While it’s a great looking and sounding car, in vintage racing, this 1980 Ferrari 312 T5 was one of the least successful of Ferrari’s Formula 1 efforts. Plagued by a lack of power from it’s naturally aspirated flat 12 engine (most other manufacturers had gone to turbos), indifferent handling, and all around poor performance. Even with reigning World Champion Jody Scheckter at the wheel, it failed to qualify in Canada. Earning only 2 points for the 1980 season, it was the second worst performance by the company to date.
Still in all Ferrari took what few gains they had made with the design, and incorporated them into the 1981 126 C & CK the following year, and thus ushering in the era of the twin turbo Ferrari’s. While the twin turbo CK proved a bit problematic, the C yielded better results. However there were still reliability issues that would not be worked out until the 1982 season with the introduction of the 126 C2.
2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang. Being introduced in 1964, the Mustang was by no means the first sporty car either foreign or domestic. It was however the first sports car for the masses. With a base package starting at $2,368, it made it possible for the average person to afford something stylish and sporty. With a less than whiplash inducing 164 Hp 260 cu in V8 as the base engine, Ford was able to keep it affordable and still provide plenty of pep given the size and weight of the car. The engine was upgraded to the 210 Hp 289 cu in within six months of production. Each successive generation saw larger and more powerful engines.
One of Roush Racings Mustangs which compete in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
The Mustangs arrival had a much bigger impact on the automobile market than just a new stylish car. It created a new class of car. With the later introduction the Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda, and the AMC Javelin, a whole new class of cars was created. The Pony car. New racing series were created to showcase the performance of this growing class of cars. In drag racing, the pony car helped usher in the Pro Stock class. This is still a very popular class because unlike other drag racing classes, spectators can see the very cars they might own on track competing.
This vintage 1970 Boss 302 Mustang is similar to the one Parnelli Jones drove to a Trans-AM championship.As seen here Cliff Ebbens composite body modern Trans-AM mustang is a long way from the original.
High horsepower, small wheel bases, and nimble handeling made these cars extremely popular, and lead to the inevitable, racing. The Mustang made it’s first track appearance not as a race car, but as pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500.
While competing in multiple racing series, where it really shined was in Trans-AM in the late sixties and early seventies. Run on North American road courses, this European style road racing was very popular, and the Trana-AM Series lives on to this day. The great Parnelli Jones and George Follmer drove a Boss 302 Mustang to the Trans-AM championship. The GT 350 R version, the race version of the Shelby GT 350 was very successful in SCCA racing.
Here we have a vintage GT 350 R, the racing version of the Shelby GT 350 Mustang.
From it’s inception to present generations (six in all), the Mustang proved to be a capable competitor in most every form of racing in which it has competed. It doesn’t look as if that will change anytime in the near future.
A Roush Racing SCCA Mustang.The GTS class of the Pirelli World Challenge series has several Mustang competitors.Another Mustang from the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
It’s hard to truly describe vintage racing to someone who has not seen it. When you see vintage race cars on display at an auto show, or in a museum, you can’t help but be impressed by these machines. Compared to today’s computer designed and controlled marvels, it is hard to imagine technology from 1926 as state of the art.
This 1927 Bugatti 38A is one of the older classic racers on the vintage circuit.
Whenever I talk to someone, and show them pictures of vintage racing, the response is almost always the same. “That looks cool”, or “that’s nice”. This was pretty much my response before I attended my first vintage racing event. All of that changed however when I attended the Spring Vintage Weekend at Road America.
A very rare one indeed is this 1965 Causey P6 Special.
I think to truly understand, and appreciate vintage racing you would have to have been a car enthusiast pretty much from childhood. Just seeing these mechanical marvels is one thing, seeing them do what they were built for is quite another. Before this I had only seen these cars in pictures, and read about them in books which recounted the tales of their glory days.
This Jordan 197 Formula 1 car was powered by a Peugeot V12 engine.
One of my all time favorite european sports cars, the Austin Healey. Here we have a 1960 3000.
Hearing engines that were innovative, and state of the art when they were designed is yet another thrill. These cars were designed to do one thing, go faster than the other cars they raced against. Seeing them do this decades after they were originally built is a real treat.
From year to year, and event to event you never know what gems you will see till you get track side. From european sports and open wheel, to american muscle. One thing you can be certain of is that you will always see something truly amazing, and most likely something you have never seen before.
From the days of the CART series we have this Lola T97/20.
Lola is one of the oldest names in racing. This is their 1967 T70 Spyder.
The photos included in this is a very small sampling of what you will see at any vintage event.
