Monday 18 April 2011

Stardust


The more I know people in the classic cars environment, the more I realise that the real essence and spirit of classic motorsport is preserved in little clubs. I will dedicate future posts to my dear friend Tim from Crosleykook and Ray from the Berkeley Club here in England, because today's post is for Derek from  Stardust, the voice of the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register.

I meet Derek through a common friend that introduces me as "the lad who's into classic cars" and I immediately start to ask him questions about the cars he's got and all that. He lightens up in a flattered manner showing immediately what a nice and sweet person he is. As promised after a couple of weeks I received a copy of the Club's Fanzine with a hand written note saying "hoping you won't find it too boring".
Quite the opposite, obviously. First because I didn't know much about these models, second because it is indeed a nice product. It's properly printed and edited, but the big surprise was the big amount of people signing the articles. Loads of interesting things to read.

For a brief history of the Sunbeam Talbot I will simply link to wikipedia.
All the pictures are from the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally that saw Sir Moss bringing one of these beauties to second step on the podium. These are amazing cars worth knowing more about.

Thanks Derek.

Friday 1 April 2011

Keeping the fear at the back of your mind

Fantastic shot of Jackie Stewart powersliding towards victory in Jarama, 1970. Behind Jackie Oliver's BRM burns after a hard hit on Jacky Ickx's Ferrari. Only five drivers will finish the race, Bruce McLaren will take second place with a whole lap difference from the Scotsman. The footage of the accident is horrifying. The gasoline bursts almost immediately from Ickx car and wraps the two in fractions of a second, awfully close to the spectators. The marhalls try to extinguish the fire from the other side of the curve washing the drivers that have to pass in the middle. The Ferrari will eventually rolls towards them because of merciful gravity. I all this disaster Stewart's foot seem to need a little powerslide to dry the tires right after crossing the little river of the extinguishers. 
A sentence I hear more and more from motorsport documentaries is "you just need to keep the fear on the back of your head". This picture seems to wrap this sentence with a flaming ribbon.