I have been road racing since the early 1980s and vintage/historic racing since the late ’80s; always in 105 series...
When Rod Millen hit the starter on his custom-designed and built four-wheel drive, four-rotor 1985 Mazda RX7 the explosion made...
Sixty years ago, Chevrolet had the guts to introduce a model that was drastically different than anything they had ever done before. Time had come for a small, economical Chevrolet. Ford was working on the Falcon, and Chrysler was close to introducing the Valiant, both very traditional automobiles. The car...
Ferrari SN: 18139 started life as a 365 GT4/BB. It was delivered to Chinetti’s 1970s NART shop in Connecticut –...
Resembling nothing so much as a 1946 Chevrolet Fleetline sedan that was left in the dryer a bit too long,...
American style and simplicity defeated Europe’s complex cars and engines at Le Mans in 1921 to put the seal on the straight-eight era. This great victory celebrates its centenary this year. [dropcap]I[/dropcap]f reliability is an asset for a racing engine, the 1921 3-liter Duesenberg was so blessed. Jimmy Murphy’s Duesenberg...
Ferrari put the pedal to the metal in 1957 with new racing cars of magnificent four-cam V-12 power. In spite...
Corvette’s contemporary ZO6 is enough to strike terror into the hearts of those who drive slower cars, such as Ferraris...
When you troll the paddock at a vintage race meet as often as I have, it takes a special car to catch your eye. While my heart still goes pitta-pat for Alfas, Moggies, 356s, and just about every Lotus and Jaguar, when a bright orange sports racer I have never...
The book “Great Marques – Porsche” starts with this paragraph by Dr. – Ing. h.c. Ferdinand (Ferry) Porsche in the...
European Editor Ed McDonough recently became the first person outside Team Lotus to drive one of the best kept secrets...
The search for rare or interesting automobiles to profile for Vintage Road & Racecar has a few obvious starting points. Concours, especially ones like Amelia Island and Hilton Head, can yield a great variety of cars that are appropriate for this magazine, especially knowing that most, if not all of the...
Lotus founder Colin Chapman was undoubtedly gifted at what he did, admittedly some of his cars were better than others...
In the world of exotic cars, there are few names that can compare with Ferrari. The very mention of the...
Accused of sandbagging at Daytona, two WSC-95 spyders were in storage until called to duty by Team Joest. Porsches by adoption, they took two straight victories at Le Mans in 1996 and ’97 in some of the company’s most improbable successes. “Buoyed by our success at the 1994 Le Mans,”...
The engines roar, pushing the rev limiters to their limits. When the light turns green, the racecars accelerate at full...
1972 Giannini Gruppo 2 Corse The story of Giannini is the tale of the Italian car tuners, the specialists who...
In Italy, a country that’s home to numerous small, specialized companies making exotic sports and racing cars, few can compete with SVA in their combination of obscurity with exotic engineering. Turin’s SVA flourished briefly at the end of the 1940s and produced at maximum two cars and a few more...
The newly formed STD Motors awarded their three marques—Sunbeam, Talbot and Darracq—the honor of a racing effort in 1921-’22. Sunbeam...
1935 Maserati 4CS Ken Painter’s 1935 Maserati 4CS has had a highly active and dramatic existence, and though perhaps not...
This is the tale of a wonderful old racing machine, now fast approaching its 100th birthday but still enjoying an active competition life in the hands of vintage racing enthusiast and collector Andrew Larson. It’s a 1927 Bugatti Type 37A Grand Prix racer, chassis number 37265, and it has been...
Ferrari 512S In 1967, the 512 was born out of a series of bad decisions by racing’s ruling body, the...
Out of the shadows of World War II and its aftermath has come an unique Alfa Romeo sports car flaunting...
Have you ever sat in front of the television watching a beautifully filmed documentary about the archaeological wonders of Egypt, and were overwhelmed at how meticulously the experts sift through acres of ancient sand to piece together minute fragments of bone until they have reincarnated King Rah’s second cousin, beyond...
On the Bubble One of the most exciting relationships in sports car history is that of Alfa Romeo and Zagato....
Sometimes a slogan doesn’t mean very much. Take for example Exxon’s “Happy Motoring” or Pontiac’s “We Are Driving Excitement” –...
In 1977, Porsche’s “improvised” Type 936/77 took on the full-court press of four Renaults at Le Mans. Retirements and technical troubles suggested that winning was out of the question. But neither its drivers nor Porsche number 4 believed that. [dropcap]A[/dropcap]gainst strong opposition from Alpine-Renault and Alfa Romeo, Porsche took the...
I open the tiny door, diffidently point my toe toward the foot well, and fall into the driver’s seat by...
In the 1950s, home-made, one-off sports cars were being created everywhere across the country, the majority of them emerging from...
Harris-Costin Protos F2 Many of the drivers who progressed through the standard single-seater stages of racing in Europe in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s recall Formula 2 as the most enjoyable part of their racing careers. The cars were fast, they brought out the best in the drivers, and the...
