Highlights of Chassis No. 2155

• One of 20 Zagato-bodied A6G/54 Berlinettas
• Likely the only A6G/54 with a “Double-Bubble” Zagato roof
• Raced in the 1956 Mille Miglia
• Restored in Italy, exquisitely refined by Paul Russell and Company
• Documented with digital copies of Maserati build sheets, factory and Zagato correspondence, period photography
• Comprehensively researched by Adolfo Orsi Jr. and includes an Orsi Report
• Class award at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, part of Maserati’s centennial celebration at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
• Eligible for all manner of top level vintage touring events including the Mille Miglia

Post-war “rarified air”

In the pantheon of coachbuilt, post-war sports cars, the Tipo A6G/2000 more commonly known as the A6G/54 sits in rarified air. Alongside Allemano and Frua, the famous Carrozzeria Zagato provided bodywork for the Gran Turismo with approximately 20 bespoke closed-roof Berlinettas produced by the Milanese design house during the three years of A6G/54 production. With a free-flowing, elegant Zagato design, this A6G/54 was clothed in lightweight aluminum bodywork, with the silhouette showcasing a purposeful form, its racing intentions, and, for this example alone, the trademark Zagato “double-bubble roof .” Hand-built with custom coachwork, minute details vary on each A6G/54 providing a unique opportunity to trace the lineage of a particular chassis number through historical photographs and documentation.

Inline-six

Of course, no post-war Italian GT is simply about its looks, no matter how alluring they may be. At the heart of Maserati’s GT Berlinetta was a 2.0-liter, dual overhead camshaft inline-six derived from Maserati’s A6GCS and A6GCM competition cars. Three Weber DCO/3 carburetors fed the 1,986 cc engine and with twin-spark ignition debuting in 1956, an increase in horsepower to an impressive 160 hp. Naturally, a lightweight and aerodynamic Italian GT with a race-bred engine would be designed with all the componentry to support it with coil-sprung independent front suspension with Houdaille lever-arm type shock absorbers, hydraulic drum brakes and Borrani wire wheels at all four corners.

Built for the 1956 Mille Miglia

Said to be the 17th of 20 Berlinettas built by Zagato, chassis number 2155, according to Walter Bäumer’s Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato was delivered to the coachbuilder on 15 April 1956. Completed as a 3rd Series Berlinetta, it was returned to the Maserati factory a month later, on the 15th of May. Built for Luigi Fornasari to compete in the 1956 Mille Miglia, it was delivered to Fornasari just days in advance of the start of the famous—and treacherous Italian road race. The owner of chassis number 2150, Fornasari was intimately familiar with the A6G/2000 series of cars. Bäumer recounts that Fornasari ran the car unpainted, featuring all the raw hallmarks of its hand-formed aluminum body, with a temporary rear window registration (BO59891) from the Maserati factory either due to the narrow timeline before its first race, or possibly that chassis number 2155 was loaned to him by the factory. Along with his co-driver Gianfranco Roghi, Fornasari left the starting line in Brescia with start number 311. Hopes for a well-placed finish were dashed on the rain-slickened roads of Ravenna with an accident that resulted in the brand-new Maserati landing on its roof and a subsequent DNF. With all aboard spared serious injury, the Gran Turismo was returned to Zagato to be repaired, this time painted in Silver Metallic with a smaller radiator opening, lowered headlights, a unique strip of alloy trim running from the back of the front fenders to the door handle—the only known A6G/54 Berlinetta from Zagato to receive this treatment and a detail that would remain with the car until today. A period photo included in the car’s history file shows Fornasari’s son standing in front of the repaired Maserati with its unique double-bubble roof profile in full view.

Hill climb competition

Later that year in June, according to the Orsi report and Maserati factory paperwork, also on file and available for review, the car was sold to Roberto Federici based in Rome. Less than a month later the car was purchased and registered by Gianfranco Peduzzi. By September 1957 the Maserati began competing again, this time in smaller road races and hillclimbs. On most weekends throughout the racing season the European Alps hosted numerous hillclimb contests and, with lower entry and maintenance costs, they proved extremely popular even if they were inherently more dangerous than traditional circuit racing. Bäumer’s book indicates that the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb was its return to racing on 1 September with a start number 48 and entered by Giacomo Moioli of Verona, who commonly raced under the pseudonym “Noris.” Moioli was at the wheel once again later that month at the Pontedecimo-Giovi Hillclimb with start number 306, finishing fourth in class, while its final race of 1957, chronicled by the Orsi report indicates that Natale Gotelli was entered to pilot 2155 at the Trieste-Opicina Hillclimb on 6 October 1957 but was classified with a likely DNS. The report also contains correspondence between Zagato and Maserati on behalf of Peduzzi regarding specific engine technical details, likey surrounding a fresh engine break-in.

Upon completion of the repairs and while at Zagato, the car was taken for a shake-down by none other than Gianni Zagato, who was involved in a high-speed accident while performing his tests. Subsequent correspondence between Zagato and Maserati beginning in November of 1957 is recorded by Orsi, regarding repairs to the car and some back-and-forth over the specifics and costs. Zagato smartly capitalized on the situation by utilizing chassis number 2155 as a design study for Maserati’s upcoming 3500 GT. Period color photographs on file show the new design, revised from previous iterations and proudly on display. By the summer of 1958, the car was racing again with Natale Gotelli at the helm at both the Bolzano-Mendoa and Trento-Bondone hillclimbs. In 1959 the Maserati was entered in two circuit races at Monza, both the Gran Premio Lotteria on 28 June, finishing 11th in the GT class, and in the Coppa Intereuropa on the 13 of September where it did not finish. A fine third in the GT class at the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb rounded out the season and its racing career.

Restoration

Over the next decade, Adolfo Orsi records a successive chain of Italian owners before the car was acquired by Enrico Bertotto likely in the late-1960s. By 1977, a letter from Zagato to Maserati recounts an inquiry by the current owner to restore it to the original state with a request to Maserati for assistance in the matter. In 1984 photographs document a restoration with a color change to red with covered headlights and over the next decade, and until the turn of the century it appeared at concours, exhibitions, and in print in this configuration. Sold in Paris in the year 2000 to heralded Maserati collector John Bookout of Houston, Texas, he returned the car to Modena for a return to its 1958 configuration under the guidance and control of Adolfo Orsi Jr. During the restoration a number of Modanese specialists participated including Carrozzeria Autosport, Carrozzeria Cremonini, Officina Giuseppe Candini, and Interni Auto Maieli handing the bodywork, paint, mechanicals, and upholstery respectively. By 2005 the restored A6G Zagato was displayed at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Remarkably, after its restoration and while still in Europe, Gianni Zagato was reunited with the car, likely seeing it for the first time since 1958!

Ownership trail

In 2008 Bookout parted ways with the car, passing it to a collector also based in Texas. As documented by over 140 pages of invoices and receipts, the car was entrusted to the experts at Paul Russell and Company of Essex, Massachusetts to further refine both the cosmetics and mechanicals. Beginning in January 2009, work began at Paul Russell to prepare the car for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and its highly discriminating judges. Over the next eight months the craftsman at Paul Russell’s shop delved into all areas of the Maserati, with particular focus on the mechanicals and detail items unique to the car as well as cosmetic finishes that are critical to a high score at Pebble Beach. The fastidiousness of their work was evident in a well-earned Zagato class award. In addition to Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach this Zagato Berlinetta has been shown at The Quail in 2010 and Cavallino Classic in 2013, where it won two awards including Finest GT, later returning to Pebble Beach in 2014 as part of Maserati’s centennial celebration during the Concours d’Elegance festivities.

Retained within the consignor’s collection since 2008, this Maserati A6G/54 Zagato Berlinetta, one of only 20 Zagato bodied variants built and the only known example built with a double-bubble roof, is an expertly restored and highly decorated example. With period race history, including the famous Mille Miglia in 1956, circuit races at Monza, and numerous hillclimbs well documented in print by Walter Bäumer and a comprehensive report by Adolfo Orsi Jr., its colorful, outsized history makes it a compelling choice for one of the most unique and interesting Maseratis to emerge from Modena and Milan.

Details and auction listing HERE

Video of another A6G

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Being a motorsports fan myself, I have always been fascinated with people who are able to compete at the highest levels—and ultimately, what makes them tick.

In our interview with Max, we cover a variety of motorsports topics that allow us to dive deeper into the psyche of a professional race car driver.

Here, he provides insight about his personal career aspirations, discusses the importance of cultivating an elite mentality, reveals what he’s been up to outside the cockpit, and much more.

Max’s multifaceted approach to professional motorsports is highlighted throughout our conversation, which you can read in the full transcript provided below. Enjoy!

Interview Transcript

SCD: Hi Max. On behalf of our team and all our readers at sportscardigest.com, thank you for taking the time to chat with us.

Before we dive in, I’d like to congratulate you on participating in your 7th successive season of racing in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA).

We’ve compiled a variety of questions for you, some of which were selected from our pool of readers.

MH: Thank you—us drivers are fortunate to do what we do, and it’s been an exciting journey so far!

SCD: You’re in the offseason now and you’ve had some time off to reflect on this year’s competition. What’re your thoughts and how’re you feeling? Mind sharing with us what you’ve been up to during this time?

MH: It was a bit of a rough year for us, between the bumps at Sebring and the high temps at Watkins Glen, we’ve had a few mechanical issues that prevented us from the result we’re looking for. That’s racing though, you have to build resiliency and shift focus to the next one.

SCD: Are there any specific race moments from the 2022 season that stand out for you? How do they measure up to your best moments in motorsports (please elaborate a bit on those)?

MH: Sebring qualifying comes to mind. I’ve had very limited “seat time” the last two seasons with minimal testing. My first time in any sort of race car for over 5 months and was able to qualify P4, just 0.5 sec from pole position.

