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Silver Arrows Featured at 2012 Goodwood Revival

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:39 +0000

The 2012 Goodwood Revival, scheduled for 14-16 September, will celebrate the pre-war Silver Arrows of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, 75 years after their first appearance on a British racing circuit.

Goodwood is hailing the arrival of the famous Silver Arrows Grand Prix cars as an “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” as spectators will see these beasts driven in anger at a UK motor circuit for the first time in 75 years. The iconic Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165, plus examples of the Auto Union Type C and Type D, will be in action at race-speeds at the 2012 Goodwood Revival, with well-known, top-level racing drivers behind the wheels of these awesome and significant cars. Goodwood promises it will be the “biggest thing in historic motor sport for decades.”

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NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival 2012 – Skope Classic

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:01 +0000

Heading into the penultimate MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series 2012 round at Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna Park the question on everyone’s lips was ‘who can beat the Lola T400 of Michael Lyons?’

The answer – emphatically – was the McRae GM1 of Steve Ross, the 2011/12 series points leader finally breaking the young British driver’s nine-race winning streak with lights-to-flag victories in both races on Sunday, February 5th, 2012.

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50 Years of Champions at Daytona – Report and Photos

Louis Galanos — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:02 +0000

The Rolex 24 at Daytona 50th Anniversary Heritage Display – Bringing Racing History Back To Life

By Louis Galanos | Photos by Louis Galanos and as noted

Well over a year ago the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) embarked on a task that even the great Hercules might have shied away from. That is to search the world over for every car that ever won, what we now call the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and transport them to Daytona Beach, Florida for a 50th anniversary reunion and heritage display.

Tim Pendergast of Jacksonville, Florida was hired by the Speedway to track down these historic automobiles and get permission from the current owners to showcase them in the temporary building the Speedway was constructing on the grounds in front of the Speedway.

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NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival 2012 – Hampton Downs

Sports Car Digest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:45 +0000

Series young gun Michael Lyons (Lola T400) completed an MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series clean sweep with another lights-to-flag victory in the final 15 lap feature at the second New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing – celebrating BMW Motorsport historic motor racing meeting at the Hampton Downs circuit south of Auckland on January 28-29, 2012.

Having qualified quickest and won all four MSC F5000 series races at the first NZ Festival meeting a week ago the just-turned-21-year-old did it again, claiming pole position in qualifying on Saturday morning before winning all three races contested, the first from series points leader Steve Ross and visiting Canadian driver Jay Esterer (both McRae GM1), the second from defending series champion Ken Smith (Lola T430) and Ross, and the third from Ross and Smith.

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Goodwood FoS 2012 – Group C and Sports Car Racing

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:00:28 +0000

Jaguar XJR-9 Group C

The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed will honor sports car racing in 1972 and the 30th anniversary of the famed Group C era when it returns to the 1.16-mile Goodwood hillclimb in West Sussex, England on 28 June to 1 July.

Forty years ago, the 1972 season was a pivotal year in sports car racing. In America, Can-Am was at its peak, with a fascinating battle for supremacy between McLaren, Porsche, Shadow and Lola, while in Europe a change in regulations prompted an intriguing fight between Ferrari, Matra and Alfa Romeo. Although ostensibly similar in appearance, these cars were very different in design philosophy, highlighting fundamental differences between European and American racing – technical sophistication versus raw power. A special class at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed will bring these cars together, providing a unique opportunity to witness the most exciting sports racing prototypes of all time in no-holds-barred action.

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NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival 2012 – Festival Race Report

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:30:24 +0000

Young gun Michael Lyons (Lola T400) won all four MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series races at the first New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing – celebrating BMW Motorsport meetings at the Hampton Downs circuit south of Auckland on January 21-22, 2012 but series point leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1) added the icing on the cake with a new outright track lap record.

Lyons, who with father Frank and mother Judy, has been traveling from the UK to contest rounds of the New Zealand-based MSC series for the past four years, showed an inkling of what he could do at the two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing meetings last year and took up where he left off this, claiming pole position in the qualifying session on Friday then leading all four races – including the feature 15-lap final – from start to finish.

