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.
Gulf Porsche 917 Artwork Artist Matthew Stevens paints a picture of the Gulf 917. This painting depicts the 2nd placed 917K at Le Mans 1971 during refuelling and changeover. Richard Attwood and Herbert Muller are the drivers, Attwood having won the race with Hans Herrmann in 1970. Ferdinand Piëch initiated...
Die Silberpfeile – The Silver Arrows Teams The Fuhrer has spoken. The 1934 Grand Prix formula shall and must be a measuring stick for German knowledge and German ability. So one thing leads to the other: first the Fuhrer’s overpowering energy, then the formula, a great international problem to which...
The New Ferrari 330P2 Where: Modena Aerautodromo / Date: December 15, 196 Modena Aerautodromo, December 15, 1964. John Surtees is about to head out to test the new Ferrari 330P2 that will be Ferrari’s mainstay sports car for the coming season. Mauro Forghieri (glasses) and Dr. Franco Gozzi stand beside the car...
My personal record with the Mercedes 300 SLR was six starts, three wins, two 2nd places and one “withdrawn when leading”…under protest. That was at Le Mans after the big crash when one of our cars was involved and the Mercedes board in Stuttgart decided to withdraw the other cars....
At the end of 1981 when our (Jaguar) turnaround story was just unfolding, a most remarkable man came into my office, demanding some time. His name was Tom Walkinshaw. By then I had realized there had to be a place for racing in the scheme of things. Our heritage there...
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...
1967 Ferrari 412 P Artwork The David Piper driven Ferrari 412 P, in Ecurie Francorchamps’s livery (Belgian national racing team), as raced at the 1968 Preis der Nationen Hockenheim....
Horribly Beautiful The story of the Mille Miglia begins in 1921 when the Auto Club di Brescia organized the first Italian Grand Prix. Seeing the success of this race the much larger Automobile Club of Milan built the Autodromo Nazionale Monza and had the 1922 Italian Grand Prix held on...
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...
What car looks like a Porsche 911, sounds like a Porsche 911, goes faster than a Porsche 911, but isn’t a Porsche 911? The answer to this not-so-ancient riddle is the Porsche 935. Slant-nosed, as big as a whale and very, oh so very turbocharged – the 935 was the...
Nürburgring In 1954 Where: Nürburgring / Date: August 1, 1954 The German Grand Prix; Nürburgring, August 1, 1954. A field of Porsche 356s approach the South Curve complex after the start of their support race. Details: Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION Address: PO Box 8204, Stamford, CT 06905 USA Tel:...
There was a summer of my life when I often walked back home from an evening ramble in a European city to the outlying village where I had a job in a sawmill. A lengthy stretch of the way was dead straight and lit in the eerie orange of sodium...
1949 Belgium Grand Prix Where: Spa-Francorchamps / Date: July 10–11, 1949 The 14th Grand Prix of 24 Hours of Belgium; Spa-Francorchamps, July 10–11, 1949. Just two weeks after Le Mans, Luigi Chinetti teamed up with Jean Lucas and won his second 24-hour race of the season. Again they used a Ferrari 166MM Barchetta. This photo...
Ferrari’s First Artwork Michael Jekot paints an image of Franco Cortese and Ferrari’s first race win as an independent manufacturer. Ferrari wins! This was not always so for Ferrari in the beginning. After a career building and racing cars for other people, Enzo Ferrari, at age 49, when most men...
Bruce Leslie McLaren won the first-ever Grand Prix of the United States in 1959, but really established his life’s legacy eight years later. It was September 3, 1967, at Road America, when his Can-Am team began a five-year run of dominance in the fastest kind of road racing the world...
Many will believe my greatest racecar will be the Ferrari 156 “sharknose,” since featuring in my film and DVD of the late 1990s, La Passione. As a romantic young boy it was, but now I would say it wasn’t. It has to be remembered, Stirling Moss wiped the board with...
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,”...
My greatest racecar has to be the D-Type Jaguar. Of course, when I drove my greatest racecar it was fairly outdated. My father was in the motor business, so naturally when I left school it was assumed I’d do the same. During the 1950s in England, National Service was something...