SCD: You get to drive on some of the most famous racetracks in the world. What’s your favorite track to race on? Do you have a favorite turn (or sector) in particular?

MH: Petit Le Mans is one of the best events in the world. The track suits my driving style very well. I’d say my favorite sector is turn 3 through the esses at night, because it’s the darkest part of the track and you have very little room for error.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to race at some of the best circuits in the world, specifically my days in the European & Asian Le Mans Series, but I have to say there’s something special about Road Atlanta.”

SCD: You’ve competed in both the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and the Prototype Challenge. Any plans to race in other IMSA-sanctioned series, such as the Carrera Cup and Ferrari Challenge?

MH: I’m very focused on Le Mans Prototypes. I’m currently at the LMP3 level and have aspirations to move up to the newly announced DTP or Hypercar class in the future.

SCD: Tell us a bit about the car you currently race, and some of the ones you’ve driven in the past. Do you have a favorite competition/category and/or a particular race car you enjoy driving the most?

MH: The LMP3 car is a lot of fun to drive. It’s mostly carbon fiber and has a lot of downforce and good power. It races well and is reliable. Not much more you can ask for!

“Sportscar endurance racing is it for me. The multi-class racing, pit stops with driver changes, night racing and an overload of on-track action makes for an extremely exciting and competitive environment.”

SCD: Do you mind briefly sharing with us, how you got started with racing, and the journey you took to get to where you are in your career today?

MH: My dad gifted me a 3-day racing school with Skip Barber for my high school graduation. I had no karting experience and to be honest very little knowledge of the sport as a whole. It was supposed to be something fun and casual, but quickly evolved into much more than that.

I got recruited by Michael Duncalfe, who is the team owner for Exclusive Autosport. He runs a very successful program that’s been growing year after year. I started in his first ever year with his team, driving f1600 cars in the Canadian championships.

From there I transitioned to the Mazda Road to Indy, where I did a few years of USF2000 and the Pro Mazda Championship, before transitioning to sportscar racing where I joined legendary team owner Scott Sharp and Extreme Speed Motorsports and haven’t looked back since.

SCD: What’re your longer-term goals as a professional racer? Do you have a path mapped out? Where do you see it leading to, ultimately?

MH: I want to race at the highest levels in sportscar endurance racing, specifically in the new DTP and HyperCar Class. The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500 are two other bucket list events.

“I have a dream of becoming a team owner/driver and bringing in some of the best talent to try and win major championships.”

SCD: What advice can you give to aspiring young drivers who are dreaming of the opportunity to race professionally, like you? On the flip side, what should you not do in the quest to go pro?

MH: I think the best advice I can give is find the right mentor. The people that you surround yourself with will either catapult you into success, or drag you into obscurity. Equally, don’t surround yourself with the wrong people.

SCD: What’s the best way to get started in racing for those who are new to it? Are there any specific routes or programs that you’d recommend, based on your experience racing at a high level?

MH: I had an unusual start beginning at age 18. I’d recommend starting on a sim to get the basic fundamentals down then transitioning to karting. A big thing to think about during your development is “cost per lap”.

“The more you can learn early on through cost-effective seat time, the farther your budget will go in the future. Money is usually the first thing that ends a career, not talent.”

SCD: What separates the best drivers from the good ones—and what ends up being the biggest differentiating factor for those who manage to make a career in racing, and those who don’t?

MH: I feel the best drivers are able to get in a “flow state” frequently and perform at an extremely high level. It’s almost as if they are defying physics when they’re behind the wheel. A mix of good decision making and consistency are the keys to success.

Those who make it have a versatile skill set that goes beyond just being a great driver. They have personalities that attract sponsors and fans, or maybe they have a unique talent when it comes to engineering the car set up.

SCD: Technical skills are obviously important in becoming a top driver, but having a winning mentality is also key. How do you stay mentally prepared? Is this something you focus on right before a race, or do you always have to be “switched on”?

MH: I firmly believe mentality is the key differentiator between good and great drivers. It’s so important and something that needs to be switched on at all times.

“If you want to be great, it needs to be a lifestyle.”

I’ve also found that this “switched on” mentality has especially helped me grow my startup.

SCD: Most people look at race car drivers as athletes. Is physical fitness a big part of the equation too? If so, what do your work out regimens focus on?

MH: Physical fitness is extremely important especially in endurance racing and I challenge anyone who says race car drivers aren’t athletes to give it a try. I do a lot of sport specific circuit training, boxing, heavy cardio, etc.

One thing I always try to implement is reaction and brain training during recovery periods. Trying to have maximum focus and coordination while exhaustion kicks in is a great training tactic for any driver.

SCD: I understand that your passion for motorsports extends well beyond the confines of a race car cockpit. In fact, you started a company—MPH.Digital—through which you’ve created apps to provide improved experiences for motorsports fans and enthusiasts. Tell us more!

MH: Yes! I’m very passionate about fan engagement.

For the last 25+ years there’s been exponential innovation when it comes to the cars on track, but as the sport continues to grow, the fan experience remains ready for a revolution and now is the time to capitalize on today’s excitement around racing.

With Track King, we have the most immersive venue maps and schedules in motorsports and we help fans (new and old) navigate race day effortlessly.

SCD: General question. What’s life like being a race car driver—the best parts and the most difficult parts? Does MPH.Digital sort of blend into this, or do you see it more as a separate endeavor?

MH: The best parts are it brings you around the world and you get to meet some very interesting people. The art of driving, engineering and sponsorship is very rewarding when you get it right, but also extremely stressful when things aren’t clicking.

“It’s not always the most talented driver that gets the seat. It’s a lot of times dependent on funding and that’s a difficult pill to swallow and a big reason as to why I put a lot of emphasis on sponsorship early on in my career.”

SCD: Who (or what) inspires you the most to do what you do professionally? Are there any drivers who you look up to?

MH: I had the pleasure of training with Scott Dixon early in my career at PitFit Training in Indianapolis. It was inspiring to see what he brings day-in-and-day-out, and his attention-to-detail on the little things.

Even with all the success he’s had as a driver it doesn’t seem to affect his work ethic and that’s something that I think is really important and motivating.

SCD: What’re some things you’ve learned from motorsport that have helped you in other areas of your life? Are there any lessons that motorsports—being a race car driver in particular—has really drilled into you?

MH: Motorsports is tough, it’s very expensive to practice, there’s a lot of factors outside your control and it’s extremely difficult to win races. There’s very low lows and high highs.

“There’s a lot that racing has prepared me for, specifically when it comes to my company and going through the journey of an entrepreneur.”

I always find myself comparing running a startup to driving a race car on the limit.

SCD: What’re your favorite production (street legal) cars to drive? Do you have a favorite “driver’s car”?

MH: I’ve driven different variations of the BMW X3 pretty much my entire life. I like the mix of luxury and performance it has to offer, but…

“…someday I want to own a vintage Porsche.”

SCD: Can you list the top 10 (or top 5, if that’s too long) cars you’ve driven, overall? Do you ever go to the racetrack “for fun” as opposed to professional reasons?

MH:

1. LMPC
2. LMP3
3. Prototype Lites
4. Pro Mazda
5. Formula 1600

SCD: Sim Racing. From the perspective of a professional race car driver, what’s your overall verdict on it?

MH: I think it’s a great tool to use for training (for the following reasons) :

1. Learning new tracks and getting a good sight picture
2. Getting in a flow and feeling the rhythm of the track
3. Builds confidence going into a race weekend

SCD: Cookie-cutter question. What would you likely be doing if you weren’t a professional race car driver?

MH: I’m not entirely sure which path I would have taken if I didn’t get involved in racing. This was never the plan.

“It took me completely by surprise and has provided many amazing experiences and opportunities, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.”

SCD: That concludes our interview, Max! On behalf of everyone at sportscardigest.com, thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions.

I hope you had as much fun as we did.

We’re certain that our readers will find the dialogue not only entertaining, but insightful as well. Your multifaceted approach to motorsports is a great example for aspiring race car drivers and enthusiasts to learn from.

We wish you all the best in the coming season and beyond!

MH: Thank you for your time! Honored to be a part of the interview and happy holidays to everyone!

Photo Gallery

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Arie Luyendyk is a household name in motor racing, especially in Indianapolis folklore, but it was a long and arduous road he travelled, involving much hard work, to reach stardom.

The versatile speedman had a long an impressive racing career and besides being famous for his outstanding record at Indianapolis along the way he starred in a number of single-seater racing formulae, as well as in IMSA and endurance races.

The post The Flying Dutchmen—Arie Luyendyk and his Father Jaap appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Ex-Donald Healey Motor Company works driver, Clive Baker first began his connection with Healeys and Austin-Healeys in Tasmania. Clive went on to race Sprites in the UK and after being noticed by Donald Healey would drive Works prepared Sprites and 3000s culminating in steering the Healey SR at Le Mans in 1968 and ’69.

Later he would drive Chevrons in the U.S. and Works Mazdas in Europe, before his own McLaren M10B F5000 in the UK.

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Before the outbreak of WWII, motor racing in South Africa had been developing strongly and, in fact, the last pre-war South African Grand Prix, held in January 1939, was the first major ‘scratch start’ event in the country and included a top class field of voiturettes comprised of nine Maseratis, four ERAs and a Riley.

Drivers of the caliber of Luigi Villoresi, Franco Cortese, Piero Taruffi and Paul Pietsch in Maseratis, pitted themselves against the ERAs of Lord Howe and Peter Whitehead.

The post The 1948 Fairfield Handicap—South Africa’s First Post-War Motor Race appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Texas professional and historic racer Charles Nearburg has a long and diversified motorsport resume. At the profession level, he’s competed in everything from Super Vee and Toyota Atlantic to Le Mans and Champ cars, while even breaking the Land Speed Record for piston-powered, wheel-driven vehicles at 414.316 mph along the way. Most recently, Nearburg has been a winning competitor in the The Masters Historic Formula One and sports car championships. 

