Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal » Car Profiles

Bourgeault Formula Junior – Car Profile

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:44 +0000

By Kevin Triplett | Photos by Dennis Gray

One 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 class where racers could use inexpensive mechanical components from ordinary automobiles. The FIA eliminated Formula 2 and 3 classes, and Formula Junior took its place.

Read the rest of Bourgeault Formula Junior – Car Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles

Ford of Britain 100th Anniversary – Photo Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:17 +0000

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, forming part of the earliest fleet of motor taxi cabs. It was the world debut of the Model T at the 1908 Olympia Motor Exhibition that convinced Ford a British company was needed.

To celebrate the centenary of Ford of Britain in 2011, the company has been digging through its photo archive to reveal rarely seen images. Each week in 2011, Ford released a new picture that best illustrated its relationship with Britain and its society. Here are our Top 20 favorites.

Read the rest of Ford of Britain 100th Anniversary – Photo Gallery

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Collectors

Duntov’s Secret – Corvette Gulf Oil Race Car

Ed Lenahan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:00:08 +0000

By Edward Lenahan

This 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 “The Flying Dentist” Thompson and Don Yenko, it stands as one the most successful and important production-based Corvette race cars ever constructed. All the more impressive considering it was never supposed to exist.

Though hard to believe today—with manufacturers spending millions of dollars on motorsports and publicizing their efforts through some of the world’s finest marketing firms—there was a time when the mere mention of auto racing within the walls of an American auto company would spark outbreaks of upper-management indigestion.

Read the rest of Duntov’s Secret – Corvette Gulf Oil Race Car

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Auctions, Car Profiles

Brass Era Cars Offer Unreasonable Fun

Ed Lenahan — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:00:47 +0000

Math Problems

By 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 near-death seem innocuous and charming.

To her credit, Marguerite shrugged the whole thing off as if this were normal for her, which, since finalizing a poor choice of men, it is.

Anyways, this particular morning being Sunday and there being considerable amounts of time to drink small oceans of coffee, read auction catalogs, and ponder life’s great philosophical questions from the soft confines of the couch, I concluded for the thousandth time that I don’t like math. Particularly when applied to bicycles and vintage cars.

Read the rest of Brass Era Cars Offer Unreasonable Fun

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Auctions, Car Profiles, RM Auctions

Ferrari 250 GTO – A Day with the Legend

Sports Car Digest — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:00:10 +0000

By Tim Scott

My 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 thirty-odd years, and I make my living photographing all manner of classic and exotic cars. I can say with sincerity that I still get the same thrill from being around pulse-quickening vehicles as I did way back in the 70’s as a young man with a shiny red polyester jacket on his back.

However, despite some memorable encounters with the finest examples of my favourite marque (250 SWB, California Spyder, Pontoon-Fendered TR), my personal automotive infatuation had thus far remained elusive: the 250 GTO.

Read the rest of Ferrari 250 GTO – A Day with the Legend

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Monterey Week

Mercedes-Benz SSK and SSKL – Car Profile

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:00:31 +0000

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 technology was used in aircraft and submarine engines.

The first Mercedes compressor racing cars made their debut in 1922 at the Targa Florio in Sicily. They included, besides the 1.5-litre racing cars driven by Paul Scheef and Fernando Minoia, a Mercedes 28/95 PS, whose engine had been fitted with a compressor for this race and had an output of 140 bhp (103kw).

Read the rest of Mercedes-Benz SSK and SSKL – Car Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Mille Miglia, Race Cars

Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinetta – Car Profile

Sports Car Digest — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:03 +0000

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 totaling 2,096 miles, on road conditions best described as wretched, the pair were only eight minutes behind winners Piero Taruffi and Luigi Chinetti. Ferrari had achieved a one-two finish, ahead of 33 American sedans, with varying degrees of factory support.

Read the rest of Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlinetta – Car Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Auctions, Car Profiles, Race Cars, RM Auctions

Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Prototipo Berlinetta – Profile

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:00:19 +0000

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 Chizzola family as the ‘TZ1½’, the car is a development of the original TZ. The un-numbered chassis is a one-of-a-kind tubular design – a modified Ferrari F2 frame according to the late Lodovico Chizzola – but shorter and different to a TZ’s.

Read the rest of Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Prototipo Berlinetta – Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | No comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Bonhams, Car Profiles, Race Cars

Jaguar C-Type XKC 029 – Car Profile and Photo Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:00:35 +0000

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 160 and 180 bhp. The version in the C-Type was originally tuned to around 205 bhp. Later C-Types were more powerful, using triple twin-choke Weber carburettors and high-lift camshafts.

Read the rest of Jaguar C-Type XKC 029 – Car Profile and Photo Gallery

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | No comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Collectors, Race Cars

Aston Martin V12 Zagato Unveiled

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:00:00 +0000

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 such as the DB4GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and DB7 Zagato based on Aston Martin’s ultimate performance interpretation of the Vantage range: the V12 Vantage.

Read the rest of Aston Martin V12 Zagato Unveiled

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Collectors, Race Cars

Top 10 Chevrolet Designs – Ed Welburn

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:00:43 +0000

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 penned.

As Chevrolet embarks on its second century, the man with the job of setting Chevrolet on their design path is Ed Welburn, global vice president of design at General Motors. He stepped into the shoes of his “absolute heroes”, GM designers Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell, back in September 2003, but despite the awe-inspiring responsibility of following those who have become legends, he admits that “I’m having more fun now than at any other time during my career at GM.”

Read the rest of Top 10 Chevrolet Designs – Ed Welburn

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles

Townsend Typhoon Mk IV – Restoring an American Special

Will Silk — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:00:31 +0000

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 he created a wooden model of a potential sports car.

