside was reigning champion Ayrton Senna in the less-competitive McLaren-Honda. Lining up third those 22 years ago was a 23-year-old hot shot, who exactly 12 months before had been making his Grand Prix debut. His name? Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher’s 1991 debut, in the Jordan, announced his arrival in F1, and precisely one race later he was Flavio Briatore’s new hope for Benetton. By 1992 he was already a regular podium visitor; Three third places – including an emotional one at home in Hockenheim. By Spa he’d also scored two second places. So Belgium, as much his home race as Germany, was as good a place as any open his victory tally one year after his debut there.
In the build up to the race, Schumacher had a good feeling. “I really don’t know why, but I really began to believe I could win…”
Rain just before the start evened up the competition, and it was Senna that got the drop on Mansell. The Williams was without doubt the better machine, and with Mansell in full-on mode, he bit his teeth and raced Senna side-by-side through the flat-out sweeps of Blanchimont to take the lead on lap 2. At the end of the next lap, with the rain getting heavier, Mansell pitted for wet tyes.
Schumacher pitted next time by, while Senna waited until…. Well, he just carried on! Senna was working to the principle that in a straight fight, Mansell and Williams had him beaten. The only way to upset that was to do the opposite of Mansell.
The Williams continued to lead, Riccardo Patrese now behind in a distant second, and Schumacher, and Benetton team mate Martin Brundle hassling the Italian. “At that moment,” said Schumacher after the race, “I remembered my feeling in the morning when I felt I was going to win, and thought I’d been wrong! Everything was OK, the car was going really well, but I was looking now at second or third, rather than winning.”
While not giving up, lap 30 might have briefly pushed the ‘winning’ thought even further from the youngster’s mind. On a drying track, he ran wide about three quarters of the way around the lap, onto the wet grass and nearly swiping the barriers, in the process allowing Brundle to nip by. In fact, though, the off was a blessing. As Schumacher rejoined behind Brundle, he noticed his team mate’s tyre beginning to blister. That was enough, and just a quarter of a lap later, Schumacher knew he should switch first and headed for the pits, and new slick tyres. Brundle stopped next time around, but having been very evenly matched, the damage was done. “Getting past him as he went off seemed to ‘deflect’ my thinking,” said the Brit. “I should have come in right then…”
Schumacher – having been the first to stop – was making the most of it, lapping way faster than his rivals. Mansell stopped three laps after and when he rejoined the Benetton was already six seconds ahead. He began closing the gap, and it was all set for a grandstand finish. Then the Williams was struck, unusually, by an exhaust problem. Schumacher didn’t slow, lapping faster and faster, the gap growing from four seconds to eight, 15, 20, and 27s by the flag. On the penultimate lap he set a time that would have put him fifth on the grid (and was only 0.5 slower than his actual time!) and beat the existing lap record from 1991 by 1.4s…
“My car had a compromise set-up,” said Schumacher post race, “which meant really, I had too little downforce for the wet, and too much for the dry. But at the end of the race it felt fantastic – even better than in qualifying.
“I am really happy that I didn’t win the race because of accidents or somebody has a problem on the car,” he continued, “or for whatever reason fell out. I really won this race by myself and by the team. Everybody has done a fantastic job. I really had the car today. It wasn’t actually in the qualifying, it wasn’t as good as it was in the race. That was unbelievable, and I have to say thank you to the team.”
He paused after the TV race press conference to gather his thoughts. Facing the print journalists, Schumacher found the words to describe his feelings, and the emotion growing from his recent his third place in Germany. “I had water in my eyes for the first time at Hockenheim when I was on the podium, and here even more so. I feel this is a victory we really deserved.”
Mansell agreed: “I must admit I was looking forward to the last seven laps, until the exhaust broke. I was still going flat out but still losing about five seconds per laps. We were very lucky to finish, and I was pleased for that. But it was a great race, and a great race for Michael to win.”
Ten years after, Ross Brawn, himself new to Benetton in 1992, looked back on that day, his first of many successes with Schumacher. “It showed a completeness that Michael has a racing driver, his ability to make the most out of those mixed conditions,” Brawn said. “His ability to work with the team, to come to the right decisions on what to do with strategy, what to do with tyres and giving the information, giving the pointers that you need to help come to a conclusion.
“Those first few race wins that Michael had were opportunist wins in the sense that we perhaps weren’t the fastest car on the day but he managed to put it all together in difficult circumstances,” Brawn adds. “Then of course as the car improved and we were able to give him a better car then the wins became more consistent.”
Spa 1992 was the first of 91 wins for the German, and the build up to seven World Championship titles. But as this celebration of a special moment in his career is written, we at motorsportretro.com wish him all the very best as he chases his biggest victory of all following his skiing accident in December. #KeepFightingMichael.
Photos: Paul-Henri Cahier
Follow @hallbean on twitter, www.romanceofracing.com.
Remembering Michael Schumacher’s first Formula 1 win is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Le Mans prototypes, Group B rally monsters and real-deal turbo F1 icons in the same place, at the same time!
Upon receiving these images we didn’t know where to look – the variety of dream machines which assembled for the 72nd Goodwood Members Meeting was simply that good. We’re thrilled to be able to share them with you, our audience, as we’re sure you’ll enjoy them every bit as much as we have. Special thanks go out to Goodwood Road Racing Club for providing these breathtaking photographs. Be sure to check out their website and Facebook page for even more.