Your best day in motor racing?

“Probably my first professional podium. That came on the Mile Oval at Nazareth in the Bosch Super Vee championship. I finished second that day in a really challenging race. And, of course, setting the big FIA Land Speed Record in 2011 at Bonneville was epic. The record we broke had been on the books for 45 years! The Spirit of Rett Streamliner still holds the fastest FIA normally aspirated record in history at 414 mph, with a top speed of 422 mph.”

And your worst?

“A Player’s Toyota Atlantic Championship test day on the Phoenix International Speedway one-mile oval in a Swift DB4. I was trading fastest time all day with Jimmy Vasser and then, as I was told later, I hit the wall in Turn 2 at about 160mph and was helicoptered to the hospital. I woke up the next morning wondering where the hell I was… I didn’t break anything, but the Swift’s supertough kevlar aluminium honeycomb tub was fully broken. I was so sore all over that I could barely move for three days and had to stay close to the hospital in Phoenix.”

You’ve raced at Le Mans, in Champ Cars and in Toyota Atlantic, and also set a land speed record ten years ago. How did the switch to historic racing come about?

“I didn’t have the time or desire to do a full series anymore, but I still wanted to go racing. I’ve always had a huge appreciation of the history of motorsports, and it’s a great opportunity to race the cars you grew up with and always dreamed of racing.”

Can you remember your first-ever Masters event?

“Before Ron bought that US series I did quite a lot of successful racing with Historic Grand Prix with my ex-Alan Jones Williams FW07B. In Europe, I had a March 761B and I think it was a Masters European meeting in 2011. We had an engine problem in the March 761, so I wasn’t even able to finish the second practice session. Not fun! It was balanced out by a podium in my Lola T212 sports car though!”

Are you in it to win it – or is the win just a bonus to the fun?

“Oh, I like to win races! I’ve won races on both sides of the ‘Pond’. I’ve had a second, a third, and two fourths at Monaco in three different historic formula one classes. Having fun and feeling like I have driven well are important to me. There are situations now where I temper my aggressiveness. I saw Clay Regazzoni get paralysed in his crash at Long Beach, so I know how fragile these cars are.”

Best car you ever drove?

“That’s probably my Ralt RT40 Toyota Atlantic car. I got to work with Ron Tauranac in developing the car for Ralt America. Ron measured me before he designed the tub so that my 6’3” body was actually comfortable; quite a change from the DB4. He was tough, but I learned a lot being around him as we tested the car. That was a great experience.”

Your favorite circuit?

“I cannot name just one. In the States – Laguna Seca and Circuit Of The Americas. In the UK and Europe it is the Brands Hatch GP circuit and Mugello.”

Why doesn’t Masters go to…

“Mugello for sure! And in the States maybe the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – that’s a really great circuit.”

You bought the car that Nick Padmore used to win the 2018 FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship. What’s it like to drive a title-winning machine?

“Obviously, it is a really well set up car. My first weekend in it I had a good run in the second race at Paul Ricard. I took the car back to the States to drive it at COTA last November and will race it in the States next year. The plan is to come back to the UK in 2021 and race it there in Europe.”

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As a frame of reference for Tom’s project, we first need to set the stage. While small displacement engines dominated racing through the post-war 1950s and early ’60s, the rapidly developing V8 engine quickly became the power plant of choice by the late 1960s. Across Europe and North America, throngs of eager spectators filled the grandstands, infields and surrounding hillsides at every racetrack to witness the spectacle of Big Bore racing.

Grand Touring and Gran Turismo Omologato class sizes swelled, filling with iconic racecars, including Ford’s GT40s, Ferrari’s 250 GTs and Shelby’s Cobras. Seizing on the opportunity to capture a larger share of the car-buying crowd, auto manufacturers Ford, General Motors, Ferrari and others stepped up their game. The horsepower wars were on, reaching an on-track crescendo from 1966 to 1973 in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, better known as Can-Am.

Unlike many of the previous formulae and series, the Can-Am series adopted essentially a formula libre rulebook. Translated as “free formula,” the only regulations governing a Can-Am car’s specification were the basic configuration and safety. This effectively opened up a blank slate for car builders.

This new, anything goes racing arena attracted a different breed of racer and car builder. A host of smaller enterprises and privateers flocked to the series, fielding cars that broke the conventional norms in every way imaginable. Horsepower was king, resulting in the development of massive wings and slicks to try and tame all that muscle to the track surface. Creativity flourished, and Can-Am cars thrilled crowds everywhere they raced. Today, true Can-Am-era racecars are among the most sought-after vintage racecars on the planet, and only the lucky and courageous few ever attempt to field one.

A Can-Am car was a perfect match for Tom’s racing interests, and through his connections, he was able to locate an authentic period car. A Georgia barn-find turned out to be the one-of-a-kind 1969 Alan Mann Ford Open Sports.

Alan Mann led Ford’s racing operations in Europe, and his enterprise helped develop iconic racecars like the GT40, Daytona Cobra Coupe, Escort and Lotus Cortina. Designed by Len Bailey, the 1969 Open Sports Ford was powered by various engines, including a bored-out, small-block Ford and an aluminum 8.0-liter V8, both using Lucas fuel injection. The Open Sports chassis utilized an aluminum monocoque tub along with many suspension parts from a previous Alan Mann project, known as the F3L (aka the P68).

The Holman and Moody-prepared car featured a 494-cid, magnesium, fuel-injected Boss engine producing 740-hp, coupled to a Hewland LG600 five-speed transaxle. Massive 24-inch wide rear wheels helped rocket the metallic blue-and-gold beast down the track, achieving 0-100 mph in just five seconds.

The Ford Open Sport’s best performance was a third-place finish in the Texas International Grand Prix in November 1969, with the legendary Jack Brabham manning the wheel. The car’s other appearance in 1969 was in the preceding round at Riverside where Frank Gardner qualified in 10th but retired with a broken halfshaft. Much has been written about Can-Am in the 46 years since its last race, but many believe the 1969 season may have produced some of the greatest Can-Am cars ever.

As with his other vintage racecars, Tom planned to race the original car in various U.S. historic races. The problem, however, was that this would have required a major updating of the car’s systems, including stripping original parts off the car. This presented a real dilemma for Tom and his team. The car, while certainly sporting a bit of patina from age, was in beautifully well-preserved condition.

The car retained its original paint, Goodyear Blue Streak tires and the aluminum rims it ran on in its final race in 1969. Virtually every detail of the car was exactly as it had been presented on the Can-Am grid that day. How could he justify tearing apart a real piece of history to comply with a sanctioning body’s requirements? For Tom, the answer was easy — you don’t.

Thus started a three-year journey and a true labor of love to restore the car and also build an exact reproduction of the Open Sports Ford. When excellence is the driving force, the word exact means using the same molds, the same tooling and the same style bolts, rivets, and metal alloys found in the original. Every step would follow old-school methods, and the result would be a stunning reincarnation of the original racer.

Tom connected with Bill Rhine at Rhine Enterprise/Rhine Built in Denver, North Carolina. As a leading restorer of historic NASCAR racers, Rhine Enterprise sets a high bar bar for racecar restoration.

It was clear from the beginning that this would be a highly unique project, and once the car was in-house, it rapidly became a collaborative effort. Tom’s team—and Alan Mann Racing in England—assisted the skilled craftsman at Rhine Enterprise to fill in any blanks. Another asset for the build was Kenny Thompson, a talented old-school builder who actually worked on the Holman and Moody cars back in the day, including the Alan Mann Ford Open Sports.

This impressive cadre of talent converged on both the restoration and recreation project, and the team followed a very prescriptive and methodical process. Every inch of the car was mapped out and recorded. A massive amount of photos were taken, and every part and panel were numbered, measured and recorded. When all of that was done, paper templates of every part and panel were made and archived for use in the reproduction process, as well as for any needed repairs in the future.

Tom’s plan was to race the recreation, so in addition to making one new exact part for the new car, a spare part was created in the event of calamity on the track. To say this was a painstaking process would be an understatement, but the results are nothing less than magnificent.

The original Alan Mann Ford Open Sports Can-Am car resides safely in the caring hands of professionals in North Carolina. The new car, with its race-ready fiberglass body, resides in Auburn, Washington, under the care of master mechanic John Anderson. Tom campaigns the car in vintage racing events, including the 2016 Spokane Festival of Speed.

As racing luck would have it that weekend, a massive on-track racing incident occurred during Tom’s race session. Safety crews responded quickly, and everyone at the event stared with dismay at the massive cloud of dust rising into the air at the far end of the track. Minutes seemed like hours, and while everyone held their breath for an on-scene report, out of the cloud and into the pits came a completely dust-covered, blue and gold Can-Am car. Two racecars had experienced serious contact on track, and one of the cars went airborne, flying over Tom and his Ford Open Sports car, narrowly missing his head. Tom was relieved to be in the pits, and a reflective Bill told him, “This is why we race the recreation.”

Vintage sanctioning bodies vary in their view of reproductions like Tom’s Ford Open Sports car. But given the racing landscape and current values of vintage racecars, many vintage racing organizations now welcome accurate and honest recreated racers. They not only serve as a testament to bygone racing eras, but also take a respected place on the grid and a pivotal role in the progression of vintage motorsport.

The post The Boss is Back appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Casey Annis speaks with historic racer and founder of The Masters Series, Ron Maydon, about why he chose to start a new series, the future challenges to historic racing and the best and worst cars he’s ever driven.

How and when did you first become involved with cars?

Maydon: I was into Motocross during the ’70s but stopped that when children arrived  It was actually 2001 that I brought my first race car – a 1968 Cooper F1 car.  Before that, I had no real interest in racing.

What was your first car?

Maydon:A 1957 gold Humber!