Hot on the heels of its creation of the World Drivers’ Championship in 1950, the FIA turned its attention to sports-car racing. Endurance races like Le Mans and the Mille Miglia were acknowledged as great classics but no championship linked them in a manner that might excite both racing fans...
1964 Canadian Grand Prix Where: Mosport, Canada / Date: September 26, 1964 Victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport on September 26, 1964, fell to Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team, with Pedro Rodriguez and Lodovico Scarfiotti taking the top two places in Ferrari 330Ps, while Walt Hansgen, seen here in...
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 have forced...
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...
Fifty years is quite a long time, in politics or any other activity. In motor racing, though, 50-year anniversaries seem to keep coming around quite regularly. I suppose it is significant because many of us are fortunate enough to last for over 50 years, but rather less of us see...
That was Mario Andretti’s comment after the drive of his life…an impossible dream. He said so after he had just won the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring for Ferrari in the most incredible nail-biter of a race, which had more than 57,000 spectators exploding with excitement, especially during the last...
The Ferrari 330 P4 may be regarded as the greatest endurance race car of all time by many Ferrari aficionados. It was developed as a weapon to counterattack the rising success of the Ford GT40 programme. The Ford partnership with Carroll Shelby had stamped their authority within the racing world...
Karl Kling/Hans Klenk Mercedes 300SL Where: Mexico / Date: November 1952 During the November 1952 running of Mexico’s fabled Carrera Pan-Americana, the Karl Kling/Hans Klenk Mercedes 300SL makes a pit stop for new tires in the Sierra Madre after Tehuantepec. Note that the windshield has been smashed by hitting an errant buzzard...
Porsche’s Spyders stole the limelight, but in the 1950s they had serious rivals in both BMW and EMW, who produced serious 1½-liter machinery. Their battles on both sides of the Iron Curtain were the stuff of legend. A liter and a half—more or less a quart and a half—isn’t much...
More with less. When the little guy triumphs over the giants, he’s bound to have the crowd on his side — one reason, undoubtedly, why Porsche has thrilled its fans from the outset. It all began with Sascha. Known to his friends by this affectionate form for Alexander in Russian,...
Privateer Bruce Halford took part in the epic 1957 German Grand Prix, finishing 11th in his Maserati 250F. It was one of my duties to convey Bruce’s Maserati around the Continent in a converted Royal Blue AEC coach. This particular saga began at the Maserati factory in Modena, where I...
Heavy Duty Lightweights The year 2011 marks 50 years of the E-Type Jaguar or, as some of you know it better, the XKE. It’s a bit unsettling to find myself being unphased by remembering things that happened 50 years ago—a sure sign of advanced age. Fifty years ago, in August...
As highlighted in this month’s Racecar Profile (pg. 20), the Porsche 914-6 competed at both the professional and amateur levels during its short life from 1970-1972. Porsche built just over 50 special GTs to compete on the world stage. This month’s Web site is devoted to the history and authenticity...
The International Daily Express Trophy Where: Silverstone / Date:May 9, 1953 American Tom Cole borrowed this yellow Ecurie Francorchamps Ferrari 500 F2 for this race. Perhaps it was the driver, or the car, or the combination, but Cole finished at the back in his heat and did not make the final. Details:...
Juan Manuel Fangio Artwork Artist Chris Phillips paints an image of Juan Manuel Fangio and his Mercedes-Benz 300SLR during the 1955 Mille Miglia. Juan Manuel Fangio, called by the Argentinos “El Chueco” the bandy-legged one, is considered by many to have been the greatest Grand Prix driver in the world....
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—...
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...
Story and photos by Stephen Mitchell The 250GTO #3987 was the third car I’d ever owned....
The Porsche 917K number 20, featured in the 1971 movie “Le Mans” with Steve McQueen at the wheel. The 917 gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971 with its Type 912 flat-12 engine. 55×40” Mixed Media original stretched on canvas and white American frame. Nicolas does private commissions...
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. It was late 2015. I had just bought a beautiful and purportedly rare...
I’m celebrating 25 years of motor racing, and I say this without counting the years I spent karting. It’s difficult to count those years toward my career as it was just something I did as a very young girl. During my motor racing years I have had the opportunity of...
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