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.
Interview and photos (unless noted) by Dennis Gray Martin Swig is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vintage racer, car collector and founder of the California Mille vintage car rally. A graduate of Stanford University, Swig was a multi-franchise new car dealer in San Francisco for 40 years. In addition to founding the storied California Mille in the early ’90s, Martin has been vintage racing … [Read more...]
By Cary Estes The movie character Michael Corleone once famously said of being in the mob, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Brian Redman has had similar feelings about auto racing. Numerous times over the years, Redman told himself that he was retired from the sport, particularly after each of his three serious racing accidents. And every time, the lure of fast … [Read more...]
Interview and photos by Dennis Gray Steve Davis of Carmel, California spends many weekends at the helm of a Eagle Mk 5 participating in the competitive Formula 5000 Revival Race Series. Davis is a repeat F5000 Revival Series Champion, having won the championship in the inaugural 2008 season, in addition to being the 2010 champion. Steve sat down to discuss his Eagle Mk.5, his Formula-5000 … [Read more...]
Interview and photos by Dennis Gray (unless noted) On Tuesday between the Pre-Reunion and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Cris Vandagriff, Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) President, agreed to sit down for an interview with Sports Car Digest. I knew a little about Cris, mainly that he had grown up around his father’s import car dealership, Hollywood Sports Cars. He knew and … [Read more...]
Today would have marked the 100th birthday of Fritz “Huschke“ von Hanstein, one of the greatest personalities in the company history of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart. As Press Director, racing manager, and a racing driver, from 1952 to 1974 Huschke von Hanstein helped fashion the unique image of the brand name Porsche. As Sports President of the AvD, the German Automobile Club, … [Read more...]
By Will Silk Tom Walkinshaw passed away December 12th, 2010 at just 64 years of age after a battle with cancer. The Scottish-born Walkinshaw began racing in 1968 in an MG Midget, shortly after moving to the open wheeled realm by transitioning to a Lotus Formula Ford. In 1969, Tom drove a Hawke to claim the Scottish Formula Ford title, before moving to British F3 in 1970, first with Lotus … [Read more...]
By Will Silk Belgium is a nation that many will associate with some of the finest racing drivers ever to come to the top levels of the world hierarchy of motorsports; however, it was Jacques Swaters who did so much more for racers in Belgium than most people realize. Swaters’ made his international debut in sports car racing at the 1948 running of the 24 Hours of Spa in a MG Midget PB … [Read more...]
Brian Redman Talks - Redman in Redmond By Jay Gillotti and photos by Curtis Creager We were greatly honored to have Brian Redman as our guest for the Porsche Club of America Pacific Northwest Region’s 50th Anniversary last November. An additional special treat was provided by the folks at Vintage Racing Motors who allowed us to re-unite Brian with 917 chassis 017/004, the car he raced at … [Read more...]
Interview and photos by Dennis Gray Bruce Canepa has been involved with automobiles in one fashion or another nearly all of his life. He was born into a California car family, therefore his early fascination with anything mechanical was understandable, if not expected. An accomplished driver, Canepa raced in period in Trans-Am, sprint cars, IMSA and others, punctuated by a third overall at … [Read more...]
Paul Ernst Strahle, one of the most successful racing drivers during the 1950s and 1960s, passed away October 27, 2010 at the age of 83 in Schorndorf, Germany, his place of birth. Wolfgang Dürheimer, Executive Vice President for Research and Development at Porsche, paid tribute to the deceased racing driver, “Paul Ernst Strahle was one of the most important and most versatile motorsport … [Read more...]
By Will Silk Few in the realm of motorsports will deny that one of the most capable drivers to climb behind the wheel of a race car is Mr. Sam Posey. Sam’s driving career started in the mid-1960s, when sports car racing in North America was building at a rapid pace. Daytona, 1966, marked the first, true international debut for this young driver. It was driving a Porsche 904 GTS along … [Read more...]
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola, more commonly Rudolf Caracciola, was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times. He also won the European Hillclimbing Championship three times: twice in sports cars, and once in Grand Prix cars. Caracciola raced for Mercedes-Benz … [Read more...]
Racing great Sir Stirling Moss OBE is recovering in a hospital after a freak accident in his London home. While the injuries are reportedly not life-threatening, Moss broke both ankles and four bones in his feet in the fall, as well as damage to some vertebrae. The accident happened as a result of an elevator malfunction in their home. The elevator doors opened on the third floor when the lift … [Read more...]
The saying the eyes are the window to the soul is particularly apt when peering into the eyes of racing car drivers. Depending upon the events at hand, the eyes show a range of emotions, from focus and determination about the impending race to jubilation or disappointment about the results to exhaustion from a grueling day on the track. From Formula One at Long Beach to Can-Am at Mid-Ohio, … [Read more...]
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of racing driver Bernd Rosemeyer, who was born on October 14, 1909 in Lingen in north-west Germany. To honor the anniversary, Audi Tradition will be laying a bouquet at the memorial on the A5 Autobahn in Germany. … [Read more...]
