Historic Racing Articles
In-depth stories from motorsport history
Combinations at Brooklands
It took me a second or two to realise that the side cars had passengers who seem to have had the sole purpose of providing ballast! This is Les Archer with unknown passenger, followed by (I think) Ben Bickell at Brooklands on 5th October 1929
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Mille Miglia: The Most Beautiful Race in the World
From 1927 to 1957, the Mille Miglia was not merely a race—it was a symphony of speed, courage, and Italian passion. Winding through ancient villages and mountain passes, legends like Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio carved their names into history. Rediscover the epic open-road endurance that st ...
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1936 Swiss Grand Prix
The 1936 Swiss Grand Prix, held on August 23 at the treacherous Bremgarten forest circuit near Bern, produced one of the most stunning upsets of the pre-war Grand Prix season. Against the dominant Silver Arrows of Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz, the Italian maestro Tazio Nuvolari piloted his underpowe ...
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Abel Lourenço dos Santos at the Circuito da Gávea in 1935
This amazing phograph taken by Abel Lourenço dos Santos at the Circuito da Gávea in 1935 shows the fatal accident of Irineu Corrêa (who had won the race the previous year) on Avenida Visconde de Albuquerque on the first lap.
Look out, here comes Woosh-Bonk!
Properly it’s a McLaren-Oldsmobile M3A, the very first McLaren single-seater. And the driver isn’t a Chap, it is in fact Patsy Burt.
A load of Bollees!
Here we find Amedee Bollee (père) right and Amedee Bollee (fils) left, aboard one of the streamlined Amedee Bollee racing cars that they’d prepared for the 1898 Paris-Amsterdam race.
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Fred Luther and one of the world's first (if not the first) automobile powered motorcycles
Fred Luther was a pioneering motorcycle rider who had been competing since 1915. By 1934 his life must have become somewhat mundane as he came up with the idea of building a motorcycle to break the Land Speed Record.
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The Donington Grand Prix in 1937
The Donington Grand Prix in 1937. The first chance the British public had to see the Mercedes and Auto Union cars racing and, what a spectacle it proved to be! Though the reputation of the machines preceded them, no-one was prepared for that first lap.
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Valdir Fauirin twin engined special
Now then! The history of motoring has seen any number of twin-engined adventures, usually to nobody’s worthwhile benefit. But this wonderful little, Brazilian, home-build race car from 1971, was a bit special. Even for that sphere of novelty.
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Pablo Escobar!!! No kidding either. Apparently old 'Narcos' was quite an accomplished driver.
Escobar started racing in 1979 driving a Renault 4 and was first mentioned in the papers in a footnote to a report on a round of the Copa Renault 4 Championship run on the 28th May that year at the Autodromo Ricardo Mejia just outside Bogotá.
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Behold the GAZ-TP
Built in 1954, under official approval from the Supreme Presidium of the Soviet Socialist Republic, it’s claimed to have been the world’s first car ever jet-driven land vehicle, loaded, as it was, with the motivational extracts of a MIG-17.
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GRAND PRIX ICONS LINE-UP FOR SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY RACE TO CELEBRATE SILVERSTONE'S 75th BIRTHDAY
• Milestone grid of front-engined GP racers featuring legendary ERAs, Ferraris and Maseratis
• Entries include cars from the circuit’s first Grand Prix in 1948 track
• Incredible Formula One track action adds to Bank Holiday celebrations
• Full range of family festival tickets now ...
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• Entries include cars from the circuit’s first Grand Prix in 1948 track
• Incredible Formula One track action adds to Bank Holiday celebrations
• Full range of family festival tickets now ...
Bertie Bradnack
Bertie clearly knew his way around a chip and almost certainly enjoyed sustained council with the occasional pie but still managed some respectable results in 500cc Formula 3 in spite of his 18 stone weight.
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Behold EJ Potter: The Half-Baked Prince!