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Stirling Moss Honored Guest at Lime Rock Historics 2012

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:00:42 +0000

Sir Stirling Moss will be honored guest at Lime Rock Historic Festival 2012, to be held Labor Day weekend on August 31st – September 3rd.

The 30th annual Lime Rock Historics will see Sir Stirling Moss speak and take questions at the Friday evening Participants Gala, in addition to being available at various times throughout the weekend for autograph sessions. Moss will also join the judging ranks for the Sunday in the Park Concours, and plans are afoot to bring, for display and demo laps, examples of the cars with which he achieved his greatest victories.

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Best Vintage Car Racing Picture of 2011

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:21 +0000

Sports Car Digest covered nearly 90 historic car races and rallies in 2011, starting with the VSCC Pomeroy Trophy and ending with the Legends of Motorsports event at Sebring. Dozens of photographers took untold numbers of photos, spending hours post-event analyzing and choosing the best ones in an effort to wow our readers. And did they ever…

It is now up to you to choose the best photo of the year. Similar to our Best of 2009 and Best of 2010 contests, we are asking for your assistance in helping us pick the very best vintage car racing picture from 2011. We narrowed down the thousands of photographs to the following 40 images, chosen solely upon the number of times they were viewed by readers throughout 2011.

To get a sense of the work that goes into these wonderful photos, we asked Senior Photographer Dennis Gray for his thoughts on the selected pictures. Gray said, “I fall in love with the how and why and not so much what the final image looks like. None of my photos were really accidents or being in the right place but more planning a shot and waiting until the drivers and cars were there.”

Please vote by leaving a comment with your favorite image. Write-in candidates: if we didn’t include your favorite picture, share a link of what you think was best. We’ll announce the winner in the January 26th edition of our newsletter and in the comment section.

Win Your Favorite Photo: We are again spicing things up this year, as we will randomly choose THREE winners among the comments that will receive a large print of their favorite photo. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form so we can reach you.

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U.S. Formula 5000 Revival Schedule 2012

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:50 +0000

The Formula 5000 Drivers Association released its vintage car racing schedule for 2012 with an initial three races planned for the upcoming season.

According to Seb Coppola, president of the Formula 5000 Drivers Association which organizes the F5000 racing activities in the United States, “I am thrilled to be able to announce another season of superb racing events at great race tracks in the U.S. Formula 5000 cars have competed at these historic race tracks since the late 1960s, sharing a common heritage.”

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Anti-Football Run 2012 – Photo Gallery

Martin Swig — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:04 +0000

Report by Martin Swig | Photos by Maurice Liang

The Anti-Football Run is finally winning. After over 20 years of staging our January 1st drive, to save people from having to stay home and watch football, the Bowl promoters have given in. They moved their games to January 2nd!

Over 150 cars gathered at 8:00am on New Year’s Day 2012 for the annual 100+ mile drive in beautiful western Marin County outside San Francisco, California.

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Canadian Historic Grand Prix 2012 Information

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:12 +0000

The Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) will hold its 34th annual Vintage Racing Festival, renamed for 2012 as the Canadian Historic Grand Prix at Mosport International Raceway, June 15-17, 2012. This 2.459 mile road course and former home to the Formula One Grand Prix, Can-Am, Trans-Am and Formula 5000 is only one hour from Toronto.

Corvette will be the featured marque for 2012. Corvette racing cars from across Canada and the United States will descend on the Toronto area track for the second major historic Corvette focus event following the successful Corvette World Tribute held at Road America in Wisconsin this past August.

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Changes for Aston Martin Owners Club Racing

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:00:49 +0000

Aston Martin club racing is set to flourish in 2012, now that AMOC, the Aston Martin Owners’ Club, has taken the major decision to run all its racing events under a new, independent company – Aston Martin Club Racing Ltd. And to ensure that the club’s racing goes from strength to strength, the new company (AMCR Ltd) has in turn appointed Duncan Wiltshire of Historic Promotions Ltd to promote and administer the racing programme.

Wiltshire is the man behind both historic race organisation Motor Racing Legends (which runs four prestigious race series, plus the historic support race at the Le Mans 24 Hours) and the Donington Historic Festival.

