The Greatest Racecars & Their Stories
The Most Iconic Racecars Ever Made
So, buckle up and prepare to be transported to the golden age of motorsports, where legendary machines and fearless drivers pushed the limits of speed and redefined the boundaries of automotive performance. Let these iconic race cars tell their tales, in their own words. These aren't your typical posts; these are a collection of firsthand accounts, as if narrated by the very cars that dominated the track and etched their names into racing legend.
Legends of the Track
Hear the roar of the legendary Ford GT40 as it recounts its epic battles with Ferrari at Le Mans in the 1960s, told through the voices of the drivers and engineers who pushed it to victory. Feel the raw power of the McLaren MP4/4, as Ayrton Senna's spirit guides you through its undefeated 1988 Formula 1 season. Experience the technological marvel of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, as it describes its hybrid dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 2010s. From the ground-breaking Lancia Stratos rally car to the awe-inspiring Porsche 917, we delve into the history of these iconic machines, exploring their design innovations, their triumphs and tribulations, and the legendary drivers who tamed their power. Each article is a tribute to a specific car, a celebration of its unique character and its contribution to the rich tapestry of motorsport history.
1970 SCCA Porsche 914-6 For better, and sometimes for worse, corporate culture and business strategy have historically played a significant role in motorsport. Over the years, racecars and racing programs have been created and eliminated for no other reason than to satisfy marketing strategies and brand positioning. While many of...
1968 Porsche 908 LH (long-tail) Artwork The number 64 Porsche 908, driven by Hans Herrmann and Gérard Larrousse, won the prototype class in the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took second place overall, behind Jacky Ickx and the Gulf Ford GT40. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text...
Jo Bonnier and Hans Herrmann drove this Porsche 718 RS60 to victory at the 1960 Targa Florio. Before winning the 1960 Targa Florio, Jo Bonnier and Hans Hermann – along with Olivier Gendebien – won the 12 hours of Sebring in another Porsche 718. Arthur Schening is a freelance graphic designer...
When considering my greatest racecar, the question seems far too big for me to give a simple answer. I drove some terrific cars in my motor racing history. I suppose the ones that stand out, particularly in terms of those I had the most success in, are the Porsche 956...
1964 24 heures du Mans Artwork GT 3.0 Class-winning Équipe Nationale Belge Ferrari 250 GTO 64 finished 5th overall, driven by Lucien Bianchi and Jean Blaton (“Beurlys”). No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Two Ross Brawn designed cars were to play a big part in my racing career, both were formidable contenders and race winners, but in a totally different formulae. My experiences in one led to a drive in the other. The two cars are the TWR Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-14 and...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle of endurance motor racing, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the race’s 90 year history. Their last win, though,...
1953 German Grand Prix Where: Monaco / Date: May 23, 1971 The Maestro, Juan Manuel Fangio, bends his Maserati A6GCM into the South Curve at the Nürburgring during the German Grand Prix on August 2, 1953. Fangio finished 2nd that day to Nino Farina’s Ferrari 500/F2. Details: Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI...
Ayrton Senna Artwork This year marks the 30th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s first of three Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championships. It was also McLaren’s 4th Constructors’ Championship win and their most dominant season ever with the McLaren MP4/4 winning 15 of the 16 races. To honor this anniversary, artist Paul Chenard...
Ferrari 250LM Tribute Artwork Artist Jamie Hankin pays tribute to the Ferrari 250LM. Introduced at the 1963 Paris Auto Show as the replacement for the front engined 250 GTO, the 250 LM was a direct evolution of the sport prototype 250 P spyder, which had won the LeMans 24 hours...
I drove the Birdcage Maserati for Lucky Casner’s Camoradi Team on three occasions in 1960, beginning with the 1,000 kilometers of Buenos Aires where Masten Gregory and I led until the gearbox failed. At Sebring I was teamed with Stirling Moss and we had built up a substantial lead, but...
Last month, in this space, I spoke about our newest contributor Howden Ganley, whose incredible motorsport career saw him go from an entry level mechanic to Formula One driver and subsequently a team owner and constructor. Of course, I was mortified to learn—after we’d gone to press—that in my zeal...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle of endurance motor racing, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the race’s 90 year history. Their last win, though,...
Can-Am McLaren M8B – The Perfect Race Car Story and Photos by Pete Lyons Arguably McLaren\’s best-ever car, certainly its most successful Can-Am car, the M8B carried Bruce to 6 victories in 1969, including here at Road America. Some race cars come off the shop floor ready to win their...
The tattered old file folder is where it started. In the folder I found mysterious handwritten lists… scrawled chassis and engine numbers… a tally of some sort. Intriguing. Too intriguing to let rest. An obsession took root. Photo: Patrick Lauder It was late 2015. I had just bought a beautiful...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle of endurance motor racing, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the race’s history. Their last win, though, was back...
The steering feel; that’s what I remember best. The pinion perfectly meshing with its rack was a tactile delight in my fingers, giving a sense of well-bedded and properly oiled Olde English machinery cheery in its work. Second impression: the way that long, lazy-seeming six awakened at 3000 rpm and...
