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.
Argentine racing driver Jose Froilan Gonzalez passed away June 15th, 2013 at the age of ninety in his native Buenos Aires. Born October 5th, 1922, Gonzalez will be forever linked to capturing Ferrari's first victory in a Grand Prix counting towards the Formula 1 World Championship, coming at the 1951 British Grand Prix held at Silverstone. … [Read more...]
No other name sums up the relationship between Ferrari and Canada better than that of Gilles Villeneuve. He never won a world championship nor did he rack up a host of wins; just six Grand Prix victories came his way and yet Gilles is part of the Prancing Horse’s history and its soul and he has a special place in the heart of all its fans. His talent, speed, courage, bordering on the reckless … [Read more...]
Franco Gozzi, a key part of the history of Ferrari, passed away April 23rd, 2013 at the age of 81. “We have lost a key figure in the history of Ferrari,” said President Luca di Montezemolo. “My most abiding memory is of all the hours we spent together, talking about drivers and cars and I am grateful for the fact he was close to me when I was a young sporting director at the Scuderia.” … [Read more...]
By Michelle Cabatingan My love of cars and wanting to race them began at a young age of nine years old. It started on a winter afternoon in 2004 when my dad came home with a brand new PlayStation 2, a gaming system that my cousin introduced to me. Every time I went to visit him we would always be playing the video game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. I had been asking for one, ever … [Read more...]
Legendary racing driver Hans Herrmann celebrates his 85th birthday on 23 February 2013. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, the endurance and Monoposto specialist is regarded as one of the most reliable and consistent race drivers of all time. In the course of his motor sport career, Hans Herrmann won more than 80 overall and best of class victories. The proverbial “Hans im Glück” (Hans in Luck) … [Read more...]
By Louis Galanos On Monday, January 7th, 2013, Daytona racing legend George S. Waltman of Honesdale, Pennsylvania passed away at the age of 87. Most endurance racing fans were unaware of exactly who George S. Waltman was unless you heard mention of him on the Speed Television broadcast of the recently concluded Rolex 24 At Daytona. … [Read more...]
By Art Evans John Fitch and I were close friends for more than 50 years. We played together, sailed together, traveled together, partied together and wrote two books together: Racing Corvettes, The Early Years and Racing With Mercedes. Although on opposite coasts, we always kept in touch via email and telephone. This remembrance consists of more than 90 images selected from various sources … [Read more...]
Sports Car Digest continues the series of photo retrospectives drawn from the film archive of Bob Harmeyer. The first installment looked at the 24 Hours of Daytona, followed by the 12 Hours of Sebring, 1977 Indianapolis 500 and the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans. The latest installment is a collection of candid, environmental portraits of drivers, owners and other personalities from four decades of … [Read more...]
By Art Evans When you say “Moss” to motorsports aficionados, the name, “Stirling,” or “Sir Stirling” comes to mind. But for those who collect, restore or refurbish classic cars, it’s just as probably “Moss Motors.” Al Moss established and developed the company that became the largest supplier of classic and sports car parts. When many older cars would have had to be … [Read more...]
American motorsports journalist Christopher "Chris" Constantine Economaki passed away Friday, September 28th, 2012 at the age of 91. Economaki served as an editor, publisher and columnist for National Speed Sport News for more than 60 years. He also was a reporter and commentator for racing broadcasts on network television and radio, including coverage of the Indianapolis 500 for ABC and the IMS … [Read more...]
By Michael T. Lynch Martin Swig died on July 3rd after suffering a stroke. He leaves a legacy as one of California’s great car guys. Unlike most others, his influence was felt internationally. Swig caught our disease early. By the time he was at Stanford, he and schoolmates Mark Dees and Harvard Gordon were traveling together to the early races of the California road race revival. … [Read more...]
Italian automotive designer Sergio Pininfarina passed away Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at the age of 85. Sergio Pininfarina was born in Turin on September 8, 1926. He graduated in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic of Torino in 1950, then he began his career in the family firm, Carrozzeria Pinin Farina; … [Read more...]
By Art Evans | Photographs as credited Frank Arciero was one of that small group that included John von Neumann, John Edgar and Tony Paravanno who were responsible for bringing talented American drivers to prominence. For the most part, fifties-era sports car drivers started competing in their own vehicles, often driving their transportation to and from venues. Wealthy sportsmen such as … [Read more...]
By Dennis Gray | Photos as credited Bob Bondurant has done a few things. The winner of a world championship with Carroll Shelby, the pilot of a Formula One car for Ferrari and the founder of an eponymous racing school, Bondurant can also count among his considerable talents the art of storytelling. A point we learned when Senior Photographer Dennis Gray interviewed the racing legend at the … [Read more...]
British motor racing driver and manager Roy Francesco Salvadori passed away Sunday, June 3rd, 2012 at the age of 90. Born in Dovercourt, Essex, Salvadori was best known for winning the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, co-driving the Aston Martin DBR1 with Carroll Shelby. Roy Salvadori participated in 50 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 12 July 1952, scoring a total of 19 … [Read more...]
