The latest piece from Petrolicious is pretty special, which comes as no surprise when you consider that the feature vehicle is one of the most desirable automobiles man has ever built – the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Only 36 such Ferrari GTOs were ever made, and this particular machine, chassis #5571, was the first of the Series II bodies. It ran in multiple endurance races including the Sebring 12 hour and Nassau TT, as well as a class win at the Daytona Continental 2000km.
Colin McRae grabs some airtime at the 1997 Rally of Australia.
It was late in the season of WRC 1997, and Colin McRae was charging hard to catch points leader Tommi Makinen. McRae had won the round prior in Italy, however third place for Makinen meant the pair remained separated by a considerable gap.
This photo shows Colin McRae on his way to win again in Australia, however Tommi was right behind him in second, diluting the effect of McRae’s efforts incredible efforts upon the overall championship standings. Colin McRae would go on to win in Great Britain in the next and final round of the season, marking three consecutive wins, however even coming in 6th would allow Makinen to win the championship by 1 point – McRae 62, Makinen 63.
Find out why this is the most original, period correct Porsche 962 in the world today…
One of the last Porsche Factory 962s ever constructed, chassis #962-170 was specifically ordered by Japanese racing team TRUST in 1991 in FIA World Sportscar Championship configuration. The motor was a 3.2L, one of the latest and last ever fitted by Porsche to a 962. Now, the whole car is for sale…
But what makes this Porsche so special today is what happened (or rather didn’t happen), next. The car was used by TRUST for just a few hours of on-track testing before being shelved for unknown reasons. Chassis 962-170 has never seen the rigors of racing, and has never been modified.
It is the most original, period-correct 962 in the world today.
The bodywork was a high down force prototype, and it looks incredibly menacing. It has been completely restored and race-prepped by Canepa, and is now fully sorted and race ready. The sellers describe this car as being as close as one will ever get to a brand new 962.
David Coulthard speaks of what his relationship with the legend meant to him.
David Coulthard was the man who took over Ayrton Senna’s seat at Williams after his passing. In this exclusive film, UBS sat down with David Coulthard and had him recount his personal encounters with the all-time sporting greats. David shares fond memories of Senna, and talks of the character traits which made him into an icon who has transcended the limitations of time.
Find more David Coulthard Insights and everything about UBS & F1 at http://www.ubs.com/f1
This quick clip from the British Saloon Car Championship (BSCC) race at Crystal Palace in 1964 showcases the awesome driving style of the one and only Jim Clark. The period commentary makes this little gem even more enjoyable, we hope you like it as much as we do!
A quick reminder why Ayrton Senna’s 1988 Monaco qualifying lap is so legendary.
So highly regarded is that lap, that today many still consider it to be the single greatest lap in Formula 1 history. McLaren decided to showcase it with this terrific video, in order to commemorate the life and career of their most iconic driver 20 years after his death. They’ve done a fantastic job, and it’s well worth watching.
Fangio, Kling and Ascari on the front line of the grid before the start of the 1954 French Grand Prix at Reims. They qualified in first, second and third respectively, and would finish the race the same way – aside from Ascari, who would be forced to retire very early on with transmission problems. The race marked the debut of the Mercedes W196 – and Fangio’s first time behind the wheel for the German marque in F1.
Juan Manuel Fangio would go on to win the 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 Formula 1 World Championships to add to his title from 1951.
Strap yourself to the roof of a Porsche and blast through the mountains.
Two time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz is most certainly the type of guy you can trust behind the wheel as a driver. Even so, we wonder if veteran co-driver Luis Moya was just a little bit nervous watching that guard rail fly past his window at breakneck speed!
With the Spanish GP right around the corner, let’s take a look back at eight unforgettable moments the event has seen in the past…
The ups and the downs – these are the moments in which time stood still at Spanish Grands Prix throughout the years.
1981
An incredible display of raw driving talent by Gilles Villeneuve, who held off a train of four fierce race cars in what should have been a much slower Ferrari.
