Steve McQueen was “The Man” for a generation, and racing through the night in a blue 917 became the holy grail of many fevered imaginations Over three tumultuous seasons of World Championship endurance racing, Porsche’s 4.5-liter—and later 4.9 and 5.0-liter—917s fought a no-holds-barred battle with Fiat-Ferrari and their 5-liter, V12 […]
This is a very collectible automobile, albeit for an enthusiast with a specific set of passions, with Le Mans, French, and weird being essential to the mix From 1950-64, Panhard & Levassor rekindled a sporting tradition dating back to 1895 and Emile Levassor’s victory in Paris-Bordeaux-Paris, the world’s first motor […]
{vsig}2010-9_2528{/vsig}Frank Nichols’ first sports-racer was built in 1954, designed by Mike Chapman, competing immediately and successfully against the similar small-displacement Lotus sports-racers of Colin Chapman. Its success encouraged Nichols to emulate its design with the first few Elva live rear axle sports-racers. Mk II featured a De Dion rear axle. […]
With the introduction and sales success of the road-going 3500GT, however, the company’s health improved drastically, prompting a renewed interest in creating a sports car that could be raced, not by the factory, but by privateers. Credit for the resulting Tipo 60/61 goes to engineer extraordinaire Giulio Alfieri, who, during […]
Williams F1, one of the world’s leading Formula One motor racing teams, was founded in 1977 by Frank Williams and Patrick Head. One of the few independent F1 teams, it has won 16 FIA F1 World Championships and seven Driver’s Championships. The FW07 was a groundbreaking car regarded by many […]
In 1958, following the Austin-Healey 100, Donald Healey and BMC (British Motor Corporation) teamed up to introduce the little Sprite. Speed parts were soon available from tuning firms, most notably Speedwell Performance Conversions. The firm also collaborated with Frank Costin and the Williams and Pritchard coachworks to produce a number […]
The Carrera 2.7 RS has long been regarded as one of the great cars of all time and, by some, the greatest of all road-going Porsches. Their competition achievements speak for themselves, while their on-road performance remains special to this day. Even the extraordinary (for the period) 0-60 mph acceleration […]
In 1957, Brian Lister built his first Jaguar-powered sports racer, with which he achieved outstanding racing victories with the brilliant one-armed driver Archie Scott Brown. During this time, Lister’s sponsor, British Petroleum, was seeking a team of large-displacement sports racing cars to rival Aston Martin and Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars, both […]
Recipe: Take a good 3-liter Red Label Bentley chassis, mix in a good 4½-liter engine, gearbox, and transmission and add a light body with accessories to taste. The result is a motorcar which, while still retaining a good vintage flavor, possesses a performance equaled by few other machines even of […]
By the mid 1990s, there was growing interest at Mercedes-Benz and Porsche in returning to an ultra-exclusive form of racing featuring homologated race cars in the tradition of the great Gran Turismo cars of yesteryear. The result was the FIA GT Championship, which commenced in 1997 to great fanfare. Mercedes-Benz […]
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