Thor Thorson

1966 Brabham-Repco BT20 F1 When the FIA announced in late 1963 that a 3-liter limit would be imposed on Formula One racing in 1966, a scramble ensued among competitors to develop suitable new engines. Jack Brabham turned to Repco, an Australian parts supplier. Development centered on Oldsmobile’s F-85 V8 block, which offered the advantage of…

In the winter of 1953–54, Enzo Ferrari concentrated his engineers’ attention upon perfecting a line of large-capacity sports-racing cars for customer sale, backed by a secondary line of smaller variants. To promote and publicize the new sports cars, he approved development of a muscle-bound, outsized “big bazooka” for his Works team. Mr. Ferrari authorized construction…

In 1955, Alpine was founded by Jean Rédélé, who originally modified and campaigned Renault 4CVs but quickly found success in many of the world’s most illustrious sports car races. Soon enough, Rédélé started building his own cars on the 4CV chassis and mechanicals, with the A106 being produced in 1955. Nevertheless, Rédélé’s passion for racing…

Today, Porsche remains the uncontested champion of more endurance races than any other manufacturer, having amassed the most outright wins at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. Yet in the early 1960s, Porsche remained an unconventional, small-displacement manufacturer only capable of winning class victories. At the onset of the prototype era, however, Porsche’s strategy on motorsports…

Lola Cars was founded in 1958 by former Quantity Surveyor Eric Broadley, who was located in Huntingdon, England. His first “production car,” the Lola Mark I, was so superior that it immediately made obsolete Colin Chapman’s previously unbeatable Lotus 11s — as well as all Elvas and Coopers. One of Broadley’s most interesting cars was,…

Alfa Romeo’s successful Giulietta range debuted in 1954 with the arrival of the Bertone-styled Sprint coupe, the Berlina (saloon) not appearing until the succeeding season. Veloce models with improved performance followed, and the agile Giulietta SV quickly established an enviable record in production-car racing, notable victories including a Gran Turismo class win in the 1956…

As Marcel Massini, the pre-eminent Ferrari historian declared, “Ferrari’s 250 LM is one of the most spectacular mid-engined sports cars ever built — a true competition race car rarer than the legendary 250 GTO, and the last Ferrari to win the grueling 24-hour race at Le Mans.” Chassis number 6107 is the 24th car of…

This month I’m going to write the Race Profile a little differently, because we’re looking at two Alfa Romeo T 33 racing cars that, although both are T 33s, in fact share little more than the lineage and the manufacturer’s logo. So it seems most useful to dispense with the customary catalog introduction and instead…

Here we are absolutely delighted to have been engaged to offer this outstanding, uniquely important, supercharged straight-8 Alfa Romeo Grand Prix car for sale by auction. It is a superb example of the first all-independently suspended, big-engined Grand Prix racing design from Alfa Romeo, which the Portello factory made in 1936 to combat the might…