1990
During qualifying at Jerez in 1990 Martin Donnelly is involved in one of the most horrific non-fatal accidents Formula 1 has ever seen. His team mate Derek Warwick said the next day “That accident could happen another five million times, and in every one of them he would be dead”. In terms of survival it remains one of the great escapes of the sport – although Donnelly was seriously injured. Read more about it here - The Luckiest Man Alive.
1968
Jarama 1968 saw a heroic drive from Graham Hill, who took the still in mourning Lotus team to victory just a few short days after Mike Spence had tragically lost his life whilst racing at Indianapolis. Spence’s death had come in the wake of Jim Clark’s own fatal crash at Hockenheim – the weight that Hill must have felt as he strapped himself into his car that day must have been enormous. (Image: The Cahier Archive)
1994
An emotional win for Damon Hill less than one month after the death of Ayrton Senna. Captured perfectly in this powerful photograph by The Cahier Archive.
1996
Michael Schumacher’s first win for Ferrari was a huge moment – particularly in hindsight given the sheer volume of additional victories that were to come. Shocking weather conditions saw Michael triumph over the rest of the pack in a car that should have been much slower than the Williams, leading second place Jean Alesi by more than 45 seconds over the finish line.
1975
The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix was one of those events where right from the start, things just weren’t right. There was a huge amount of anger amongst the drivers from the lead up to the race, directed at the danger they felt the disjointed barriers presented. A strike was called, with many big names refusing to drive. Event staff eventually overcame the incident by repairing the barriers overnight, however the race was later marred by the death of a fireman, a photographer, and two spectators when Rolf Stommelen’s Embassy Racing Hill-Lola speared into one of the barieers. Read more about it here.
2001
An absolute heart-breaker for Mika Hakkinen, who looked set to win the Spanish Grand Prix in 2001 as he entered the final lap of the race well ahead of second place Michael Schumacher before a terminal engine failure forced him to retire. A strong reminder of how quickly one’s luck can turn in motor racing. It’s not over until it’s over!
2012
Pastor Maldonado’s first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix victory was a cracker – holding off Fernando Alonso long enough to claim William’s first outright win in more than seven years. It was an upset victory and a reminder of just how unpredictable the Spanish GP can be. What will this weekend bring?
They both raced and won for Williams in F1, they were both IndyCar champions, and they both won the Indy 500. Now Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Montoya are returning to the Brickyard in 2014…
What do Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Montoya have in common? They both raced and won for Williams in Formula 1? Yes (Villeneuve won the World Champonship, too). They were both Indycar champions? Yes. They both won the Indy 500? Yes. Another, more up-to-date similarity is that both are returning to the Brickyard in 2014, having not raced open-wheel cars there since their wins – JV in 1995, JPM in 2000.
By Andy Hallbery
If the Indy 500 didn’t have enough story lines already, this may be the one that will grab headlines around the world, as two F1 stars return to Indianapolis as former winners of the famed 500. Montoya is back 14 years after his triumph, while Villeneuve, who raced there twice in 1994 and 95, with a second and a first place on his resume, returns after nearly two decades.
If you stop and think about racing’s all-time greats, both Villeneuve and Montoya are a Le Mans win away from being right up there – and even Mario Andretti doesn’t have that. Montoya won the Monaco GP in 2003, Villeneuve the F1 World Championship in 1996. Both are IndyCar champions and Indy 500 winners. Montoya has won the Daytona 24 Hours and in NASCAR twice.
Let’s look back at their respective wins. Villeneuve’s victory is famous for so many things. The Penskes of Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr – so dominant the previous year – both failed to qualify. Villeneuve, at 24, was the youngest driver in the field and, most memorably, overcame a two-lap penalty for passing the pace car under yellow, to win. Thus, he won the Indy 505.
Ironically, the win came at the cost of Scott Goodyear, who himself was judged to have passed the pace car on a restart with nine laps left – too late to get back in contention, so he ignored the penalty.
“We did everything we could do to NOT win this race,” said Villeneuve in Victory Lane. “But when we did, it was very exciting.
“When I learned that I was two laps down, I swore a little bit,” he added. “I made two mistakes, once I stalled in the pits and another time I left too early. I knew on that last restart that Goodyear was going to get black-flagged. A regulation is a regulation.”