A 1969 Brabham BT29.
Another rare one, a 1959 Devin DeMar MK II.A 1997 Lola T97/20 former CART racer.
It felt good to be at trackside again. This was the feeling I had as I completed the first event of my season. When you near the end of a season, you are a bit fatigued and looking forward to a break. However after two or more months of down time, and computer work that feeling fades fast. At this point you are anxious to get out and shoot again.
The event just completed was an SCCA double regional event with points scored towards the national standings. Most of SCCA’s 29 classes of competition were on hand. This particular event comprises the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Blackhawk regions. Together this covers half of Wisconsin and Illinois. Turnout for this event always seems to be high. This is probably due to the area covered, and that it is most competitors first chance of the year to go racing again in the Midwest.
I enjoy the variety of cars and people you find at these gatherings. You will find the one car one man operation, the family operation, and the multi car full crew operation. You won’t find any big prize money, or sponsorships. So what makes these men and women go through the effort of hauling a car across state for these events? They all are there for one reason, the love of racing.
The number and variety of cars range from old to new, and the number of them is amazing. From spec classes of a single type, to classes with multiple types, you will see a bit of everything.
Today if you were to ask someone to name a sports car, the names you would get are, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Maserati just to name a few. These super expensive, limited production, state of the art machines however can only be possessed by the wealthiest individuals. For those of us of more modest income, we may be able to purchase the cars on the lower end of the range price wise. This would include the Corvette, SRT Viper, and some Porsche models. The other thing to consider is these machines are made by multi million dollar corporations. Utilizing state of the art computers and design tools.
1959 Bocar XP5
What we refer to in the golden age of sports cars, are cars that were modified or built by individuals and partnerships. Some were modified versions of production cars, but quite a few were purpose built from the ground up as race cars. This was at a time when speed and form began to merge, and rudimentary understanding of aerodynamics was beginning to enter into racing. Most were funded by wealthy individuals interested in, or planning to race themselves. Quite often these same individuals would then move on to other interest, selling or storing these great machines. As a result few of them were built, and even fewer still exist.
1959 Demar Devin
Attending the Spring Vintage Weekend at Road America provides an excellent opportunity to see these cars do what they were made for, race. Members of the SVRA always put on a good display of rare automobiles in true racing form. In just two years this has become one of my favorite events. You just never know what gem you will see there.
Starting this month we will try something new. A photo of the month feature. This will not take the form of a normal monthly photo, as it will be either a single shot or sequence of shots showing an event, and telling the story behind it.
APR Audi R8 first makes contact with TRG Porsche 911 RSR.
We will start things off with a bang. We’re at the 2012 Rolex Grand-AM race at Road America. I was shooting from the inside of turn eight at the time. On the first lap I noticed quite a bit of contact among the GT class cars as they came through this turn. On the next lap, the number 67 TRG Porsche 911 attempts to pass APR’s Audi R8 on the outside. The Audi locked up the brakes in an effort to slow down enough to not drift wide in the turn. It did not work, and resulted in the Audi climbing up the left front fender of the Porsche. The Audi spun around in front of the porsche, and into a gravel trap. However he was able to turn around and continue. The Porsche was not to fare so well. Due to suspension damage from the incident, he only made it through the next turn before something broke sending him into the retaining wall. The Audi finished the race with only cosmetic damage.
APR’s Audi R8 climbs up the left side of TRG Porsche.Aftermath of contact in turn eight with TRG Porsche.
It won’t be long before the new event season will here. While parts of my 2013 schedule are still in a state of flux, I thought it might be a good time to talk about something that I do every year.
Every year I make it a point to try to shoot something new or different. I haven’t decided yet what that will be for 2013, but for last year it worked extremely well.
The first new event for me last year was the ISOC Snocross finals in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. If you have never seen it, it is like AMA Motocross, but with snowmobiles. It is quite a site to see, especially if it’s your first time. The way the course is laid out it provides for a number of different angles and view points for the photographer or spectator. Like most events fo this type, there are different classes of competition base on size and power of vehicles. This makes it an all day event, with lots of shot opportunities.
Oh, in case you were wondering, the people in the background are wearing shorts and T shirts. We had uncommonly warm weather for a March weekend, it was 83 degrees.
My second new event was vintage auto racing. The VSCDA Spring Vintage Weekend at Road America, was my best surprise of the year. I was blown away by the number and quality of vehicles present. From the 1920s to the 1990s, American to European, well known to extremely rare, there was no shortage truly amazing vehicles.
This is already on my calendar for this 2013, and is one of the events I am most looking forward to this year.
