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.

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.

Candlestick Park 1965

I found this video of Candlestick Park SCCA event in 1965. Take a look at the battle between the Jag and the Ford.  I can't help thinking that with proper TV coverage that would have been one of the most famous battles of all time. 

Luigi Chinetti

Luigi Chinetti has been one of my personal heroes for a long time. His life a manifesto of motorsport. Being a huge enthusiast for long distance racing, especially for the "golden age", I came across his Scuderia N.A.R.T many times. I won't even try to make a short story of his life, achievements, designs and victories. I would like to remember him for his Le Mans in 1949. His 166M was the first Ferrari to ever win the legendary competition, but the incredible aspect of the event is that he gave the steering wheel to the Baron Peter Mitchell-Thomson for a mere 20 minutes. This was in fact the minimum time necessary for him to be recognised as official co-driver. I can't even start to understand what it would be like to drive flat out a raging sportscar for that amount of time, lap after lap after lap, in a track where the only rest for the mind is in a neverending Mulsanne straight. Simply amazing.

Click here for a short news reel of the time. 

Elkhart Lake (Road America) 1956

Lancia D50

Beautiful as much as cursed, the Lancia D50 is without any doubt one of the most beautiful Formula One cars ever built. Brainchild of a genius of motorsport such as Vittorio Jano, it embodied all the Lancia spirit.

In a nutshell we are talking about a car that was the first and last F1 of the marque, the only one on the grid with a V8, the only one with the engine as a stressed chassis member, the only one with pannier tanks, the only one with gearbox on the rear axle and the only one whose engine was tilted 12 degrees. 

It would have taken a lot of courage to anyone, but not to Lancia. They put Alberto Ascari in the driving seat for the debut in the Spanish GP of 1954 and got the pole position straight away. 

A clutch failure will stop the car during the race.

Lancia’s brand new DOHC V8 was shorter than the other straight six and with a lower center of gravity. Tilting it 12 degrees allowed the propshaft to pass on the left of the driver’s seat and the 5 speed gearbox was on the rear axle. Jano also joined the wheels aerodynamically with pannier tanks on both sides. The car was extremely compact and well balanced, probably even too much for the driving style of the time. The “limit” for sliding was much higher and the was hardly space for recovery beyond it.

Ascari won the two pre-season races and luckily escaped a dive in Montecarlo’s harbour. He wasn’t so lucky four days later testing a Ferrari at Monza. That 26th of May took the life of one of the greatest drivers of all time and the hopes of Lancia which could not afford another experienced driver. He sold the F1 program to Ferrari.

The slightly different Ferrari D50 and Fangio will take home the World Championship for 1956.

Only two original survived in a museum and a collection in Turin.

From the spares a minimum of 7 replicas are known to be around the world.

 

Coupe des Alpes