When were you first bitten by the racing bug?

Maydon:The Cooper started it all for me….

What was your first racecar?

Maydon:The 1968 Cooper T68C

What prompted you to you start The Masters?

Maydon:I brought the Cooper F1 car, which I started racing. I was at Silverstone for a race and it was very wet and very cold. My wife and three young kids were with me and said, ‘If it’s like this every time, we will never join you again’. The next event was at Le Mans-Bugatti, and it was so hot. My wife said, ‘I can’t find a cool drink anywhere. Either you stop racing, or do something.’ Then I thought I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s too hot, too cold or too wet. The idea of Masters sprang from that! The funny thing is that five or six years later every series was doing hospitality, and drivers were going from one feast to another!

What was that first Masters race like for you?

Maydon:We turned up at Pau, in May 2004, with a grid of 14 historic F1 cars. We had a truck, we had a hospitality unit, we had two lovely German girls making sandwiches, and we even had a coffee barista. We opened the doors – and nobody came in! Everyone just walked past, we looked like we were from another planet. The next day, it wasn’t much better. It was hot, we had ice creams – and still nobody came. The third day it rained, and suddenly the place was packed. Everyone was looking for shelter! We never looked back from there.

Any events since then particularly stand out in your mind?

Maydon:I wouldn’t pick any one out—all have their plusses and minuses. But it’s a combination of atmosphere and spirit, and what the organizers, promoters and competitors bring to the event. Sometimes it just comes together. A good example is the Silverstone Classic. In its earliest days it didn’t have the correct spirit between those three elements. Now, I’m looking forward to going there – it has changed from a big event, to a great event.

What are the most pressing challenges you see historic racing in the near term?

Maydon:I think the increasing value of original race cars will prevent people driving them on a regular basis. If the cars are not driven and raced regularly then it will mean that it is financially unsustainable for organisers and promoters, such as Masters, to exist  It’s a Catch 22 situation and one of the reasons that I welcome and support authentic FIA inspected and approved replicas.

Running a series on another continent is a huge challenge, what made you want to expand into the North American market?

Maydon:I knew the organizers of Historic Grand Prix and saw their activities declining over a period of time whilst Masters was expanding.  I was invited to see a couple of HGP races in the US and liked what I saw and the idea spread from there!  I also have 2 daughters that live in the US and thought it would be a good way to see them more!  Although, in reality, that hasn’t quite worked out as planned and still leads to separate trips to America

Ideally, where would you like to see The Masters progress to, in the next 5 years?

Maydon: For me, I want nothing more than creditability from our peers.

What cars do you currently enjoy in your collection?

Maydon: In case my wife or accountant read this lets just say “Sufficient.” My next car is always my favorite car! All joking aside, racing a period correct FIA Mini Cooper S in a grid full of other identical cars is as much fun as a man is entitled to have at my age. From the F1 cars, I call my LEC  the “Fat Boy” car as it is very wide, comfy and easy to drive!

What was the best and worst car (race or road) you’ve ever owned and why?

Maydon:The Minis fit into the best and worst category! A Mini is the most fun to drive, but also makes no sense when you drive them fast, they defy logic.

Finally, if a genie were to pop out of a bottle and grant you one automotive wish, what’s the one car you’d desperately love to own, if money were no object?

Maydon:The Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler

The post Ron Maydon appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

However, in 1960, a small English racecar manufacturer and their top driver created a sensation at Indy when they appeared for practice with a tiny, mid-engine car.  John Cooper (head of Cooper Cars) and Jack Brabham (a Formula One driver) brought the two liter Climax engine T-54 Cooper to see how it would perform in a two-day test. They shocked the Indy establishment by turning a lap of 135 mph on their initial run, eventually hitting 144 mph, which would have put them on the third row of the race grid.  Instead of racing, they decided to build a car specifically for the Indy 500 and return the following year.

They returned the following year to race with a car only slightly different than their Formula One car but with  larger 3-liter engine.  After qualifying at 145 mph, which was good enough for the fifth row, Brabham ran a steady race to finish ninth, a very credible race for a car that was down on power compared to the big Offy’s.  Many of the old-timers had taken notice of how well the small, lighter car handled and gave better gas mileage.  The revolution had begun.

Gurney, Clark and Lotus

Dan Gurney had become good friends with Jim Clark while each competed in Formula One. Seeing what Cooper had accomplished at Indy the previous year and how he was impressed with the monocoque Lotus 25, Gurney arranged a meeting between the Ford Motor Company and Colin Chapman of Lotus to discuss the possibility of racing in the Indy 500.  A plan was hatched and after Clark had won the Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in October, they took their Lotus Climax 25 to Indy for testing. Even though the car was down almost 250 horsepower on the Offy-powered cars, Clark ran a lap of 143 mph, a few mph below the winning speed of the previous years race.  They would be back the following year.

In 1963, Lotus introduced their model 29 and coupled with the new Ford 260 HP V-8, they had a car with great potential.  The design goals were for a car with lighter weight, lower power, great handling and lower fuel consumption compared to the venerable Indy Roadsters. Clark qualified fifth but Gurney crashed and raced a cobbled together car but made the grid.  In the race, Clark lead for several laps with Gurney in second but they eventually finished second and seventh respectively. The Indy Roadster owners had seen the demise of their front-engine cars, it was a harsh reality to deal with.

Motivated by their success and the money, Chapman planned on returning to Indy in 1964. He built a new car, the Type 34 married to a new quad-cam, four valve per cylinder engine producing a nice boost in horsepower.  Clark qualified on pole with Gurney in the second row.  In the race, Clark lead for several laps but on the 40th lap, his left rear suspension collapsed resulting in a crash.  Gurney’s car was taken off the track as a precaution.

Mission Accomplished

With the promise shown by the Type 34 Lotus Indy Car, Chapman brought in Len Terry to design the latest car for Indy, the Type 38.  This design had several major changes including a fully stressed-skin, tube monocoque for greater chassis stiffness; increased fuel capacity by 40%; a more aerodynamic, smoother body shape; it was longer and the track wider; larger disc brakes and modified suspension completed the major car updates. Ford had refined their engine increasing the horsepower to 500 on alcohol, which runs cooler and thus enabled a smaller radiator to be used.  Unlike previous years, the tires would be the tried and true Firestones.

Lotus went to Indy fully prepared with two team cars for Clark and Gurney, plus they enlisted the famous Wood Brothers stock car crew to handle the pit work. All went according to plan as Clark and Gurney qualified the Type 38s on the front row.  Lotus had built and sold a few other Type 38s for customers including Parnelli Jones (qualified fifth), Al Miller (qualified seventh), A.J. Foyt (qualified first) and Bobby Johns (qualified 22nd).  At the green flag, Clark took off and led almost the entire race for the victory and in the process, set a race record by averaging 150.686 mph.  The four other Type 38s finished second (Jones), fourth (Miller) and seventh (Johns). Clearly, the Cooper and Lotus efforts at Indianapolis had made a huge impact on the race and changed it forever.

Clark and the Type 38 returned in 1966 to go for a repeat victory in a single-car effort.  In addition, many other teams had entered cars based on the Lotus design further evidence of the cars superiority.  Gurney was racing an All-American Racers Eagle, his first in-house built Indy Car designed by Len Terry, just hired from Lotus who had penned the Type 38.  In addition, many other teams had entered cars based on the Lotus design—further evidence of the cars superiority.  In the race, Clark lead a total of 68 laps and thought he had taken his second victory in a row but was surprised to learn he had been beaten by Graham Hill racing a Lola T-90/Ford.

Unfortunately, Clark’s story at Indianapolis did not have a happy ending. He qualified 16^th, in 1967, but in the race he dropped out with a holed piston after just 35 laps. But this was not his last appearance at Indianapolis since just a few weeks before his fatal crash in Europe, he tested the STP-Lotus turbine powered car and reportedly was quite excited by its performance.  However, Clark and the Lotus Type 38 will always be remembered for their historic victory in the 1965 Indianapolis 500.

The post A Turning Point at the Indianapolis 500 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

I usually start off an interview by asking, “Who are you?” And how did you become interested in automobiles?

Brian Redman: Well, I was born in Lancashire. As a boy, I became interested in automobiles,  my grandfather owned a BMW 328 and went on to own a Bristol 400 and 401, as well as an Aston DB 2/4. He owned two very modest businesses, a bakery and a business employing two men making mop heads.

The post Brian Redman appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The motor racing career of Australian Vern Schuppan has been written up extensively over the years. Born in South Australia, Vern was smitten with motor racing early in his life, initially with karts before setting off to the UK, in 1969, with his wife Jennifer to become a Formula 1 driver.

In 1971, in only his second year of racing, Vern won the single-seater Formula Atlantic championship, which led to a drive in two non-championship F1 races with BRM; the Gold Cup at Oulton Park and the John Player Victory Race at Brands Hatch. In these races, he was placed fifth and fourth respectively and astonishingly while Vern hadn’t driven an F1 car beforehand, BRM immediately signed him for the full 1973 GP season.

The post Vern Schuppan—The Le Mans Winner and his Talbot-Lago appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Peter Giddings and his cars will be missed. He was one of the best. Pre-war Alfa Romeos, Lancia D24 and D50, 250F Maserati, Bugatti Type 55, Delage, Ferrari Lusso and others, each presented and driven as their builders had intended…and who could forget the Great Danes… the last, the wonderful “Havoc.”
I can only offer condolences to his wife Judy. 

Dennis Gray

Tell me about the early years…the kind of stuff that sets the tone.

Giddings: I was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in the ’40s…you are not going to get any closer than that as I fibbed about my age when obtaining my first driving license!

Education at that time was difficult, We had weary, shell shocked teachers who taught by rote. It would seem that in order to make up for the tragic loss of so many young lives in World War II, the prime objective of my school was to supply replacement fodder for the military.

