Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal
Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
By William Edgar | Photographs Edgar Motorsport ArchiveCarroll Shelby, as he himself would say, has gone horizontal. He died at age 89 on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, after pneumonia earlier this year left him weak and vulnerable to what eventually comes to us all. He knew I was writing this story and I was looking forward to telling him it … [Read more...]
“At this time there is nothing in the world any quicker, any better handling, any more advanced technically, or any more fun to drive. It is, to me, the perfect race car.” ~ Mark Donohue, 1973By 1969, with the 917 program still in its early stages, Porsche had already built a special variant of its 12-cylinder race car for the popular North American Can-Am series. Although the original 917 … [Read more...]
Boy Meets Car, Loses Car, Finds CarBy Steve Smith | Photographs as creditedEvery car guy has the automotive equivalent of the fisherman’s “the one that got away” story ("It was this big! Really!"). The car of a lifetime...loved and lost. Some car guys even have two such tales. Like my friend Brock Yates. He once had the opportunity to buy one of the world-famous D-Type Jaguars … [Read more...]
Aston Martin and Zagato have collaborated on several automobiles, starting with the famed Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato up to the current Aston Martin V12 Zagato. This long-standing relationship has resulted, over 50 years, in an well-known series of collectible cars. All the Aston Martins designed by Zagato were created in a very limited series, helping to ensure that each model is considered not … [Read more...]
The Eppie Wietzes F5000 Championship-winning McLaren M-10BBy Kevin Triplett | Photos by Dennis GrayFrom his earliest days as car designer and builder, Bruce McLaren understood that success of his designs on the race track lead to opportunities to sell customer cars. Bruce’s interests lie in developing new cars, not running a production operation, so Bruce formed a partnership with … [Read more...]
“Dear editors – The new Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (Super Light) sports car will complete test drives in public for the first time during this week. In light of this occasion, please find enclosed the car’s technical data and a photo.” This was how the company announced the debut of 300 SL (model series W 194) in a press release on 10 March 1952. Two days later, the car was shown to selected … [Read more...]
By Kevin Triplett | Photos by Dennis GrayOne of the oldest open-wheel racing cars competing at the 2011 CSRG Charity Challenge was the unique 1958 Bourgeault Formula Junior owned by Simon Favre of Milpitas, California.Formula Junior got its start in 1958, when the FIA adopted a rules package suggested by racing driver and journalist Giovanni “Johnny” Lurani, to provide an entry-level … [Read more...]
On 8 March 1911, just three years after Ford's 'Universal Car', the Model T, was unveiled in Britain, Ford Motor Company (England) Limited was incorporated to look after the most important market outside North America.Ford's start in Britain had humble beginnings. In 1903 two Ford Model A cars were shipped to England and a modest trade began. The Ford Model B took to London's roads in 1905, … [Read more...]
By Edward LenahanThis 1961 Chevrolet Corvette factory race car, soon to be auctioned at Mecum’s January 24-29, 2012 Kissimmee Florida event, possesses a host of rare options and a provenance worthy of the velvet rope treatment at any of the world’s finest auto museums or vintage races. Gulf Oil sponsored and driven to an SCCA B-Production national championship by the likes of Dr. Dick … [Read more...]
Math ProblemsBy Edward Lenahan“The most exciting thing about piloting an old vehicle,” I said to my wife Marguerite, “is the nagging sense it’s going to kill you.” We had just experienced our own brand of excitement, barely stopping our old tandem bike before a busy intersection, and this comment wasn’t so much a casual observation on my part as it was a way of making our … [Read more...]
By Tim ScottMy infatuation with the Ferrari marque goes back to the 1970s, and my ‘formative’ years. As a poorly eleven year-old, stricken by appendicitis and hospital-bound, my dear Mother’s approach to a quick and happy recovery was to arrange for me to sit in a 308 GT4 on a local dealer’s forecourt. A red Ferrari paddock jacket duly followed that Christmas.Fast forward … [Read more...]
The design department at Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) – which had not yet merged with Benz & Cie – began developing Mercedes compressor vehicles in 1919. Gottlieb Daimler's son Paul, who had succeeded Wilhelm Maybach as technical director and board member in 1907, drove the development work forward. DMG already had some experience with mechanical supercharging because compressor … [Read more...]
Alberto Ascari was a man in a hurry. In a relatively short Grand Prix career between 1948 and 1955, he became Formula One World Champion in 1952 and 1953, winning nine consecutive races on his way to the 1952 title.Ascari also finished second in Mexico’s La Carrera Panamericana in 1951, teamed with Luigi Villoresi in the second of two factory Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinettas. After eight stages … [Read more...]
In response to Alfa Romeo's request for a TZ successor, Autodelta's co-founder Lodovico Chizzola built this prototype, only for Alfa Romeo to opt for its own design - the TZ2 - so the car remained a one-off. After completion this unique Alfa Romeo remained the Chizzola family's property until it was bought by the current vendor at Bonhams' Nürburgring Sale in August 2000.Known in the … [Read more...]
The Jaguar C-Type (also called the Jaguar XK120-C) is a racing sports car built by Jaguar and sold from 1951 to 1953. The "C" designation stood for "competition". The car used the running gear of the contemporary XK120 in a lightweight tubular frame and aerodynamic aluminium body. A total of 52 C-Types were built.The road-going XK120’s 3.4-litre twin-cam, straight-6 engine produced between … [Read more...]
Recent Comments