Known affectionately as the Michigan Madman, farmer’s son Elon Jack Potter was possibly the first person ever to look at a Harley-Davidson and think to himself; “you know, what that really needs to make it go, is a nice, big Chevrolet V8”. And then actually go and make the necessary arrangements!
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We like a bit of analogue testing!
Here we find part time inventor, Mr W.T. Warren in 1912, demonstrating his 'Warren Safety Helmet' at William Ewen's flying school in Hendon near London.
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Looking like an amphibious mudskipper, this is the Rover-BRM Gas Turbine at the Le Mans test weekend in 1963
The car was based on the 2.5 litre Grand Prix BRM chassis, cut in half down the middle and widened to make a two seater. At Le Mans that April, the car ran well though they discovered that body let water in just about everywhere and that the rear end had a tendency to lift at high speed!
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Jo Bonnier’s Cooper-Maserati at Spa in 1966.
The race took place in appalling conditions which today would have seen the assembled participants sitting comfortably in their motorhomes until is was safe to venture out.
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Not really a racing post however the 1911 Reeves Octauto was introduced at the Indy 500 that year.
Having looked at six wheel cars in the past, I thought that we would bring you a very early vision into the benefits of multi wheel motoring.
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Looking alarmingly like paramilitaries, here we have Alfred Neubauer (also known as Friedl) in the 1922 Austro-Daimler Sascha.
It really is Neubauer, though you'll have to take our word for that!The Austro-Daimler Sascha was the brain child of Count Alexander Kolowrat-Kratowsky.
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Indiana Fairgrounds in 1968. Chuck Booth and Wally Meskowski's declaration of love!
It is September 7th, 1968, Chuck Booth (Driver) and Wally Meskowski (Mechanic) at the Hoosier Hundred, USAC Champ Car race, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Photograph courtesy Raymond Golub Memorial Collection
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The strange tale of the Bédélia
This strange vehicle is a Bédélia and as strange as this vehicle looks, the design and engineering process is perhaps even stranger.
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ERA driver Geoffrey Ansell, of Ansell Brewery fame, confirming that the worlds of alcohol and fast-cars don’t mix.
Here he takes the wide line in 1948 at the first British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone. Due credit should be given for the effort, but apparently he emerged from the devastated straw-bales with nothing worse than a few scratches.
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Innes Ireland taking a unique approach to F1 passenger carrying at Spa in 1961
At the wheel is Maurice 'Le Petoulet' Trintignant, the last pre-war driver to be involved in Formula One. Innes Ireland was a larger-than-life character who, as a rival team boss once said, he..."lived without sense, without an analyst and provoked astonishment and affection from everyone."
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San Diego model Raquel Tejada, later better known as Raquel Welch
Don Cameron receives his just desserts from local beauty Jo Raquel Tajada after winning a West Coast Midget race at Pamona in 1959.
Little did I know when I posted this just two days ago that she would pass away today (15th February 2023). RIP Raquel Welch.
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Little did I know when I posted this just two days ago that she would pass away today (15th February 2023). RIP Raquel Welch.
Major Theodor Weissenbergerr
Major Theodor Weissenbergerr wasn’t really all that popular amongst the allied aeronauts of WW2.
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Reg Parnell at the International Trophy in 1951 navigating the Ferrari Thinwall Special
Here we see Derbyshire pig-farmer Reg Parnell at Lake Silverstone in Tony Vandervell’s privately entered Ferrari. Parnell would use his knowledge of the local tides and currents to beat the finest Grand Prix drivers that the World could then muster.
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Turn 1 at Indianapolis in 1933.
The track has been flooded by un-seasonal rain. Practice is cancelled, leaving you under-employed. You have a flying-helmet, some goggles, and another chap has found a canoe behind the garages.There’s a certain inevitability about what happens next.
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Jimmy Daywalt with the Sumar Special at Indianapolis in 1955.
As originally conceived, The Sumar Special was designed to carry an elegant, all-enveloping bodywork. Which led many motoring writers to describe it as one of the most beautiful cars ever to run in the Indianapolis 500. Except that of course… it wasn't.
