Since the very beginning of motorsports competition, a common thread has run through the sport: It takes money to go...
Among this year’s anniversaries is that of the Mini Cooper. John Cooper and Alec Issigonis became pals while competing in...
Richard Petty Antonio Ascari 3 Mark Donohue wins the USAC Champ Car race at Pocono, Pennsylvania, for Team Penske’s first Champ Car victory (1971). 4 Frank Verbeck wins $50,000 when he drives a Fiat to victory in the 444-mile Pan-Pacific Road Race from Los Angeles to Sacramento. Longest race on...
Carlo Chiti Emerson Fittipaldi 1 Scuderia Ferrari is formed as the Alfa Romeo factory racing team (1929). 2 Peter Gethin...
1964 Cooper T70 For a youthful 26 year old, the lure of winning your own country’s premier motor race in...
1972 Lola T290-Tecno Here is your first question for 10 points: How many racing car manufacturers have been going nonstop for 50 years? Answer: two. Let me refine the question a bit. How many manufacturers of only racing cars have been going for 50 years and are still in international...
1968 Lolita MkI & the 1969 Lolita MkII My first car was a British Motor Corporation Mini. I had just turned...
Famed car builder John Cooper passed away on Christmas eve after losing his battle with cancer, he was 77. John...
Photo: BRDC Archive My greatest racecar is not a car I actually drove, but it represents a missed opportunity I had to get into Grand Prix racing in the 1960s. The Cooper Car Company, so famous in Formula One in the late 1950s and early 1960s for changing the shape...
1959 OSCA | 1960 Lotus 18 | 1963 Brabham BT6 Regular readers of VR will know that we have a fondness for...
1960 Kieft Formula Junior The history of British motorsport is rife with postwar racecar manufacturers that saw their genesis in...
With the recent passings of Carroll Shelby, Roy Salvadori and Ted Cutting, all key players for Aston Martin’s World Sportscar Championship-winning team of 1959, it seemed reasonable to speak with another racer who worked in that fabled John Wyer-run team, Rex Woodgate. Woodgate is a notoriously detail-oriented mechanic who became...
Frankly, I was surprised at how easily it drove after some previous experiences I had with other open-wheelers. Owner Ed...
The author puts his back into steering the Trimax through a left hander at Mallory Park.Photo: Andy Thorpe Was Alvin...
As a result of my 1967 win in the Kyalami Nine Hours, in South Africa with Jacky Ickx in the JW Automotive Mirage M1, John Wyer signed us to continue our partnership the following year. Wyer’s 1968 entries were Ford GT40s, splendidly liveried in what became the most iconic team...
As you’ll read in this month’s news, Bette Hill, wife of World Champion Graham and mother of World Champion Damon,...
I was going through a pile of papers when I found the order of service for John Cooper’s funeral. I...
Conception, a friend of mine used to say, “is the biggest word in the English language.” His aphorism came to mind when I learned of the recent passing of John Cooper. It was never my privilege to meet Cooper, but the cars he and his father, Charles, created were central...
It’s amazing how some of the names forged into the history of motorsport were first introduced to it. Some have...
The most famous race on earth may have a checkered past as part of the World Championship, but foreign flavor...
Mike Lawrence One of the delights of Vintage Racecar is reading the small ads and being reminded of the sheer diversity of historic racing. You have the big names, of course, but there are the lesser-known makes like Bolwell, Elden and Huffaker—to pick three from a recent issue. None of...
“Boy’s Own” Racer Personally speaking, I’m not an advocate of racing specials, especially those cars built that have little, or...
Having a father interested in motorsport, and him taking me to watch Tazio Nuvolari race at the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, directly led to my lifetime of involvement in the sport. Nuvolari really left an indelible impression on me. Initially, as a young boy, I emulated Nuvolari in my mind,...