Innocently, I got close, passing my exam for a junior officer position, but luckily for me, I failed due to my poor eyesight…imagine what a different life I would have led!

My passions included electronics and, to this day, creative writing. As a recipient of several Golden Quill Awards, one of my favorite pieces on Moss, which will also help to explain the origins of my passion for historic racing. Whenever we chat with Stirling and Susie, we always remind them that Stirling has a lot to answer for! All of this led to an involvement with early tape recording. We had a mobile and permanent studio, and recorded many of the greats and the good. To this day, I am still involved with audio and communications.

At that time, I was involved with a Swiss conglomerate, designing early multi-track recorders, plus working on a retainer for a German transducer designer.

In 1971, these two pioneering companies, weary of their USA representation, asked me to move to the States, and help set up a facility for them on Long Island. Judy and I were newly married, foot loose and fancy-free so we accepted.

Car wise, our “calling card” upon arrival was our restored 1924 Lyons Bugatti, majestically towed by our Gurney Nutting Sedanca de Ville Rolls-Royce.

To our absolute joy and relief, Long Island turned out to be a hot bed of pre-war car activity, leading to memorable friendships with the irrepressible “Austie” Clark, Freddie Willits, with his wonderful single-seater 35C Bugatti, Rene and Maurice Dreyfus, Bill Wonder (Maserati 300S), Peter Magnuson, Judy Stropus (OSCA), Jim Haynes (post-war Frazer Nash), the Lefferts, Jim McAllister (Birdcage Maserati and Alfa 8c), Miles Coverdale (Bugatti 55), et al.

Thus, my USA racing began at iconic tracks, such as Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, and Bridgehampton.

When did you make the move to California?

Giddings: We remained in New York from 1971 to 1976, by which time we had discovered the lure of California.

By this point in time, we owned a number of businesses, and I was traveling extensively.

One of the reasons we moved was that my friend, Tom Spalding, had asked me to join him at Spalding Racing, where we pioneered Race Vision, one of the first—if not the very first—company to produce real-time motor racing on TV, and you will know this, Dennis, as you were our brilliant team photographer.

What was your first exposure to motor sports?

Giddings: My mum was avid about motor racing. Thus, I enjoyed thumbing through her albums of Kodak Box Brownie black-and-white photographs of Brooklands.

For sixpence at a jumble sale, I purchased a copy of “The Boys Book of Motor Racing” (on my bookshelf to this day), and started to read about the greats of racing.

As we lived close to Goodwood, I was caught umpteen times getting in under the fence.

Eventually a representative went to see my mum who explained, “I don’t know where it comes from ….he just loves his Dinky toys and car books … I really don’t know what to do.”

“Well, Mrs. Giddings, we shall come up with a way for him to come into the circuit through the gate, and we shall put him to work as a timekeeper’s spotter/ assistant, and we shall even supply him with a boxed lunch.”

The timekeeper’s tower was the tallest building on the track. Thus I got to see and meet all of the leading drivers of the day. In the meantime, I was busy delivering newspapers, groceries, “gigging” at various jazz clubs, venues, and dance halls, earning as much money as I possibly could.

Eventually, I scraped together enough money to buy my first racecar, which I drove to Goodwood. Unfortunately, I was rejected by the scrutineer, because I did not have a reverse gear.

Looking and feeling pretty unhappy, I bumped into our chief timekeeper, Mr. Ebblewhite, whose father was the chief handicapper and timekeeper at Brooklands, who asked me why I was looking so glum.

I explained that I had been rejected from my very first race, and he told me that I needed to talk to Mr. Mathews. It turned out that Mr. Mathews was previously the chief scrutineer at Brooklands.

Looking over at my 1926 chain-driven Frazer Nash “Union Special”, Mr. Mathews asked whether I had any spare chains, which I kept in an old green galvanized bucket.

Immaculate in his pressed grey flannel trousers, polished shoes, white shirt, Brooklands tie, and blazer I was horrified when he took out an oily length and instructed me to pull the back seat out of the “Frash.”

He then wrestled around with the chain, installing it between the bevel gear drive and the back axle. Walking several yards away he fished out of his top pocket a white handkerchief and told me that when he lowered it, I should simultaneously release the clutch.

Mr. Mathews dropped the hanky, I dropped the clutch, there was a loud bang, and a snake of broken chain slithered out behind me, whilst my car rolled back a couple of inches. “Young man, you have got a reverse gear, and you can race.”

Understand I was not vintage/pre-war racing …. I simply had an old car, because it was all I could afford.

I was competing against Jaguar E-Types, Austin Healeys, TR Triumphs, TVRs, ACs and the like, and everyone was looking down their noses at me.

It would be wonderful to say that I won my very first race, but if memory serves me correctly, I did make it to the podium with a third place.

Thus, from early on, I learned that a confidently driven pre-war car could be competitive against the cars of the day.

What do you own and race today?

Giddings: We have Lancia D-50A(r), D-25/5(r), Lambda, Alfa Romeo Tipo C 8c-35, Monza, and 1750, along with a Bugatti or two, and perhaps most important of all, my ex-Richard Seaman 1926 Delage 15-S-8.

Coincidentally, the Monza by model number should have been called the Tipo B, but instead as this version of the 8c Alfa, fresh out of the box, came 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the 1932 Italian GP held at Monza, Alfa said that henceforth this model of Alfa should be called the Monza.

Sometimes I have difficulty remembering where all of my cars are. Because of the logistics involved and the cost of moving cars around the globe, I am like a sailor who has a lady friend in every port. I have cars on the east coast, the west coast, in England and Australasia!

Why do you race so many pre-war Alfa and ’50s Lancias?

Giddings: Early on my cars could only be acquired one at a time, because that was all I could afford.

Nevertheless, I had a sine wave of cars I wanted to experience. I had no trailer, no tow car, and thus if I drove my racecar to a meeting—be it at Wiscombe, Firle, Crystal Palace, Silverstone, Oulton Park, or Goodwood—and it broke, then I was stuck.

Back then, my sine wave shifted backwards and forwards between Alfa Romeo and Bugatti.

When Judy and I married, we honeymooned in our 1750 Alfa. We raced and rallied that car throughout Northern Italy. This was a true test for Judy.

On one occasion, we were guests of Ferrari at Monza. I have photos of Judy looking more than a little unhappy with her fingers in her ears, and you can just read her expression, “What have I done marrying this crazy guy?!”

The reason for my love of the pre-war Alfa was that they were all brilliant designs and visions of a man called Vittorio Jano.

Jano eventually left Alfa (or was asked to leave!) because the poor man was being asked to produce competitive cars—my Alfa Romeo Tipo C 8c-3 being an example—on a comparative shoe string, against the might of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union.

Exceptional drivers like Nuvolari (the greatest of them all, in my opinion), would occasionally achieve a win, but clearly the Alfas, Maseratis and Bugattis were all swamped by these high tech, and heavily subsidized, German teams, so this was truly a David vs. Goliath period in motor racing history.

To everyone’s relief, Jano, upon leaving Alfa, joined Lancia and with the two ’50s Lancias that I own today, I can experience the book ends of his great career.

In short, I have wanted to experience, first-hand, how far Jano had come with his design and technology philosophy since his Fiat/Alfa days.

What do you find special about the D50?

The D50 was as radical in its day as any car we have seen since. Again, a very low budget effort. In fact, racing put Lancia out of business, and thus these wonderful Lancias ended up with Ferrari whose own GP car at the time was the Super Squalo, which was hopelessly non-competitive.

D50s certainly saved Ferrari’s hide. By that time, of course, Jano was heading up a design team, and certainly could not claim 100% responsibility for any of the Lancias of the period.

Sadly, the great Jano, having been told that he had a terminal illness committed suicide. There was a subsequent autopsy, and he was found to be 100% healthy.

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The post The Final Chat with Peter Giddings appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

There is something about racing which gets into the blood more thoroughly than a good dose of Castrol R and those people who cannot do without it are an inspiration to all of us who secretly harbor Walter Mitty fantasies about outduking Michael Schumacher into the Karussel at the Nürburgring or outbraking Jackie Stewart into Moss Corner at Mosport. Such a person is Bill Wonder, who has been smitten with racing for six decades starting with his first race, the 1953 edition of the Twelve Hours of Sebring where he finished 14^thoverall, partnered with his friend, Bill Wellenberg in an MGTD. Bill went on to fly commercially with various airlines but never lost his interest in racing. John Wright spoke with Canadian racer about his six decade long racing career.

So, Bill tell me how you got started in road racing. That’s always the inevitable starting point.

The post Bill Wonder appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Duncan was initially entranced by record keeping and statistics in racing events. This interest morphed into a desire to race and so he has for 22 years. However, with a keen eye for the history of the sport, his desire to race eventually juxtaposed into a desire to keep alive a class of racecars that served as a stepping stone into the higher formulae. So it was that he became the genial godfather of Formula Junior, advancing the cause especially for the diamond anniversary of the class. Advancing the cause led to Duncan’s spearheading events for Formula Juniors all over the world, from Europe to Australia and New Zealand to the USA and Canada. It was at the June 2017 VARAC meet at Mosport and later at the Glen vintage weekend where John Wright sat down with Duncan in a variety of noisy tents, filled with buzzing Formula Junior engines to chronicle the international journey he has been on.

VR: Duncan, what set you on the road of no return in the racing world?

Duncan Rabagliati: Dinky toys. I used to race them around the attic of the house where I lived as a child.

VR: And from there?

Duncan Rabagliati: Well, I got sick and was confined to my room and I built a track and raced them there, as well as at school.

VR: Then you found a discarded pile of motorsports books no one else wanted and that got you more involved.

Duncan Rabagliati: Yes, I found a pile of Motorsport with reports by Jenks (Denis Jenkinson) and started compiling the results. In 1957, my father took me to the German GP at the Nürburgring and, of course, as we all know, Fangio won with an outstanding drive. We were standing in the trees and I had a full-bore introduction to the sport!