There was more controversy behind, with Bobby Rahal looking likely to pick up the win – until he too was penalised, for speeding in pitlane at three-quarter distance.
“We should have won that race,” says Rahal. “I was ahead of Jacques after that last stop and I felt I was in position to race for the lead. I can’t believe I got that penalty. My dashboard said 92mph and my crew said they had the same speed on their computers. Then, the officials claim I went 109. That’s B.S!” That’s an alleged 17mph over. Remember that number for later.
Montoya’s win came at the height of the CART versus IRL battle that in effect destroyed open-wheel racing in America. Chip Ganassi, in very much a one-off, took his CART team of reigning champion Montoya and Jimmy Vasser to Indy, prepared their new IRL cars, and went and dominated. That remains Montoya’s only Indy 500 start. He also looked odds on to win the NASCAR Brickyard 400 in 2009 after untterly dominating the race, but had a pitlane speeding penalty served on him late on. One that he reacted to just as Rahal had done to his in 1995!
On the team radio on hearing the news, Montoya, who had led 116 of the 160 laps and was cruising to an historic win, let his fury fly: “If they do this to me, I’m going to kill them,” he yelled. “There’s no way. I was on the green [dash light].
“Thank you, NASCAR, for screwing my day. We had it in the bag and they screwed us because I was not speeding. I swear on my children and my wife.”
His margin of sin that day in the pits? 0.16mph…
Cynics suggested that with Indy having had their faces rubbed in it with a CART team winning the Indy 500 nine years before, they weren’t about to let the same guy do it in NASCAR too. But hey, that’s racing!
It was certainly a punch in the face for the IRL when the Ganassi CART team came, saw and conquered in 2000. Montoya, though, treated it as a race, not a political battle. “We’re here like any other IRL team,” he said, as reigning CART champion. “We’re not here with a CART flag.”
But John Menard, one of the original IRL team owners, saw Montoya’s overwhelming victory as proof that the newer open-wheel series was not yet a match for CART.
“They raised the competition to a whole new level. It’s certainly going to raise some questions about the ability of the IRL teams to compete with CART. They were the best of the best; a very powerful team, a very organised team.”
So to 2014. Montoya, now in a Penske, surely has at least a shot at repeating his win? Incredibly, the Indy 500 race will be his first open-wheel oval race since he left CART in 2000.
“The oval side I am not worried about at all, to be honest with you,” Montoya told AUTOSPORT magazine.
“With seven years of NASCAR and my open-wheel experience before that, I’m pretty excited about going to the ovals. The one you want to win is an oval: you want to win the Indy 500. So I’m excited about that. Having the opportunity to be at Indy with Team Penske is going to be huge.”
Villeneuve feels the same way, having raced everything from Le Mans to NASCAR trucks, to World Rallycross since retiring from F1. Now, 42, he will be driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsport.
“If you have to win one race in the whole of your career, the Indy 500 is the one,” said the Canadian. “The discussions happened at the right time. I had been watching the IndyCars last year and it looked extremely exciting, to the point where I was angry and jealous that I wasn’t racing.
“I have so many wonderful memories of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway throughout my career, including my last appearance at the track in the Brickyard 400”, he added.
Special thanks to @IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Patsy White.
An original artwork inspired by Porsche, our favorite shirt this week features none other than a 908/3 Spyder.
The original Porsche 908 was, of course, a coupe with an enclosed cockpit for minimum drag and maximum speed. By the time the 1960s came to a close, however, the lighter 908/3 Spyder with its open-cockpit bodywork had become more popular. To us, the one depicted on the shirt looks just the one raced by Jo Siffert and Derek Bell at the Nurburgring in 1971.
This T-shirt celebrates the glory of the 908 in a fresh, crisp, wearable fashion. This is original art inspired by Porsche. It is unofficial and in no way associated with Porsche. Porsche and related marks are registered trademarks of Porsche. Our organic T-shirts are Continental Earth Positive made with 100% organic cotton. They weigh 155g and are a standard fitting T-shirt.
The latest installment of one of our most popular pieces, ever.
