A Bit Off Topic, But... The Chicane!

[Ryan]

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 ...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

[Chris Casny]

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.

Monaco Grand Prix On-Board with the 1976 6-wheeled Tyrrell P34 from alex king on Vimeo.

[sko_ford]

very cool cheif but the first thing i thought of was the chev that troy built when i saw your title

[fiat128]

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.

[hscott]

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.

[publicenemy1925]

Just what i've been looking for. Thanks Ryan.

[roosters hot rods]

cool stuff...i remember the 6 wheeled elf car....still looks very fast to todays standards...

[metalshapes]

Originally Posted by hscott

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...

[burbanite]

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.

[Bad Bob]

Originally Posted by Dreadman

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.

Monaco Grand Prix On-Board with the 1976 6-wheeled Tyrrell P34 from alex king on Vimeo.

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!!!

[Chuck G.]

Originally Posted by Bad Bob

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-Formu...8798429&sr=8-1

[Pauly da mick]

Originally Posted by Bad Bob

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!!!

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...

[fiat128]

The Tyrell six wheeler was one of my favorite hot wheels as a kid.

[Sixcarb]

I faintly remember seeing the 6 wheelers when I was a kid.....were they very competitive at the time?

[Rat L. Can]

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.

[54BOMB]

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.

[Jive-Bomber]

Originally Posted by fiat128

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.

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:

[Rusty Karz]

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.

[Revhead]

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.

[fiat128]

Originally Posted by Jive-Bomber

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:

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.