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Jochen Rindt delivering a master class of wet weather power sliding in 1969
Jochen Rindt delivering a master class of wet weather power sliding in 1969 on his way to winning the last ‘F1’ Tasman Cup race at Warwick Farm.
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The Targa Florio
First run in 1906, the Targa Florio was one of the longest running motorsport events in the world.
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The 1967 Daf Formula 3 car.
The clue here is in the rubber straps that cling snugly and taughtly around his exposed back-end. This is the 1967 Daf Formula 3 car. And I know what you’re thinking, but actually, it wasn’t that bad at all.
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GRAHAM HILL DUTCH GRAND PRIX 1964
Here we see Graham Hill assuming the correct position for proper chaps at Zandvoort in 1964 with the BRM P261.
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Andre Moynet
This stern looking lad is Andre Moynet. A proper chap, if ever there was one.
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Mallocks!
Back in 1958, Arthur Mallock first came up with the idea of building a low-cost, but properly engineered racing car that could give a driver on a limited budget the opportunity of taking part, without embarrassment, in the popular new Formula Junior category. He called his creation the U2, as in “Yo ...
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Alma Cacciandra at the 1965 Monza 1000 kms
This is Alma Cacciandra, properly equipped for some serious track action, and getting ready to climb aboard her Scuderia St.Ambroeus, Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ during the 1965 Monza 1000kms.
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Mr. Boissy racing a Lion-Peugeot Voiturette at Brooklands in 1910. How about that then!
Robert Peugeot decided that he wanted to do his own thing, rather than join the family firm, and created Lion-Peugeot, which despite the name was a completely separate entity from the older concern.
Specialising in small engined machines, Robert saw Voiturette racing (Edwardian Formula 2) as an ob ...
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Things not to say before a race - Number 1
José Estrada was one of Mexico's top drivers. Nicknamed 'Ché' he had started racing in the 1930s. Married with two children he was taking part in the second running of the Carrera Panamericana at the age of 51.
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Felice Nazzaro at the wheel of the Fiat S76
Nicknamed “The Beast of Turin”, this was definitely a vehicle of LARGE proportions. The radiator cap was five foot from the ground! But it’s largest and most beastly feature was it’s 28.3 Litre, 4-cylinder engine. It is thought that the individual cylinder capacity of just over 7-Litres was the larg ...
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Bob Osiecki was a NASCAR team owner who, in 1960, took up the challenge to set a new closed course record of 180 mph in Mad Dog IV.
Bob Osiecki was a NASCAR team owner during the mid to late Fifties, entering two 1957 Plymouths in the 1957 Daytona 500 on the beach course. That year he also started the Chester Drag strip and the Charlotte Custom Car Show.
However he makes these pages due to his attempts to set a new clos ...
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However he makes these pages due to his attempts to set a new clos ...
Here we have Karl Kling (right) and Hans Klenk in their Mercedes-Benz 300SL on the 1952 Carrera Panamericana
Of all the mad races that ever were, the Carrera Panamericana ranked amongst the maddest. A nine-stage, five day road race, inaugurated in 1950 to commemorate the opening of the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway. It ran almost the entire length of Mexico, combining sections of mountain ...
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Archie Frazer-Nash
Chap of the week: Archie Frazer-Nash; Properly (and according to our previous research, it would appear conventionally) equipped for serious competition at Brooklands in the early thirties.
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The 1954 Mille Miglia: Mario Cipolla in his factory entered Isetta, spreading joy wherever he goes.
The winner that year, Alberto Ascari, completed the thousand mile journey from Brescia through Pescara, Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, Modena, Palma and back to Brescia in about 11.5 hours, having started at 6:02 in the morning. 602 would therefore have been the race number of his car. Cipella’s num ...
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Rodger Ward Wins the 1959 Indy 500, and displays the 'instantly printed' newspaper headline to prove it.
Ward had been running the 500 every year since 1951 with only a solitary 8th place to show for it. But his luck would change when his 1959 win initiated an unprecedented 6 year run of results, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 4th, 2nd. Finally notching up a total of 26 USAC victories, which was enough that today ...