Story and photos by Stephen Mitchell The 250GTO #3987 was the third car I’d ever owned. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Bob Wollek and Darren Brassfield drive the rebuilt chassis 108 to 14th overall at West Pam Beachin 1987. Mauro Baldi in the B.F. Goodrich 962 during the Daytona 24 Hour race of 1988.Photo: Lee Self No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in...
Ferrari 625 TRC Scaglietti Spider Artwork The Ferrari 625 was specially ordered by Jon Von Neumann – the Ferrari distributor in Southern California – with the 625, 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder Grand Prix engine. Ferrari produced just two 625s. Preeminent Ferrari historian Richard F. Merritt calls the 625 Spider “one of the...
Carrera Panamericana Where: 1952 Carrera Panamericana / Date:November 22, 1952 This is the factory-entered Ferrari 250 Sport driven by Giovanni Bracco and Gino Bronzoni to an eventual mechanical DNF. Earlier in the year Bracco and Alfonso Rolfo had won the Mille Miglia in this same car. Ascari and Villoresi had a DNF...
Howden Ganley Do you like your racing cars to be aesthetically pleasing? Most people do, me included. So how do we finish up with so many ugly cars? Probably a variety of reasons, starting with the fact that not all stylists have the requisite eye for line, that the regulations...
Without a doubt, the racecar that gave me the most pleasure, and therefore my greatest racecar, was the Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-6. I drove it at Silverstone, with Derek Warwick as my teammate, in the 1986 Kouros 1,000-kms race, which we won by a substantial two-lap margin over the Rothmans...
Third-time charm! That’s what we Can-Am fans were hoping for 40 Septembers ago. On the first of this month in 1968, our beloved Big Bangers would bellow to life for their third season. Maybe this time the grandly unrestricted sports cars, stunningly powerful and torque-rich machines that were faster than...
1964 Porsche 904 GTS Resplendent in its red and white Scuderia Filipinetti livery, 904 #079 looks lean and lithe and very much ahead of its time.Photo: Mike Jiggle When I first started going to races in the 1950s, I had the great good fortune to be able to tag along...
I have had the good fortune to have raced many good cars in my career, from early days in Formula Three, to the excellent Bastos Ford Sierra Cosworth (a car I’ll never forget), my DTM Mercedes cars and now driving and demonstrating the Mercedes racing cars from a past era—...
I was approached by Theodore after the ’82 British Grand Prix. I’d begun the season not even knowing if I was going to make it to F3, and here I was being offered an F1 drive—for three years, starting the next weekend. It sounds good on paper doesn’t it? But...
Unquestionably, one of the most dominating racing cars was the Mercedes W196, particularly with drivers such as Fangio and Moss at the wheel. I remember seeing the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree, the track just outside Liverpool, England, the first time the Grand Prix had been held at a...
1938 French Grand Prix Where: Reims-Gueux / Date:July 3, 1938 Hermann Lang, in the Mercedes-Benz W154, at full speed across the fields of Eastern France. Details: Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION Address: PO Box 8204, Stamford, CT 06905 USA Tel: (203) 461-9804 Fax: (203) 968-2970 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.klemcoll.com Blog:...
Ferrari 250TR Where: Nürburgring / Date:June 1, 1958 The Nürburgring 1000-km Race; Nürburgring, June 1, 1958. Phil Hill in the Ferrari 250TR which he drove with Luigi Musso to 5th place. Details: Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION Address: PO Box 8204, Stamford, CT 06905 USA Tel: (203) 461-9804 Fax: (203) 968-2970...
I was involved in racing in a very interesting time, when a lot of good things happened and a lot of bad things. I was co-driving with Herbert Mueller. After Zeltweg in 1971, we were asked by Rico Steineman, the Porsche racing manager, if we had a car for Pedro...
1985 Brazilian Grand Prix Where: Jacarepagua, Brazil / Date: April 7, 1985 In the Brazilian Grand Prix at Jacarepagua, April 7, 1985, Alain Prost was able to charge up from the third row of the grid to claim victory with the McLaren MP4/2-TAG when his primary rivals all made mistakes. Details: Photo...
Accused of sandbagging at Daytona, two WSC-95 spyders were in storage until called to duty by Team Joest. Porsches by adoption, they took two straight victories at Le Mans in 1996 and ’97 in some of the company’s most improbable successes. “Buoyed by our success at the 1994 Le Mans,”...
The Grid for the 12 Hours Where: Sebring / Date: March 21, 1981 Sebring, March 21, 1981. The grid for the 12 Hours pulls out for the warmup lap, led by the fastest qualifier, the Porsche 935K3-80 of defending IMSA champion John Fitzpatrick and co-driver Jim Busby, but in the end its gearbox...
Pete Lyons The year was 1970. The year the ground turned over under America’s greatest sports racing car series. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
This new book from Dalton Watson about the Porsche 917—one of the most successful and iconic racing cars of all time—presents a detailed chassis-by-chassis and race-by-race history of the Porsche racecars entered by the John Wyer/Gulf team. Building upon the history of how the Porsche 917 program came about, and...
I have driven numerous racing cars over my 30 years and many eras of motor sport. I drove in several different disciplines. I had so much fun in the Gulf Wyer GT40 at Le Mans in 1968 and 1969. It was the perfect long-distance car, very comfortable to sit in...
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