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 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...]
Aston Martin unveiled their new V12 Zagato endurance racer concept on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Villa D’Este Concours on 21-22 May, 2011. At its world premiere, the Aston Martin V12 Zagato has won the Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes.The Aston Martin / Zagato partnership takes inspiration from the past, to create a modern descendent of classics … [Read more...]
Over the past 100 years, Chevrolet has been responsible for many significant designs that have helped shape automotive history. The bowtie logo has adorned many iconic shapes of motoring, from the early Classic Six to the legendary Bel Air and the Corvettes. Even some of Chevrolet's designers, such as Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell, have gone on to become as legendary as some of the cars they … [Read more...]
The period that followed the Second World War was perhaps one of the most creative time periods in the history of race car construction in the United States, and the Townsend Typhoon Mk IV exemplifies the latter part of that historical period to a “T”.The story of Townsend’s cars originates from Tucson, Arizona in the early 1950s. Frank Townsend was attending high school at the time when … [Read more...]
The 1948 Ferrari 166 MM is the definitive 1950s sports car configuration, with its smooth envelope, long flowing hood and short tail. Named for the Mille Miglia race, it was created by Carrozzeria Touring in Milan, and compared to the 125S, from which it was developed, the Barchetta (“little boat”) is a masterpiece of simple style.Ferrari expert and 166 MM owner David Seielstad has called … [Read more...]
Our MG Mighty Midget, TC for All TimesBy William Edgar and photography courtesy of Edgar Motorsport ArchiveMy first really dramatic recollection of our MG-TC was drifting through Sunset Boulevard’s curves, my father at the wheel. He’d folded the screen flat and the wind-blown tangs of hot engine and rubber were sheer adrenaline. I was 15 then, had already learned to drive the … [Read more...]
By Will SilkWhile many may hold the opinion that road racing has lost quite a bit of its luster in recent years, one does not have to look far, but perhaps just a bit closer at some exciting machinery that has been created in the past decade to carry on the great tradition of on track glory that once was seemingly found to be occurring at tracks all over the world. In the mid 1990s, a … [Read more...]
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