Read the rest of Townsend Typhoon Mk IV – Restoring an American Special

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Race Cars

Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta – Car Profile

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:00:56 +0000

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 it “the first beautiful Ferrari and fundamental to the brand’s success,” and he continues, “its styling was unlike anything before and has influenced the design of vehicles from the AC Bristol to the latest Ferrari California.”

Read the rest of Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta – Car Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Auctions, Car Profiles, Race Cars, RM Auctions

John Edgar MG Special – MG Mighty Midget, TC for All Times

William Edgar — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:00:18 +0000

Palm Springs on October 28, 1951. Jack McAfee driving John Edgar’s MG Special on the airport course. A burned piston ended the car’s aerodynamic-bodied race debut.

Our MG Mighty Midget, TC for All Times

By William Edgar and photography courtesy of Edgar Motorsport Archive

My 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 family’s Type 57C Bugatti, and knew that handling the little MG would be cake. All I wanted was a chance, but first I’d have to swipe it.

We were living at a smart hotel in Hollywood at the time that John Edgar got his MG-TC late in 1947, and the cut-doors two-seater fresh from Abingdon-on-Thames was parked in a lot just beyond the Garden of Allah’s kidney-shaped swimming pool and hibiscus shrubs. When my parents walked to dinner at a close-by restaurant (where the mandolin player was a Brazilian who’d come to the States with Carman Miranda) I’d make my move on the idle MG.

Read the rest of John Edgar MG Special – MG Mighty Midget, TC for All Times

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Race Cars

Radical – Vintage Racing Car for Tomorrow

Will Silk — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:00:42 +0000

By Will Silk

One of Radical's awesome SR8 models on display.

While 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 few racing enthusiasts in England decided they would try and develop a small sports racing car that would be powered by a sport motorcycle engine. What followed is a tale that continues to unfold in the present day, but there is little doubt that these little sports racers known as Radicals will hold great status in the future of vintage car racing.

It was the summer of 1995, and Phil Abbott pitched his idea of a motorcycle-powered racing machine to veteran TVR Tuscan Challenge driver Mick Hyde.

Read the rest of Radical – Vintage Racing Car for Tomorrow

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Race Cars

Alfa Romeo T33/6/12 – Car Profile

Louis Galanos — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:00:53 +0000

By Louis Galanos

In secret testing almost two weeks (April 1 to be exact) after the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race Alfa Romeo arrived at Sebring with their one-of-a-kind, six-wheeled, twelve cylinder Alfa-Romeo T33/6/12. Designed to give the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 a run for its money, the Alfa Romeo sported a 5-liter V12/60 degrees/4v engine and six wheels in total.

Read the rest of Alfa Romeo T33/6/12 – Car Profile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Race Cars

DKW Front F1 – First Front-Wheel Drive Automobile

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:27 +0000

The first Audi advertising with the ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ or ‘Progress through Technology’ slogan appeared 40 years ago, in 1971. Even then this technical leadership claim was well and truly justified. If we look back another 40 years we find DKW, one of the companies that later became Audi, introducing its F1 model at the 1931 International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin – the world’s first high-volume production car with front-wheel drive.

Jörgen Skafte Rasmussen acquired a majority shareholding in Audi Werke AG of Zwickau, Germany in August 1928.

Read the rest of DKW Front F1 – First Front-Wheel Drive Automobile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles

Daimler Patent Motor Car – Birth of the Automobile

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:00:54 +0000

It was on 29 January 1886 that Carl Benz filed an application in Berlin for a patent on his three-wheeled motor car. Ever since, that day has been considered the official birthday of the motor car, which, in 2011, celebrates its 125th anniversary. At the same time as Benz, Gottlieb Daimler was developing the first four-wheeled motor car. In this way, working independently of each other, the founding fathers of today’s Daimler AG and its Mercedes-Benz core brand laid the foundation stone for all present-day passenger cars, commercial vehicles and buses.

Daimler Riding Car
In November 1885 the Daimler riding car made its first journey of real length in public, when Gottlieb Daimler’s son Adolf completed the three-kilometre route from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim.

Read the rest of Daimler Patent Motor Car – Birth of the Automobile

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | No comment |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles

Celebrating 50 Years of the Jaguar E-Type

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:00:25 +0000

This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the Jaguar E-Type, arguably one of the most famous and desirable cars in automotive history. When it was launched in 1961, the appeal of E-Type transcended the automotive world. Such is the inherent rightness of its proportions, stance and purity of line, that it is a permanent exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

The now iconic Jaguar E-Type set new standards in automotive design and performance when it was launched in 1961. Its influence is still apparent in Jaguar’s modern range: cars that offer a peerless blend of performance, comfort, cutting-edge technology and award-winning design.

Read the rest of Celebrating 50 Years of the Jaguar E-Type

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles

Ferrari FF Shooting Brake Unveiled

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:00:09 +0000

Ferrari revealed the first photographs and information about the new FF, the company’s most powerful, versatile four-seater ever, as well as its first ever four-wheel drive car.

The FF – an acronym for Ferrari Four (four seats and four-wheel drive) – ushers in an entirely new GT sports car concept. This new V12 melds an extremely sporty, high-performance character with versatility, comfort and elegance, guaranteeing both driver and passengers an unique driving experience. Designed by Pininfarina, the unconventional shooting-brake shape is Ferrari’s interpretation of sporting DNA and flexible usability.

Read the rest of Ferrari FF Shooting Brake Unveiled

© Sports Car Digest - The Sports, Racing and Vintage Car Journal, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments |
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of stories filed under Car Profiles, Collectors