Few races in the world were as difficult and dangerous as the Mille Miglia. The race took place on public...
If you don’t know the Furlows of Dallas, Texas, you’ve definitely been hanging with the wrong vintage racing crowd. Father...
With the Concours season starting in California, my memory was jogged to my first and only Pebble Beach Road Races. In 1956, as a freshman engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) several friends and I heard of a sports car race in Carmel, just up the coast...
1959 Costin-Lister BHL133 While the Costin-Lister has proved to be a potent weapon, attention must be paid to both avoiding...
On July 12, 2009, thousands of onlookers witnessed as a 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Roadster was plucked from Lake...
Would you consider equipping your sports car with an aftermarket supercharger then drive it across country from New York to race at Sebring? That’s precisely what John Bentley and Paul O’Shea did with Bentley’s 1950 Simca 8 Sport Cabriolet (#888673). The year was 1950 and the first-ever race at Sebring...
Much like the animal it was named for, the precise origin of the Unicorn H-Modified sports racer remains a mystery....
This painting by British artist Neil Podbery depicts Mike Hawthorn rushing his Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta Competizione through an Italian street in the heat of an August day on his way to victory in the 1953 12 Hours of Pescara. The Ferrari was co-driven by Italian starr Umberto Maglioli and produced yet another victory...
What was Jud Phillips thinking? This has been the question that’s tormented Bill Fester for nearly a decade. Fester, from...
The Formula Junior category was introduced in Italy in 1958 by Count Giovanni Lurani, and in 1959 became an International...
I worked for Jaguar from 1952 to 1986 as Chief Test and Development Engineer. Throughout that time I drove some really interesting and special cars, but nothing compares to the 1955 long-nosed D-Type Jaguar, a car that I drove flat out down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans—192 mph—passing Karl...
There is no hidden racecar in this story, but there are four treasures, one mechanical and three human. I love...
This is the story of two men, born 45 years apart, each completely obsessed with the automobile, and both hopelessly...
John GrantPhoto: Kary Jiggle John Grant is the current Chairman of the British Racing Drivers Club, and since taking on that role has had to make many difficult and radical decisions to secure the future of Silverstone Racing Circuit—The Home of British Motor Racing. Some may ask who is John...
Coker’s Lines Dear Editor, Your story about the recreated 1953 Austin-Healey 100S Record Car was interesting. The caption notes how...
Then. Etceterini.com is the place to be if you’re obsessed with small displacement Italian wizardry of the 1950s. If it’s...
Photo: Steve Oom “Flat out like a lizard drinking!” Came the response from Andrew Woodall when I asked him how he was. It was a Monday afternoon and in a couple of days Andrew was heading off to Winton Motor Raceway, in the middle of the Australian state of Victoria for...
Then. I’ve been hiding something from you. I’m not proud of it, and it’s been going on for way too...
This piece was created by mixed media artist Jonathan Carter to commemorate Maserati’s centennial. The painting depicts Juan Manuel Fangio...
Another great American sports car driver of the fifties has left us. Dick Irish passed away March 19, 2015, of congestive heart failure at the age of 85 Several highlights illuminated his driving career. In 1951, he traded his aluminum-bodied Jaguar XK-120 for a Norton-engined Kieft Formula III and a...
The racing surface didn’t have time to cure properly, so it had to be repaired at intervals by work crews...
It’s hard to imagine that what was probably the greatest range of post-war production sports cars, really started life as...
Three-owner Kellison was extracted from a barn, in 1986, and restored by author, racer and rally organizer Rich Taylor. I should have known better. I stood next to the 1959 Kellison J-4R as the owner clambered in through the window. Key inserted, he started the car. Better said, he lit...
Then. I must have called the guy dozens of times, year after year for more than a decade. It was...
Then After back-to-back wins at the Indianapolis 500 in 1953 and 1954, Bill Vukovich returned for the ’55 race with...
Photo: Sean Smith Watkins Glen, New York, September 19, 1953. On lap 19, of a scheduled 22-lap race, Walter Hansgen lost the lead of the Watkins Glen Grand Prix. Walt’s car began to run out of fuel—a momentary stumble—forcing him to switch to his reserve tank and allowing the more...
Photo: Dick Barnatt A 1954 Aston Martin DB 2/4, which is believed to have been the inspiration for James Bond’s...
January, 1959. At this time, the German 1½ litre Borgward Isabella Coupé was in growing demand, reaching nearly 100mph with...
The year 1957 was one of firsts for Corvette. It may have been a virtual twin to the 1956 model, but there were surprises lurking under some of those Vettes’ fiberglass skin. There could be a 4-speed manual transmission, Rochester Ramjet fuel injection and a 283-cu.in. engine. One of the...