Before we break into the gallery and start pawing over the sheer volume of cool cars, let’s take a look at seven reasons why the 72nd Member’s Meeting was so good:
Reason #1 – That’s the largest group of Bugattis ever assembled anywhere in the world
Reason #2 – Real turbocharged Formula 1 machines, and the glorious sounds that go with them
Reason #3 – Group B Monsters, in the flesh (& carbon)
Reason #4 – Fully populated variety grids
Reason #5 – The atmosphere
Reason #6 – Proximity
Reason #7 – More stories than could be told in a lifetime
Sensory Overload – 72nd Goodwood Member’s Meeting is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Despite never officially scoring any Formula 1 championship points, Rupert Keegan lived the F1 lifestyle to the fullest.
His project “Made It Out Alive” is set to relive the story of his wild racing ride, as he travels throughout Brazil, the US and Europe meeting and reminscing with the men and women who were a part of his truly remarkable era. Watch the video below, and you’ll understand exactly what he means!
“We will talk, laugh and reminisce about whether it really was the golden era of racing, or are we all just relieved we made it out alive” – Rupert Keegan
More info: www.madeitoutalive.com
Ruper Keegan Twitter – https://twitter.com/RupertKeeganF1
Image: The Cahier Archive
Teaser: The wild times of F1 Bad boy Rupert Keegan is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Nothing but the best onboard footage as this fearless driver tears around Spa in his 1965 Porsche.
The completely sideways fashion with which Roman Caresani hustles this car around the track leaves us feeling like he must be at least a little bit of a maniac. Regardless of the fact, he’s very obviously nothing short of a master of his chosen chassis, and we’re thrilled there was an in-car camera present to capture this magic. This is the kind of brave, old-school driving style we just can’t get enough of!
MORE: Onboard with Alesi, Monaco 1995
MORE: Onboard the absolutely brutal Zakspeed Capri
Video: How to (really) drive a 911 at Spa Francorchamps is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Success on the grueling African adventure had eluded Lancia in its 10 previous attempts. In 1988, that story would change.
Lancia’s record up to and including the 1987 season – the first of the all-new Group A era in the World Rally Championship – was enviable: a hat-trick of manufacturers’ titles with the fabulous Stratos in 1974, ’75 and ’76, another crown with the Martini 037 in 1983 and a drivers’/makes’ double in ’87 with the Delta HF Turbo.
The Italian marque had won all the great rallies – Monte Carlo, Sweden, Corsica, Acropolis, Sanremo and the RAC – but its WRC victory tally had one glaring omission: the Safari.
Success on the grueling African adventure had eluded Lancia in its 10 previous attempts. The best result had been second and third in ’75 courtesy of Stratos aces Sandro Munari and Bjorn Waldegaard.
For 1988, Lancia was determined to finally chalk up that maiden success. Armed with the now-six-speed Integrale, a car that had won on its debut last time out in Portugal with Massimo Biasion, the team’s hopes rested on Biasion and his team-mate Vic Preston, a Kenyan-born driver with ‘local’ knowledge.
Fears of a sodden event following intense rainfall during the build-up to rally the were allayed on the first day when crews headed into 35C heat and dusty terrain. The Volkswagen Golf GTis of Erwin Weber and Lars-Erik Torph made the early running on the run to Mombassa, while both Lancias suffered gearbox trouble.
The status quo was soon restored for the team that hadn’t lost a WRC event it had contested for 10 months. Biasion’s Lancia moved ahead on the return up to Nairobi when the leading VW suffered a driveshaft failure, but the Italian was soon to feel the reliability heat when the turbo on the #6 Delta failed, losing him 35 minutes.
The only Italian machine left in the rally – Preston had retired with driveshaft failure – went on a charge. Making up huge chunks of time on his rivals, Biasion fended off a driveshaft issue of his own on the third leg and a collision with a zebra on the fourth to record a relative narrow (in Safari terms) 12-minute victory over the Nissan 200SX of Mike Kirkland.
The historic win, 26 years ago today (April 4), gave Biasion the drivers’ championship points lead for the first time that season and helped his march towards the first of two consecutive titles. It also went a long way to helping Lancia on its way to a sixth makes’ crown.
10 years in the making: How Lancia won the 1988 Safari Rally is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
Aside from being undeniably beautiful, the BT20 is famous for winning titles and breaking records with both Denny Hulme and Jack Brabham behind the wheel. This one could be yours…
Image: Tim Scott Courtesy of RM Auctions
An integral part of Brabham’s 1966 and 1967 World Constructors’ titles, Jack Brabham’s unbeaten, and likely unbeatable, record of being the only man to win a Formula 1 World Championship in a car of his own manufacture, and another World Drivers’ title for Denny Hulme, make the Brabham BT20 a very special machine.
This particular car was Denny Hulme’s in the 1967 season, and it’s up for sale at RM Auctions’ epic Monaco Sale, which will be held in parallel with the 2014 Grand Prix de Monaco Historique on the 10th of May, 2014.
Denny won two races to Jim Clark’s four in 1967, but greater consistency allowed him and Jack Brabham to claim the top two spots in the drivers’ championship, along with a constructors’ title for Brabham.
One of those two race wins came in the second round of the season at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. It was an eventful race and it saw the sad passing of Lorenzo Bandini, who was involved in a horror crash when he clipped the chicane and hit a hidden mooring head chasing down Hulme and died in hospital a few days later. It would become Denny’s first Formula 1 Grand Prix victory, and he won it in this very car.
In the modern era the car has received a stunning mechanical restoration and comes complete with FIA papers, making it an exciting, historic prospect for a historic racer, collector, or combination of the two!
It will go up for sale at RM Auctions’ Monaco Sale, which will be held on the 10th of May at the prestigious Le Sporting. For more information head to the RM Auctions website here or get involved in the discussion over on their Facebook page here.
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Images Tim Scott Courtesy of RM Auctions
RM Auctions Monaco Highlight: 1966 Brabham-Repco BT20 Formula 1 is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.