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Now here's a proper bunch of chaps: These worthy gentlemen are about to embark on the The New York-Paris race of 1908.
Now here's a proper bunch of chaps: These worthy gentlemen are about to embark on the The New York-Paris race of 1908.
After the indifferent success of the 1907 Peking to Paris event, it was inevitable that people would want to go through it all again, but this time on an even bigger scale.
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Tommy Milton, winner on the Boards, Bricks, Dirt and Sand, gave no quarter and expected none.
Tommy became one of the most successful drivers of his era despite the complete lack of sight in his right eye and only limited vision in his left! (He managed to pass his medicals by simply memorising the standard eyesight test cards of the day.)
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At Rio’s Jacarepagua circuit back in 1968, what was described as Brazil’s only ever, all-Volkswagen Kombi race took place.
Which sort of implies that it was probably the World’s only ever, all-Volkswagen Kombi race! The winner was local sportscar ace Sergio Cardoso. More usually seen at the wheel of a Ford GT40, and shown here displaying his customary, lucky number thirteen.
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This fabulous beast is the 1902 Baker Torpedo.
34 year old Walter C.Baker was a successful and prodigious producer of electrically driven vehicles between 1899 and 1916 and could count Thomas Edison himself, as one of his customers
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Few car builders have ever arrived with the impact that Cisitalia made in the fun-starved, post-war 1940s.
And few have ever shown so much promise and spent so much money, only to ultimately achieve so little.
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Ukyo Katayama rescued from Mt Fuji on Friday 18th December 2009
On Friday December 18, Katayama was reported missing whilst climbing Mount Fuji with two friends. Temperatures on the 3,776-metre mountain had dropped below minus 25 degrees Celsius before dawn on Friday. They had pitched their tents at around 2,750 metres but when they blew away, they were at the ...
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Bruce McLaren at Riverside back in 1966.
The Robin Herd designed Mallite monocoque McLaren M2B was used extensively as a test car for Firestone.
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Denny Hulme was the son of a Victoria Cross winner and in 1967 became New Zealand's only ever World Champion.
Best of all, he was known for being grumpy. An image enhanced by the fact that he looked about 20 years older than he actually was. Journalists, whom he generally hated, called him "The Bear" on account of his grumpiness. He liked that.
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While perusing the miasma of misery that passes for Motorsport in the 21st century, you may have wondered where it all began.
Well the answer is, as if you care; July 22nd 1894 and the Paris-Rouen Trial. The World's first organised, competitive, motoring event.
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The origins of Ferrari's prancing horse.
As far as is known, Major Baracca never even sat in a racing car. “So what’s he doing here then?” You rightly moan. Well, take a squint at the badge on the side of his plane, look familiar at all?
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Chaps Number 6
This episode of Chaps features some interesting design ideas that, how can we put it politely, were never going to work, as well as Jose-Froilan Gonzalez looking a little like the late John Belushi, apparently indulging in a Fuck-Off contest with BRM founder Raymond Mays.
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So it’s sharp left, then floor-it. No, Hang on….WAIT!!!
Swiss roller Edgar Berney was generally seen as an accomplished and steady hand, with at least eight “I Drove The Le Mans 24-Hours” T-shirts hanging on his line. And, while we seriously doubt whether he ever cherished the 1966 version as a particular favourite, it was at least his best remembered!
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Red Label
Australo-Kiwi based Tasman racing was begun back in 1964. And, since it allowed Formula 1 machinery with only light modification, the Grand Prix set, bored with the northern hemispherical winters, took the opportunity to go racing there throughout January and February, before their own school terms ...
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Archie Scott-Brown
Born in Paisley, England, May 13, 1927 William Archibald "Archie" Scott Brown was born without shinbones, his feet were clubbed and reversed and his right hand was missing. His mother had contracted German Measles during pregnancy and his physical problems stemmed from this. A number of painful oper ...
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