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Spa Classic 2011 – Picture Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:00:26 +0000

The first edition of Spa Classic took place 27-29 May, 2011 at the famed 4.352 mile, 20-turn Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium. A crowd of 10,000 enthusiasts enjoyed the inaugural Spa Classic with its strong grids and competitive vintage racing action.

In addition to Marcel Hundscheid’s report and photos from Spa Classic 2011, photographer Jurrie Vanhalle offers his pictures from the race weekend. Jurrie did a wonderful job capturing the depth and quality of the Spa Classic field.

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Watkins Glen Grand Prix Tribute 2011 – Photo Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:00:04 +0000

The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Tribute 2011 was held Friday, September 9th in Watkins Glen, New York. An estimated 20,000 spectators enjoyed the all-day festival that plays a key part of the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.

The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Tribute is designed to recreate the ambiance of the 1948-52 Watkins Glen street races by parading cars along the original 6.6 mile road course as used in the Grand Prix races of that era.

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Coronado Speed Festival 2011 – Behind the Scenes Photos

Sports Car Digest — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:00:20 +0000

The Coronado Speed Festival 2011 was held September 24-25 at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California. The 14th Annual Fleet Week Coronado Speed Festival saw a strong field race on the temporary 1.7-mile course on the runways and taxiways of the military base.

In addition to the on-track action at the 2011 Coronado Speed Festival, photographer Brett Siegel of Siegel Thurston Photography also offers an array of images taken while walking through the paddock at the Naval Air Station North Island.

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Mount Equinox Hill Climb 2011 – Photo Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:00:29 +0000

The Mount Equinox Hill Climb was held August 11-12, 2011 on the 5.2 mile Skyline Drive in Manchester, Vermont. The 61st running of the event makes the Mount Equinox Hill Climb as the longest consecutively run paved hill climb in the world.

Sanctioned by the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA), the field at the 2011 running of the Mount Equinox Hill Climb included a 1936 Lagonda LG45 Works; 1961 Harrington Sunbeam Alpine; 1951 Allard J2X; 1951 Allard K2; 1959 Lotus 15; Devin Healey; 1912 Mercedes Grand Prix; 1958 Mong Porsche Spyder; 1935 Ford Amilcar Sport Special; 1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider; 1935 Ford Indy and 1935 MG Lester P Type.

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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011 – Supercar Photo Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:00:15 +0000

The Supercar Run at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed is unique in providing a dynamic environment in which the public can view new models for the first time. Unlike a conventional motor show, the Supercar Run affords a fantastic opportunity not only to exhibit a new supercar, but also to show it in action on the Goodwood hillclimb during the Festival of Speed.

For 2011 the Supercar Run delivered the very latest supercars from all around the world, with cars from as many as 11 countries taking place.

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Spa Six Hours 2011 – Picture Gallery

Sports Car Digest — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:35 +0000

The 19th running of the Spa Six Hours was held September 23-25, 2011 at the 4.352 mile, 21-turn Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. With a competitive field of 600 historic racing cars, warm weather and huge crowds, the event a great success and surely one of the strongest in Europe for 2011.

In addition to Marcel Hundscheid’s report and photos and Peter Falkner’s photo gallery, we offer Jurrie Vanhalle’s massive gallery of nearly 2000 pictures from the 2011 running of the Spa Six Hours.

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Lotus Featured at 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Sports Car Digest — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:30:15 +0000

The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed will honour the Lotus marque with the main ‘Central Feature’ installation, displayed prominently outside Goodwood House.

Goodwood will celebrate this much-loved British brand at an exciting time in the marque’s history, as Lotus is currently two years into a five year plan with the goal of returning the marque to its original status alongside other prestigious sports car manufacturers.

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Goodwood Revival 2011 – Behind the Scenes Photos

Sports Car Digest — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The Goodwood Revival 2011 was held 16-18 September at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, England. A crowd of than 135,000 historic motorsport enthusiasts made their way to Goodwood to celebrate another epic motor racing weekend, the vast majority dressed in period fashions.

On the track a tribute to the legendary racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio – 100 years after this birth – saw a grid of rare and stunning cars associated with his career, including three spectacular Mercedes-Benz racers, plus two Chevrolets brought over from Argentina specifically for the Revival. A handful of drivers that knew and raced with Fangio were also on hand.

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