The finned Cunningham D-Types of Walt Hansgen and Sherwood Johnston, wait with Duncan Forlong’s AC/Bristol and Curtis Attaway’s XK-120.Photo: Bob...
Austrian born Karl Alberto Abarth did so many things so very well. He was a motorcycle racing champion, multiple land...
The 1955 24-hour race at Le Mans was set to be an epic contest. Mercedes-Benz had entered the brilliant new W196 single seater-based sports car, the 300 SLR. Stirling Moss had driven the 300 SLR to victory two months previously in the Mille Miglia. For this race he was to...
Cliff Reuter and I suffer from codependency. The phone calling and emailing is incessant. I regularly disturb him while he’s...
Formula 3 was a superb training ground for many British drivers in the early 1950s. For this sunny International Daily...
Half a century ago, if your perfectly good sports car were damaged in an accident, you had options. One such option, available starting in the late 1950s, was rather than repairing the body, you could replace it with a completely different body that was made out of a relatively new...
Two Italian gentlemen wedged into a tiny race car, flying atop open roads across glorious countryside, through blistering sun and...
Pete Lyons Come with me to Italy, if you’ve got a minute, I want to show you something neat. We’re...
During the November 1952 running of Mexico’s fabled Carrera Pan-Americana, the Karl Kling/Hans Klenk Mercedes 300SL makes a pit stop for new tires in the Sierra Madre after Tehuantepec. Note that the windshield has been smashed by hitting an errant buzzard at high speed, and that Klenk is wearing goggles...
“Wow, I could have had an 8V!” Can you imagine if Fiat had hired actor Ronald Reagan in 1952 to...
I was involved with the E-Type Jaguar right from its inception, initially as an employee under the wing of Lofty...
1956 Lycoming Special The immediate post World War Two years were best described as austere times for many countries, even those that were on the allied side. The post-WW2 period for New Zealand was particularly difficult, especially when it came to imports, as successive New Zealand governments sought to take...
Bill Devin was a friend of mine. Even in his eighties he was incredibly sharp, had nearly flawless recall and...
“Their hopes, their dreams, their love; tied to a ribbon of road…and a boy’s unflinching faith…in a girl!” “A story...
June 2011 The Art of Bugatti Richard Adatto, Christina Japp and Julius Kruta Published by the Mullin Automotive Museum with Coachbuilt Press, this book embodies the desire of founder Peter Mullin to celebrate not only the artistry of the automobile, but the art deco movement as well. To that end,...
With a dad like Stan Jones it was hardly surprising that Alan became a motor racing nut when he was...
Italo Piana is a living legend among Italian MotoGP fans. He won the Italian Motorcycle Championship three times, and was...
“My name is Casey; and I’m a recovering Triumph owner.” Or at least that’s how I’ve felt for a number of years. They say you can’t change where you come from, and I suppose that adage is as true in cars as it is in life. My first “collector” car...
My motor racing career started with the most basic form of car, a 1952 Ford Anglia E93A, which I towed...
April 2011 Out of the Shadows By Roger Lane In the late 1960s, by a chance meeting, Roger Lane was...
Le Mans 1957 represented the high water mark for Jaguar’s iconic D-Type. Handicapped by the reduction of engine size to 3-liters for the 1958 season, the D-Type was never to win again at Le Mans. However, the model, having won the previous two 24-hour races, cemented its hat trick by achieving an overwhelming...
September 2010 A great idea that failed. Jaguar created special streamlined bodywork for its C-Types for the 1952 Le Mans 24...
David Duthu’s appetite for interesting and eclectic cars seems to be boundless. He vintage races a Bugatti Type 35A and...
The early post-war interest in small displacement automobile racing in Europe was fueled by enthusiasm and petrol rationing. Money was tight and 500-cc home-spun race cars powered by motorcycle engines were relatively affordable. These cars were built on weight-sparing tubeframe chassis and were most often motivated by half-liter chain-driven JAP...
Terry Bennett says he grew up as both a nerd and a motor-head. It was hardly his fault. His father...
In the March 2009 VRJ I wrote about Don Blenderman’s Kurtis obsession and his wonderful Sutton-bodied 500KK. What I failed...
The inspiration behind the concepts and designs of Lister cars came from the pre-war Mercedes racing cars that would today be regarded as Formula One cars. They were simplistic but reliable in construction, with independent front suspension, de Dion rear suspension, and tubular chassis. Many builders experimented with multi-tubes, but...
This is the story of four Reuters, blood relatives… but not necessarily to each other. It’s also the story of...
April 2010 Racing for Mercedes-Benz By Hartmut Lehbrink With the re-entry of Mercedes-Benz into Grand Prix racing as a factory effort, and the naming of seven-time titlist Michael Schumacher as one of the team’s drivers comes renewed interest in the marque. Schumacher is not the only famous name ever to...