It’s nearly five years since I first revealed a selection of my favourite race and rallycar liveries, those colour schemes and identities that really got – and still get – the juices flowing.
Deciding what to leave out is always hard – clearly, there’s potential to have ‘Luscious Liveries – part 50’.
In the meantime, here’s another 10 that stand the test of time, every time:
Bastos
The red-and-white stripes of the Belgian tobacco brand looked ace on a variety of rally machines in the 1980s, including BMW’s M1 and E30 M3, the Lancia 037 and Porsche 911, but, for me, the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesses that starred in the European Touring Car Championship in 1985 and ’86 perfectly epitomised its motorsport association. Bastos was bold and bullish, a bit like those Rovers.
Blaupunkt
That simple, blue-and-white colour scheme, with that efficient, Teutonic logo looked perfect on Joest Racing’s Porsche Group C racers. And with ‘Brilliant Bob’ Wollek on the driving strength – helping Porsche to its final World Sportscar Championship win at Dijon in 1989 – the German car hi-fi firm became a cult brand among boy racers.
Budweiser
Adolphus Busch’s all-American beer, often abbreviated to ‘Bud’, was the perfect fit for the US NASCAR stockcar series, particularly when it adorned Bill Elliott’s Junior Johnson-run #11 Ford Thunderbird in the early 1990s. And not forgetting Budweiser’s long-time association with Top Fuel drag legend King Kenny Bernstein.
Chesterfield
Chesterfield County in Virginia gave its name to a tobacco brand and their red/white/yellow corporate identity made me want to take on the Dakar Rally on a Yamaha Ténéré as a lad. Still does. The Chesterfield name also appeared in Formula 1, adorning US marine-turned-racer Brett Lunger ‘s McLaren in 1977, and even made the hopeless Scuderia Italia Dallara of 1993 look good.
Duckhams
If you wanted a leg-up the Formula Ford 1600 single-seater ladder in the 1980s and ’90s, you needed a works Van Diemen. And for many years, they came emblazoned in the blue-and-yellow colours of the BP-owned Duckhams oil company. One of the longest-standing national-racing sponsorship deals is recalled fondly by fans.
Guinness
The Irish stout brand’s colours looked mega on the British March F1 team’s car in 1981 and the tie-up was complemented perfectly by Irishman Derek Daly on the driving strength for eight grands prix. The car’s best result was only a seventh – in the British GP from 17th on the grid – but it was a livery that really ought to have stuck around longer.
Hawaiian Tropic
Think bikini-clad girls, think Le Mans. That just about sums up Hawaiian Tropic’s motorsport credentials, for which we’re all grateful, but when it comes to the suntan cream brand, founded by Ron Rice in 1969, looking good on a car, the Paul Newman/Dick Barbour/Rolf Stommelen Porsche 935 that finished second at Le Mans in 1979 makes a pretty good case.
Kouros
The Yves Saint Laurent aftershave brand made Sauber’s 1986 C8 Group C car look superb and when it became a winner, at the Nurburgring that year with Henri Pescarolo and Mike Thackwell, teenaged male racefans – me included – soon got in on the act by discarding their tired bottles of Old Spice and buying up Kouros .
Quaker State
NASCAR star Ricky Rudd’s #26 Quaker State Buick racer brought the oil brand plenty of attention in 1988 and ’89, but its logos also looked the part on Teo Fabi’s white-and-green Porsche-engined March IndyCar at the same time. The Italian won at Mid-Ohio in ’89 to get one over the otherwise-dominant Penske Chevrolets, which seemed to add to the oddly-named firm’s visual appeal.
Skoal Bandit
What was it about the image of a cowboy in a Stetson with a handkerchief over his mouth that looked so good on a RAM F1 car, a Porsche Group C car or a NASCAR stocker? The American chewing tobacco brand’s logo was quite unlike anything else and for its distinctive image it finds itself firmly deposited in the 1980s memory banks.
Ride onboard with Keiichi Tsuchiya as he blasts around Tsukuba in his 1991 All Japan Touring Nissan GT-R.