VR: That’s when you began seriously to compile statistics on motor races?

Duncan Rabgliati: That’s right. In 1958, I began to be interested in racing statistics, but even by 1961 motorsports magazines were not giving coherent results and so I began writing to organizers for results, practice times, etc. Also around that time, fellow enthusiasts Paul Sheldon and John Thompson were helping compiling records in Formula One and Formula Two races.

VR: From there, you started to dip your toe in the motorsports pool.

Duncan Rabagliati: Yes. From 1963 to 1964, I was doing a few trials in Yorkshire and also doing some rallying. All this time I was working on an archive, which became the Formula One Register.

VR: Then your working life took over and you headed for London.

Duncan Rabagliati: Yes. In 1969, I went to London, but as for attending races, I got press passes from 1964 onwards. Around that time, our first book was published, “The Formula One Record Book”, published by Leslie Frewin.

VR: From there you took on organizing races but on an informal basis?

Duncan Rabagliati: Back in the 1960s, I was on a committee of the British Racing Sports Car Club, northern center. We would put up the track at Ex-Rufforth with string – later Armco–race and then adjourn to the Greyhound Inn. I got to know Trevor Twaites – British sportscar champion in 1969-1970. Later on, we all went off to the ‘Ring with a B8 Chevron. We camped in the paddock in tents. We must have upset someone, because an announcement came over the PA system that, “The English must be removing their tents!” We ignored that. Alain De Cadenet was there too in one of his first races. His Ferrari failed to start and he had to tow it back to our paddock, shouting at people in the pit to get out of his way… Sadly Trevor blew up the BMW engine behind the pits.

VR: You travelled a great deal in those days.

Duncan Rabagliati: At the evening dinner, my wife Vicky and I were falling asleep at the table. After that, the next weekend, off we went to Spa. Then, we went home.

VR: Then, much later you travelled over the Atlantic to a vintage weekend in the Bahamas.

Duncan Rabagliati:  Yes, much, much later we went with Brian Redman to Nassau, in 2004, for a revival of the Speed Weeks. That’s where I met people like Murray Smith who was racing a Scarab.

VR: Over the years, of course, your work as a lawyer tended to get in the way of your participation in motorsports.

Duncan Rabagliati:  I was, in fact, in some serious law work. It did get in the way.

VR: However, you were in full swing in Europe.

Duncan Rabagliati: Trevor, Vicky, Ralph and I went to Anderstorp in Sweden and that’s where we met Howden Ganley working on his Chevron B15 F3 in the Diamond Jubilee World Tour. He eventually became a patron of Formula Junior, terrific guy by the way.

VR: But then again law work raised its head.

Duncan Rabagliati: Backtracking a bit, in 1969, we had moved to London and got involved in some serious law work. For a total of 36 weekends, in one year I did law work and travelling to the Middle East and Far East, dealing with some 33 different countries. By the way, my wife has been a pillar to deal with all this!

VR: You were also busy collecting cars and dealing with motorsports events. A busy man!

Duncan Rabagliati: In the 1980s, I ended up with around 100 cars some of which were Swallow Dorettis, Alexis and Connaughts.

VR: And now it has been the Diamond Jubilee of Formula Junior all over the world, a truly international series of events.

Duncan Rabagliati: We have been all over the world at various events, racing, making friends. It has been tiring but immensely satisfying.

VR: Duncan, thank you for taking time out of your extremely busy schedule to talk to me at two very busy events.

The post Duncan Rabagliati appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

In the earlier days of his racing career, Craig Fisher (who recently passed away) raced just about everything he could get his hands on, from used DKW Monzas at Harewood Acres to Abarth Simcas at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant and even the ferocious Comstock EXP at Mosport. He also raced at tracks across the USA and UK.  His talent and his dedication to being as professional a driver as he could be, brought him to the notice of Chuck Rathgeb of the Canadian Comstock racing team. His success with Comstock in turn brought him to the notice of Terry Godsall’s “merry group of University of Toronto buddies.” Thus it was that it was decided to build a new Camaro Z-28 for the new SCCA series, the Trans-Am. The new car was prepared by mechanical whiz Doug Duncan at the Burke Seitze Gorries Downtown Chevrolet and Oldsmobile dealership in Toronto, Ontario.  This entry finished a controversial second overall to Bob Tullius’ Dodge Dart in its first race at the four hour long 1967 Daytona Speedway race, but it would have been first had it not been for an SCCA pit snafu.  This made the Godsall effort the first Camaro to earn points for the marque. Craig’s success in this race brought him to the attention of Roger Penske.  In 1967, he teamed up with Mark Donohue and the partnership resulted in a win at Marlboro in 1967. Perhaps the culmination of the relationship was at the 1968 Twelve Hours of Sebring where Mark and Craig finished 3^rdand first in Trans-Am. Craig had other excellent results in Trans-Am finishing second at the 1968 Continental Divide Trans-Am and 2^nd at the 1968 Trans-Am at Kent. Overall, Craig raced 53 times in his career, with 33 finishes and 15 retirements and his finishing ratio was a creditable 68%.  John Wright caught up with Craig at the 2011 VARAC Vintage weekend, where he was the grand marshall.

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Author Brock Yates once described Judy Stropus as a “racing personality,” since her career in motorsports has covered a gamut of disciplines including, her almost savant ability to accurately time and score endurance sports car races before the introduction of computers, driving race cars, and becoming an author and an award-winning public relations expert.

Perhaps best known as a professional timer/scorer, Judy has worked with top teams such as Penske Racing in Can-Am, Trans-Am and at the Indy 500, Bud Moore Racing, BMW, American Motors, Al Holbert’s Porsche IndyCar team, the Porsche teams of Ted Field, Bruce Leven, Bob Akin, Dick Barbour, Wayne Baker (and many more) and Chevrolet factory teams.

The post Judy Stropus appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

When you first meet Walt MacKay, you are struck by what a quiet, modest man he is. Currently, he runs a shop repairing, restoring and preparing vintage race cars usually Porsches, but once you dig a little deeper into his background, you find a more than merely competent racecar driver, one who not only drove for the famous Canadian team Comstock Racing but who also constructed and raced his own Group Seven racecar, the Chevrolet Astur. He still competes on the racetrack with various vintage racecars, ranging from the ex-Peter Ryan Lotus 19 to Porsche 911s and his current mount, a late model Mustang Trans-Am car. A graduate in mechanical engineering from Ryerson Polytechnic University, Walt early on displayed an aptitude for sports cars, and he raced his first car, a Ford V8-powered MGTC at hill climb events and from places like Harewood Acres to the fall event at Watkins Glen. John Wright caught up to this busy man at his home in the Caledon Hills area just north of Toronto, Ontario.

VR: So, Walt, tell me about the early days of your involvement in motorsport.

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John Wright speaks with the influential Canadian racer and official about the early days of racing in Canada, his tenure as the head of Mosport, the creation of the Canadian Grand Prix, vintage racing and a host of other topics.

VR:Okay, Phil. Who are you?

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VR: Can you begin by telling us about your early engineering exploits?

Bill Sadler: I grew up in an automotive environment, which I inhaled as naturally as the air around me. My parents ran Sadler Auto Electric, in the small Ontario city of St. Catharine’s. I grew up in the shop and when I was old enough, I was put to work at various odd jobs.

VR: As you grew older you wanted a car, can you discuss how that went?

Sadler: I wanted to build a car to my own specifications, but I had no car. In the 1940s there were not many teenagers who could afford a car. However, my Dad was getting ready to discard a 1939 Austin Bantam panel truck. He gave it to me and I immediately tore it down and repaired it. I took the top off and made my own convertible top, which I sewed with my mother’s old Singer treadle sewing machine. Then I converted the floor shift to a column shift—which was fashionable for the time. The structural integrity of the vehicle was compromised because I had removed the top, but I drove that converted truck everywhere, even to New York.

VR: After working for your parents a while, didn’t you accumulate enough money to purchase a new car?

Sadler: I purchased a brand-new 1949 Hillman Minx convertible. I was paying $80 a month for that car, but I was making considerably more in the shop.

VR: No doubt you couldn’t wait to squeeze more performance out of that car.

Sadler: Right. We had driven the car to Mexico, and that trip gave me the opportunity to think about my future. I decided to leave school and devote myself full time to work. My father had a branch shop in Hamilton, and it was not doing well. I asked him to let me manage it, and I brought it up.

VR: You also had some time to think about how you wanted to boost the performance of the Hillman. Can you tell us how you went about it?

Sadler: I put a Ford V8 60 engine in the car, with two Stromberg 97 carbs and a hot cam. I could buzz it to 9,000 rpm, and it put out around 150 horsepower.

VR: Then you entered the Hillman in the 1953 Watkins Glen races, how did that go?

Sadler: The 1953 race was held on the new 4.6-mile course on top of the hill outside Watkins Glen. There was a long one-mile downhill straight, which led into a very tight right-hand corner. The Hillman was very fast there, but the problem was the tiny front drum brakes, so small you could hold the front brake drums in your hand. After several laps while leading many two- and three-liter cars, I felt a strange thump on the brake pedal while braking for the sharp right turn. I guessed that the brake linings were gone. I drove for a few laps using the hand brake and the rear brakes only. Eventually I was black-flagged for going too slow. Also, I had to drive home in the car, doing this with the hand brake.

VR: Was that when you came to the obvious conclusion that it was time to build a proper racecar?

Sadler: I wanted to design my own car with the most advanced technology I could find at a price I could afford. I was able to pick up a second-hand Jowett Javelin in Toronto, a car that seemed to have the advanced features I wanted.

VR: But that was just a start.

