This is certainly off topic, but the theme from Friday is carried over a bit - passion. This guy has it for motorsports in general and it really comes through in his writing and subject selections. You can ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Man, I love that Monaco footage from 1976. I remember as an 18 year old (in 1988), going to Monte Carlo, for the race, it's pure insanity. <object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=956722&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=956722&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br />Monaco Grand Prix On-Board with the 1976 6-wheeled Tyrrell P34 from alex king on Vimeo.
That's a really cool link, thanks. When I was growing up you were either a hot rod guy or a sportscar guy, like the two somehow weren't supposed to mix. I never quite understood that as the thrill of driving seemed to transcend all of it, no matter what you were driving as long as you were going fast on a fun road. One of the coolest things I ever saw was Micheal Schumacher racing at Monaco in the rain. I'm pretty sure he really couldn't see where he was going but he just walked away from the rest of the feild. It seemed like he was in his own world and just one with the car (you know what, you're completely right - there is no way to talk about joy of driving in a written language. I give up.). Anyway, I wish I could remember what year that was so I could see it again.
The Lotus 51A, it bad assed; with the body panels off looks frame is pretty cool. Don't think built alot of Lemans cars with safety in mind, the Nash Healy cars, no roll cage.
The car in the clip? No. That is a Lotus 23. The 51A was a Formula Ford ( and the 24 Hr of Le Mans was for Sports Cars, not Formula cars, ) Colin Chapman did bring a couple of 23 's to Le Mans once, but in typical Chickenshit Fashion, the French organisers did what they could to get them outlawed before the Race. ( the Lotus' were a threat to their Panhards, Alpines, etc...) When Colin Chapman ran out of time and options after a couple of Modifications to his Race Cars, he packed them back up to England. And vowed never to come back. And he never did. No Works Lotus ran Le Mans after that...
Posting from another historic Sports car track right now - Sebring. Down here for some testing then off to Homestead next week for another couple of days. Monaco still is the crown jewel of the F1 races despite its shortcomings as a race track, it certainly is a special one to win and I was fortunate to have worked on the winning team in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Nice blog, lots of interesting stuff to read, thanks for the link.
I just can't believe how much of the driver is exposed in that Tyrrell! That's insane by todays standards! Love the footage,Chris!!!
I believe they took off some of the bodywork just to get that shot. There was normally an upper piece that wrapped around the cockpit. I bought a dvd with this footage as well as some other on-board film with Fangio, Stewart, etc. http://www.amazon.com/50-Years-Formula-Board/dp/B000CBXGP8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1228798429&sr=8-1
The 6-wheeler is perhaps my favorite F-1 machine of all time! That is some insane footage, in race trim the cars ran a full cockpit & some versions even had two little windows in the sides so the driver could keep an eye on his 10" front wheels...
I faintly remember seeing the 6 wheelers when I was a kid.....were they very competitive at the time?
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VTbXc4_H4Cc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VTbXc4_H4Cc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Same driver (Depailler) but at Long Beach. This is my all time favorite clip as it does a better job of truly capturing the thrilling ground-rush you get in an open-wheel race car than any other in-car stuff I've seen. The second lap he does is simply mighty.
I love the Grand Prix of Monaco. It has some great challenges, that tight rurn before the run into the tunnel is always a thrill, the pits coming right out onto the straight and how tight the course is, I love it. There are a few tracks that are always exciting to me, Monaco, Suzuka in Japan and Spa In Belgium.
Its funny because in the early to mid 50's the two camps crossed over- Hot Rods were often seen as low-buck, home built, race car inspired things- Sports cars were just coach built and the high end of that. Look at an Allard or Cunningham- Taking a big motor and putting in a small, light car. Sound familiar? There were even multiple magazines that combined the two:
Thanks Ryan. I plan to spend a little time reading the Chicane. This kind of stuff as part of the HAMB is what makes it my #1 place on the web. If it's cool this is the place to find out about it for sure.
they had one of (or maybe the one) Tyrell car at the monterey historics this past year. I was lucky enough to see a Monaco Gran Prix while we lived as ex-pats in Nice. I was only 6 or so, but I clearly remember a lot of it, even still have a Ferrari flag that we got there.
This is true and I've always thought that alot of the hot rodders of the fifties were guys who wanted cars like Ferraris, Maseratis etc and just had to make their own for lack of availablity or funds. When you look at the contemporary coverage of stuff like the Carrera Panamerica it's real clear that both camps were inspired together and borrowing from each other. I have a bunch of Road and Track from the 50s and they often have both together. Seems like the split was in the 70s and 80s and has gone away some today but you still see it. The other day I was on an Italian car board asking why more people who own low end Ferraris like 308s don't wrench on them like people do on much more valuable cars like 32 Fords. The guy comes back with a condescending attitude about how tight the tolerances are on a Ferrari motor and quote "shop class types" could wrench a Ford but not a Ferrari. I called him out on that and brought up drag racing and how come guys can build stuff tight for that (hell, in most towns the one good machine shop does all the hi po stuff no matter what country it came from) at home and how I thought that mid 80s Ferraris engines probably aren't as complicated as a modern Honda that most shop class kids had nowadays. I guess he got it because he shut up but that kind of stuff gets on my nerves. They are all old cars and I pretty much like most of em.
It amazes me how a lot of people are content to stay in their little niche, and not look at anything that goes on around them. ( except maybe to be condescending about ) But the more interesting ( and knowledgeble ) people were able to draw their inspiration from lots of different sources. They guy you talked to was probably just repeating what his Mechanic told him...
One of my neighbors has a 308. He gutted it... removed all the glass, most of the interior, anything that added weight and didn't make power. He then added huge Brembo brakes, an injected 400-inch SBC, some crazy transaxle, a roll cage, etc... It's one of my favorite cars in my hood - a hood that includes the likes of Geeman51, Lee Pratt, Kevin Silva, a 30k original mile '63 split window, the mopar from the fast and the furious, and a few more REALLY nice cars. I just love the damn thing.
Same sort of cross pollination ( OK... a bit different...), I'd love to take a low end Ferrari someday, and build a one-off Custom Body for it...
There is a rich Hiot Rodding History of doing things like that. Like Max Balchowsky swapping Chevy Gearboxes into Ferrari's, using Jag gearboxes mated to Nailheads, etc. And Dean Jeffries Mantaray was built on an old Maserati Chassis...
I bet it's alot more fun that way. They look great but never really set me on fire. The only 308 I ever was near to showed up at an autocross I was at one time. It was a pretty tight course and it got bested by about half of the cars there, mostly 4 cylinder cheapo cars. Metalshapes, I've always wanted to take an X 1/9 and hack most of it off and build something that looks like a tiny P330 out of it. It's not going to happen though until I get out in the garage and learn how to bend some tin.
I really like the Dallara version. I saw a lookalike race at a Clubrace at the Nurburgring once. Awesome little Car...
When I think of the word "Chicane", it reminds me of an exerpt from a book I have on Porsche racing. Vic Elford talking about racing a 917 at full tilt, through the chicane at LeMans, in the rain, at night..........at over 250mph! God damn that's gotta be a rush!
The video on the front page regarding roll bars shows a car - the purple and orange English thing - featured in Rod & Kulture flipping over on top of the driver. Looks like only minor damage to both.