Keiichi Tsuchiya is nothing short of a legend among enthusiasts of Japanese Motorsport. He’s one of those guys who’s pretty much done it all. Back in the early 1990s he was famous for letting it all hang out with his wild style while racing a Nissan Skyline GT-R in the All Japan Touring Car Championship.
In this clip, he jumps back behind the wheel of the exact Group A STP Taisan GT-R he drove during the 1991 season, and blasts around Tsukuba with cameras onboard. The sound of this car is truly something special. Keep a look out for cameo appearances by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Manabu Orido, too.
This is what a pole position lap around Spa looks like.
Banging upshifts and clunking downshifts, this Lola T70 MK3b delivers a symphony of great sounding racecar noises as it tears its way around Spa Francorchamps to make pole position in the hands of Olly Bryant during the World Sportscar Masters Series in 2011.
In 1972 a fantastic documentary was made. 40 years later it’s back and better than ever.
Back in 1971, Roman Polanski documented a weekend spent with Jackie Stewart as the Formula 1 racing hero battled to win the Monaco Grand Prix. The film he made included intimate footage from behind the scenes, and some incredible shots of action both on the track, and off of it.
At the time the film was celebrated for being a very special glimpse into the private life of a world champion driver. Today it’s even more, Weekend of a Champion is a time machine – transporting the viewer straight back to the glory days of motor racing.
Recently the film was remastered, and the resulting piece is remarkable. Watch the thrilling high and crushing lows experienced by Jackie Stewart during his time behind the wheel.
Sydney saw the introduction of a new historic motorsport event this past weekend, with the inaugural running of the Sydney Retro Speedfest held at Sydney Motorsport Park over the 3rd and 4th of May.
The event brought together an impressive collection of historic machinery, featuring plenty to enjoy no matter what your classic car preferences. Everything from classic sports cars to ‘big bangers’ from the Heritage Touring Car championship, Group C champions and a healthy collection of Formula 1 legends hit the track over the weekend, resting in the pits and paddock in between runs with generous access for spectators to explore and enjoy.
Glorious sounds of historic motorsport machinery at full-tilt formed the backdrop for the weekend’s events, and the circuit was abuzz all weekend with plenty of tight no-holds-barred racing.
A hallmark of these events, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, and it was great to be able to chat with people as they enjoyed the event or prepared their cars for the next race.
Dan Gurney: All American Racer is an exciting new series being brought to the public by RACER.com. Centered around the incredible life of the only American team owner to ever win a Formula 1 Grand Prix in his own car, it’s shaping up to be something pretty special.
In this first episode, RACER’s own Robin Miller accompanies Gurney as they walk the halls of the All American Workshop in Santa Ana California, learning of how the iconic brand got started.
This Group C classic from Jean Rondeau, the only man to ever win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car of his own name and design, is up for sale at Legends Automotive.
The Rondeau M382 was built as a stop-gap between the M379 and the M482, which Rondeau was developing for the introduction of Group C in the 1982 season. It combined the chassis from the M379 with new in-board suspension developed for the M482, along with several other modifications, and ran a 3.9L DFL engine.
1982 was the first time that a Rondeau would contest a race other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and would in fact be entered in the full World Sportscar Championship. Wasting no time at all, this car, chassis 004, won in its debut at the 1982 1000 KM of Monza, driven by Henri Pescarola, Giorgia Francia and Jean Rondeau.
That would be its only competitive outing, so 004 retired with a clean one-for-one record in 1982. Currently fitted with a 3.3L DFL engine and including the original 3.9L powerplant, the car’s in good condition, eligible for historic motorsport with a FIA HTP, and offered with a collection of memorabilia including team clothing.
Buckle up and prepare yourself for a thrill ride around Donington in this gorgeous Lancia LC2.
With a Ferrari sourced 3L twin turbo engine and an exhaust note to die for, this ex-Le Mans Lancia LC2 the stuff dreams are made of – and that’s before you even take in ‘those’ Martini stripes. It’s one of the prettiest Le Mans race cars of all time, and today we’re going for a ride in it! Enjoy.
If that’s not enough, take a good look up and close at the monster itself, and enjoy a quick explanation of what the car’s like in the words of owner Rupert Clevely:
Is this the finest automotive shape of all time?