Sadler: I drew chalk lines on the floor of the garage in Hamilton and specified a double two-inch tube frame. I hired a welder to do the work, but I taught myself to weld and let him go. I took the torsion bars from the Jowett and made them longitudinal in the front and transverse in the rear, and individually adjustable. I took a Morris Minor rack and pinion steering system and adapted it to the front end. I put a rudimentary sheet steel body on it along with cycle fenders welded onto steel rod.

VR: Was it then time to test it with a return to The Glen?

Sadler: My first race with the car was at The Glen in 1954. The car had a very harsh ride, the expansion strips on the throughway were killers. We had to change drivers to give the rear end a rest! Those were the days when we went through tech inspection at Lester Smalley’s Garage. It seemed like an insurmountable hurdle, but the car passed. There was one problem. The car ran well until it got to 4,000 to 5,000 rpm and then it would misfire. I couldn’t figure it out.

VR: How did you solve that problem?

Sadler: One night, I connected up some headlights to the ignition switch. I started the car and the headlights flickered just at the same time the engine had that elusive misfire at 4,000-5,000 rpm. I discovered that I had a resonating dashboard switch. At 10Hz the darn thing would resonate and affect the ignition. I put a different toggle switch in the dash and the engine misfire went away.

VR: Your first season racing your car had some indifferent results. Over the course of the ensuing winter didn’t you came up with some ideas of how you could improve the Sadler Special?

Sadler: That winter a friend had an accident in his TR-2, and I went to the hospital to visit him. He told me the car had been totalled. I asked him if I could buy the car for the engine. He agreed. Now I had a more powerful engine for my special.

VR: Didn’t you encounter a problem fitting the engine in the chassis?

Sadler: The stock TR engine with the SU carburetors interfered with the main chassis tube. As a result, I designed my own fuel injection system for the engine. I took a piece of four-inch aluminum pipe and cut it to fit. I aluminum-brazed it, and I installed a four-inch butterfly throttle and constructed linkage to control it. For a fuel pump, I took a standard fuel pump and replaced the normal pressure-limiting spring with a much heavier spring. Thus, the displacement of the fuel was now constant per revolution of the engine.

I also had to calibrate the system with a feedback valve to vary the flow of gas with the speed of the engine. I had the testing machinery in the garage to ensure the system worked before I took the car on the track.

VR: Didn’t you also construct a new body for the car?

Sadler: Over the winter of 1954-’55 I built a new fiberglass, envelope-style body for the car. I got war surplus ¼-inch steel tubing, bent it on chalk lines I had drawn on the floor of the garage and tack-welded it to the tubular frame. It was very symmetrical. I had a complete outline, including a grille. I got some expanded metal lath and tack-welded it and plastered it to get a male mould. I put fiberglass on top and finished off the outside with a grinder. Now, I had a male buck with a fiberglass body on top. I broke up the plaster and I had a body.

VR: How did the car run with, now, around 100 horsepower from its injected Triumph engine?

Sadler: I ran the car at The Glen with indifferent results, but then Chevrolet came out with their new 265-cubic-inch V8 engine. I had raced the car at The Glen, Edenvale and Harewood Acres, and although it was pretty fast, there were oiling problems on the corners with the lower end of the engine, resulting in a burned bearing. Then I thought, I’m gonna put a Chev V8 in this car.

VR: That took place in the fall of 1955, did it not?

Sadler: I installed the engine and hooked it up to the Triumph transmission and the original Jowett rear end. As I remember it, the car was pretty light, weighing in at around 1,200 to 1,300 pounds. My parents were the distributors of Rochester carburetors, and I managed to get a two-four-barrel manifold for the engine. However, it scared the living hell out of me when I drove it as it wouldn’t handle. I thought to myself, there’s got to be a better way of doing this.

VR: So, what did you do to address the handling problem? Paul van Valkenburgh said that you created a homebuilt transmission differential at the rear of your car, combined with an independent rear suspension.

Sadler: I re-planned the car. I traded the TR-2 engine to Bob Hanna and Jack Wheeler of Autosport for a 1932 Alvis pre-selector gearbox. I took the Alvis gearbox and got a 1940 Ford rear end and coupled them together for a modified rear end. Thus, I had a transaxle and a pre-selector gearbox differential.

VR: Then you built a new frame to handle the power…

Sadler: The Mark II frame was built from 3- and 3½-inch chrome moly tubing from a firm that dealt in war surplus material. The Chev V8 sat far back in the frame to get as much weight as possible on the back wheels. I chose a low-pivot swing-axle arrangement for the rear end.

VR: You put much thought into how you wanted the rear end suspension to work, didn’t you?

Sadler: I analyzed all the available systems because I wanted to keep the tires perpendicular to the track surface. It’s critically important in a high- performance car that you have a very high roll center at the front and a low roll center at the back for optimum cornering and control. The Lister Jags and Ferraris were tail happy, and their solution was to put an anti-roll bar at the front—the wrong solution.

VR: Then you decided to go to England with the new Sadler Mark II.

Sadler: I went to England and worked with John Tojeiro. I participated in some races with some good results, but mainly I destroyed some egos with the car. For example, I entered the Brighton Speed Trial, a one-kilometer drag race. There were some aircraft engine-powered dragsters there. I had the fastest time and then it started to pour.

They waited and waited for the track to dry out and it didn’t and I was declared the winner. The prizes consisted of 100 pounds and two huge trophies. That money paid for the aluminum body I had built for the car with 10 pounds left over. I put the new aluminum body over the car and returned to Canada. However, John Tojeiro kept the trophies! By The way, Moss’s mechanic, Alf Francis was most impressed with the Mark II!

VR: Would you tell us about the 1957 Bahamas Speed Weeks and your part in it?

Sadler: I first heard about the Nassau Speed Weeks in the latter part of my 1957 racing tour in England. I had become friendly with a Brian Naylor who had raced Lotus cars. Brian liked the Mark II and thought it was a great racecar with lots of power. I contacted the organizers and managed to wangle an invitation to the event.

VR: What was your plan?

Sadler: The plan was to have Brian fly into Toronto, I would pick him up and we would drive to Miami to catch the ferry to Nassau. The new aluminum body, all polished up, transformed the Sadler Mark II from a small homebuilt to a professional-looking car. We arrived at Miami and loaded the car. We had to chain the trailer and tow car together so it would still be there after we got back from the race.

VR: Didn’t your Sadler Mark II make quite a splash after its arrival?

Sadler: We were approached by a camera crew and models from Mademoiselle magazine. The photos with me in the car and models draped over the car made it into the magazine’s chic and modern fashion section.

VR: Wasn’t racing scheduled there as well?

Sadler: Brian and I shared the driving duties, which went on over a series of two weeks. Brian came 1st in one of the preliminary races and won a nice trophy. The car did very well in a series of races. And the tow car and trailer were still there after we returned to Miami. In 1958, we won the Queen Catherine Cup in the Mark II at Watkins Glen.

VR: Did the success of the Mark II lead to the refined Mark III?

Sadler: The Mark II was a good car, but it suffered from unreliability due to a lack of funds for development. However, Earl Nisonger of Nisonger Corporation, the U.S. distributor of KLG spark plugs, commissioned me to build a Mark III Sadler to be named the Nisonger Special. Bob Said, father of current racer Boris Said, was to be the driver.

VR: Wasn’t there a complication, however, as you told me the car had to be completed by the 1958 Nassau Speed Weeks event?

Sadler: Yes. I had to complete the fabrication of the Mark III’s fuel tank in an abandoned hangar at the Nassau airport circuit.

VR: The Mark III also had an impressive debut, but weren’t there glitches?

Sadler: The Mark III lived up to its promise for a short while. In the early stages of a main Nassau race, the Mark III literally ran away from the international field of racers. However, when he was many car lengths ahead of the pack, Bob Said looked around to see where everybody was. The wind blew his goggles off. He finally got to the pits, got some goggles and took off in a rush. Only he damaged the car when he ran over an airport marker light at the first corner and was forced to retire the car.

VR: Then you constructed the Sadler Mark IV, but built only one car.

Sadler: Dave Greenblatt took delivery of the Mark IV. It was built as the first of a proposed line of customer cars with a solid rear axle instead of an independent rear end. Dave put a Latham supercharged engine in the car. It was later vandalized for its engine. The bits and pieces formed the basis of his Dailu, which eventually was driven by Terry Dale, Don Horner and, in vintage races, by Mike Leicester.

VR: Then you decided to put the engine behind the driver. Can you briefly explain the process that resulted in the Sadler Formula Libre and the Sadler Mark V?

Sadler: I experimented with one of my Sadler Formula Juniors. I installed a Chevrolet V8 where the Austin engine went, but I had no room for a clutch or transmission. When you started the engine, you went. It had so much power it scared me, and I don’t think I ever opened it up. So, I decided to put the engine behind the driver. The car had no transmission, just one gear, with a Halibrand in-and-out rear end. The engine was a 327-cubic-inch V8 with a Duntov camshaft providing a wide power band—with about 300 horsepower. The weight of the car came in at about 1,350 pounds. The suspension was fully adjustable.

VR: Your mid-engined Sadler Special debuted at The Glen about two or three weeks before the GM CERV special made its appearance, in the fall of 1960.

Sadler: We made the race and Peter Ryan was our driver. Peter went off the track and stove in the oil pan. The oil pickup was sucking up air and not oil. He didn’t tell me, and the engine failed. Canadian racer Danny Shaw purchased the car and then it went through a series of owners. Canadian collector and RM principal Jack Boxstrom owns the car now.

VR: Then there was what I might call your chief work, the revolutionary Mark V. Will you tell us about that car?

Sadler: Comstock, in the form of proprietor Chuck Rathgeb, approached me to create a world-beating sports racing car. At the 1960 Glen race, Stirling Moss practiced in the Sadler Formula Libre and he told me that the car needed another forward gear and less understeer. I found a sponsor and we started. I decided to design the car to FIA Appendix C rules, and also to the 1954 version of the FIA rulebook that the SCCA used. As a result, the car had a proper windshield and proper doors. The engine in my car was a Chevrolet V8 of 377 cubic inches, while the second car—which Canadian racer Grant Clark would drive—would have a 327-cubic-inch engine.

VR: But wasn’t it in the transmission and differential where you did something different?

Sadler: That’s right. I used the Halibrand quick-change rear end again, but I added an extension, and in the extension were two forward gears and a reverse gear as well. There was one speed for hairpin turns and a top gear.

VR: Then it was time for the car’s debut at the first professional race at Mosport in late June of 1961.

Sadler: We had two Mark Vs there, one for Grant Clark and one for me. We had tested at Harewood Acres and nothing fell off, so we were off to Mosport for the Players 200. Grant finished 3rd and I finished with one gear remaining in the gearbox.

VR: You took a Mark V to the old Meadowvale venue, and Harry Heuer told me that: “Peter went by me so fast, I thought I was nailed to the track.”

Bill Sadler: Peter ended up in 2nd place after his friend, Roger Penske.

VR: Didn’t your involvement in racing end in the fall of 1961 during a race at Mosport?

Sadler: I got into a major disagreement with Chuck Rathgeb of Comstock. Grant Clark stuffed my car into a haybale. I told the crew to take the car apart and repair it. We stayed up all night working on it. Come race day and I was not prepared to race as I felt the car was not safe. It was undriveable. However, Chuck was angry and said I was a chicken-shit. He walked the paddock to find another driver. Danny Shaw got in the car and promptly had an accident at Corner Ten. I was beside myself and decided to walk away from racing because my engineering skills were being questioned.

VR: Didn’t you then go back to school, to a school in the USA?

Sadler: I couldn’t get into a Canadian engineering school as I didn’t have grade 13. As a result, I went to Tri-State College. From there, I received a full scholarship to MIT, and from there to General Dynamics and Area 51…

VR: Well, that’s a story for another day! And today?

Sadler: I live on Vancouver Island, where I am contemplating building another car, or something. This summer, in July, I am going to England for an event called the Silverstone Golden Trophy Races where I will present a trophy to the first front-engined special. I will also drive one of my Sadler Formula Juniors.

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In the final part of our trilogy of interviews with former BRM mechanics our focus this month is with Ben Casey, who started with the racing team at Bourne during the early 1960s and remained until the doors were almost closed. Upon joining the team, BRM was on the crest of a wave of success, having recently won the F1 World Championship with Graham Hill and looking forward to other victorious seasons. History shows the team was heading for its deepest nadir and ultimate closure. Although the journey was long and very painful, there were, on occasions, seemingly bright lights at the end of the tunnel, new beginnings and many promises. VR’s European Editor, Mike Jiggle, recently spoke to Casey about his experiences during those dramatic years and the eventual demise of the team.

BC: ….just before we start this interview, can I put on record my real name is Philip Casey, however, in the early 1960s there were two fictional medical television programs in the UK, firstly, Dr. Kildare (played by Richard Chamberlain) on one channel, and another—Ben Casey (played by Vince Edwards) on the other. During that time they vied for ratings. Instantly, from those days forward, my name became Ben Casey, which I’m very happy to be known as today.

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Dan Gurney is a man whose accomplishments need no introduction. In addition to winning in everything from Formula One to NASCAR, Gurney laid claim to a long and successful career as a team owner, car constructor and truly one of racing’s nicest and most approachable individuals. As a long-time friend of the magazine, VR has had numerous opportunities to speak with Dan on a variety of topics. What follows is a compilation of some of the more insightful discussions we’ve enjoyed with the legend over the past 20 years.

VR: How does the son of an opera singer and an artist get started in racing?

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Bob Hanna is one of those quiet and unassuming people who do things unobtrusively, so that unless you look closely you miss the important achievements they have accomplished. Not only was he an effective race driver, he was also a builder of the sport in Canada and one of his crowning achievements was the first Canadian Formula One Grand Prix at Mosport in 1967.

Although he has not participated in racing either as an administrator or racer for many years, Bob can always be found near the smell of Castrol R and the sound of race cars at the annual Mosport Vintage Festival and that’s where John Wright sat down to talk with him about the early days of road racing in Canada.

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The name of Reg Hunt is well known in Australia as there was a time when Reg Hunt Holden was the largest Holden dealership in the country. However, before that, Reg Hunt quickly made a name for himself in the world of motor racing, first driving a car of his own design and then a number of Maseratis. Hunt was 2nd across the line, behind Jack Brabham, in the 1955 Australian Grand Prix in a Maserati A6GCM and was 4th the following year in a 250F, behind Moss, Behra and Whitehead.

Retired from the automotive industry in 1998, at the age of 75, Reg Hunt is now a fit and hearty 94-year-old, and recently was in the Australian country town of Orange, near the ’50s circuit of Gnoo Blas, where Vintage Racecar’s Patrick Quinn sat down with him to talk about those halcyon days.

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It was seeing Raymond Mays’ ERA that first drew a young John Sismey to mechanical engineering. After a grammar school education, he worked as an apprentice machinist with Peter Brotherhood Ltd. of Peterborough. National Service beckoned and a spell with the Royal Air Force honed his mechanical and engineering abilities further. An eight-year spell with BRM was the prelude to Sismey forming his own engineering company, Vegantune, which built racing engines for a number of racing series and helped launch the burgeoning careers of drivers like James Hunt and Alan Jones. VR’s European Editor, Mike Jiggle, welcomed an opportunity to talk to Sismey about his life in engineering. Part one of this interview looks at his early career and his time with BRM.

You started working for BRM in 1957, by that time things were on the up and weren’t racing successes just around the corner for the team?

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There are people in motorsport who just get on with the job; they don’t look for any plaudits or praises, but simply soldier on doing what they know best. They are very talented people who, in a biblical sense, “hide themselves under a bushel,” but without them certain things in our sport may not have happened, or only happened due to their work. Engineer, fabricator and designer Bob Curl is one of them. It was while speaking to him about the Nomad that VR’s European Editor Mike Jiggle found just how many projects this extraordinary man has been, and is still, involved with.

Is it correct that you started work with Elva?

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Reg Hillary, 96-years of age as of this writing, is as sharp and lively as someone half his age. He’s also participated in many forms of motorsport, from Speedway Bikes to Daimler Dart sports cars to driving in, and winning, the first Shell Oil-sponsored cross-Canada Rally, the 4,000-mile Shell 4000, in a Studebaker Lark of all things! He’s also won at Canadian tracks like Green Acres, Harewood Acres and at Mosport’s first race in the spring of 1961. John Wright recently caught up to this busy man at his home in Cambridge, Ontario.

Could you tell us where you were born and a little bit about your very early involvement in motorsport?

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Over the coming months we will have a series of three interviews with former BRM mechanics who worked with the team during the beginning, middle and end of the marque’s history in Grand Prix motor racing. The first of these interviews is with Richard “Dick” Salmon, now in his 92nd year, who started with the team in the early 1950s and stayed for 17 years. His last race with the team coincided with the debut of a young Scot named Jackie Stewart, who had an exemplary debut finishing 6th in the 1965 South African GP. Mike Jiggle, VR’s European Editor, sat down with Salmon to reminisce on those early and sometimes frustrating days of a very British motor racing team.

Was it inevitable that you ended up at BRM, given you were a young mechanic from the Bourne area of Lincolnshire?

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Following the demise of motor racing during the Second World War years, there were those enthusiastic individuals, at a very much grassroots level, who championed the cause for a revival of motorsport immediately following the cessation of hostilities. Alec Francis Rivers-Fletcher, known simply as “Rivers,” who once worked under the tutelage of W.O. Bentley himself, was one such enthusiast who throughout his life constantly banged the drum for motor racing. VR’s European Editor, Mike Jiggle, caught up with Jeremy Rivers-Fletcher, the son of “Rivers,” to talk about his father’s life and legacy.

The name “Rivers-Fletcher” seems to be very well known in motor racing circles. Although you’ve been competing in hill-climbs and club circuit events, if I may politely say, you haven’t been particularly successful, so why is the name so well known?

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Ed Leavens’ career in racing could be compared to an iceberg where 9/10ths of the details of his career lie beneath the surface. He raced from the mid-1950s to around 1962, but he gave it all up for his business of selling cars in London, Ontario, Canada. Here was a race driver whose teammates were such people as Stirling Moss and Roy Salvadori, and he competed against Juan Manuel Fangio and Roger Penske, but he weighed his chances of achieving the top rank in the racing world and chose his business career instead. During his time, he raced Healeys for the Donald Healey team at Sebring and Nassau and the Austin Sprite streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Our John Wright recently caught up with this semi-retired businessman at his home in Arva, outside the southern Ontario city of London, to learn more about his surprising racing career.

Ed, you told me that although you are a Canadian citizen you were actually born in the USA?

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1964 World Champion

Our Ed McDonough had the opportunity to interview John Surtees on a number of occasions, investigating how Surtees had his first test in a Formula One car in a Vanwall, and later became the only person ever to race Vanwall’s short-lived rear-engine car in 1961. As part of his role as co-organizer of the celebration charity dinner to mark the 40th anniversary of Surtees’ World Championship in 1964, McDonough met with Surtees on a number of occasions, interviewing him in depth on his role at Honda, and was present when a statue was erected at Mallory Park to note John’s achievements there on both two wheels and four. The subject of Ferrari came up on numerous occasions, and was a topic of some interest because Surtees left the team suddenly in 1966. Here, McDonough presents a number of the analytical, as well as emotional, comments Surtees made about Enzo Ferrari and his years driving for him.

Your involvement with Enzo Ferrari and the Ferrari team was complex, but do you recall how it all came about?

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