John Carlson, permanent chief class judge at the Pebble Beach Concours, will return as chief judge for this year’s Louisville Concours.

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Report and photos by Dirk de Jager

Monaco and Grand Prix: Two names that have been combined since 1929 when Monte Carlo held the first Grand Prix. Since then this famous track has never missed a single year on the calendar. In 1997 the first Historic Grand Prix was held to honour its legends from the past. Now traditionally held biennially two weeks before the current Formula One stars hit the track, the racing is divided into seven grids containing an average of over 30 cars!

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All of us have lost one of the dominant figures of the post-WWII automotive era, and I have lost a dear friend. After a long illness, Carroll Hall Shelby died on May 10, 2012, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He is survived by two sons, Michael and Patrick, his daughter Sharon, a number of grandchildren, a sister Anne, his wife Cleo plus a host of admirers. For a reason that always remained between the two of us, I am eternally in his debt. As I write this, tears are in my eyes.

On January 11, 2012, Carroll Shelby turned 89 years old. He was married a number of times. His first was Jeanne Fields with whom he had the three children. They were married in 1943 and divorced early in 1960. In September of that year, he married actress Jan Harrison, but this one only lasted a few months. In 1997, his fourth wife, Lena Dahl, was killed in a car accident. Afterwards, he said that he was never going to get married again. Nevertheless, four month later, he married Cleo, an English woman considerably his junior. It’s an interesting note regarding his personality that he maintained good relations with all his exes.

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Held during the same weekend as the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, the two-day RM Auctions Monaco 2012 sale presented a collection of more than 90 automobiles, 100 Ducati motorcycles and three boats.

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The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2012 was held Saturday, May 5th on the grounds of the Quail Lodge Golf Club in Carmel, California. More than 1,500 motorcycle enthusiasts and collectors attended the celebration, which showcased 250 motorcycles from the past, present and concepts for the future.

The 4th annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering celebrated the Evolution of the Motorcycle, featuring Indian Motorcycles.

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1931 Cord L29 Cabriolet sold for $220,000

Worldwide Auctioneers held its Houston Classic Auction 2012 on Saturday, May 5th at the La Torretta Lake Resort in Montgomery, Texas, resulting in more than $7 million in sales and an 85% sell-through rate.

The 11th annual Houston Classic Auction saw nearly 120 motor cars cross the auction block, in addition to a selection of memorabilia from the Paul J. Meyer Estate Collection.

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Bill Scheffler, Chairman of the Fairfield County Concours Consulting Group, said, “Each venue we evaluated brought with it challenges and opportunities for an event of our scope, with regional reputation and headed for national repute. Ultimately, we concluded that none of the options enabled us to continue our steady growth over eight years and onward towards our greater goals.”

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Carroll Shelby, as he himself would say, has gone horizontal. He died at age 89 on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, after pneumonia earlier this year left him weak and vulnerable to what eventually comes to us all. He knew I was writing this story and I was looking forward to telling him it was published here in Sports Car Digest. The article had been scheduled for posting on May 16, but my dearly loved friend for more than half a century did not live that long. With a salute to the memory of Old Shel, I dedicate this narrative and the images that illustrate it to Carroll’s wife, Cleo Shelby. – W.E.

Carroll Shelby was the rising legend I’d not yet met in February 1956, when I was a young guy and in Palm Springs, California. That was six years before he would make his first Cobra, and another half century until today when the Cobra’s golden jubilee is being celebrated with the newest Shelby creation, a supercharged 5.4-liter V8-powered Mustang called the “Shelby 1000” because, well, it has 1000 horses. So much has changed since those pre-Cobra Shelby years of the 1950s, and that’s where this piece is going—back to when he was wearing bib overalls and driving the livin’ hell out of foreign race cars.

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Event organiser Duncan Wiltshire, said, “We could hardly have hoped for a more successful meeting with visitor numbers significantly up against last year. The weather on Saturday was a touch on the cold side, but against all expectations the sun came out on Sunday and shone on and off all day.”

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One of only three known surviving examples of its kind, the Horch 853A was designed by Fritz Fiedler, who later created the BMW 315 and 328. Displaying coachwork by prominent German coachbuilders Erdmann and Rossi, it was the most expensive car offered by Auto Union, and came equipped with a 120 bhp 5.0-liter straight-eight engine and such modern features as vacuum-boosted hydraulic brakes, overdrive in all four gears, and a unique hydraulic jacking system.

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What is the foremost racing series in the world? If you said Formula One, you are in the company of most other enthusiasts. The series consists of a yearly Grand Prix in each participating country (although in a few instances, there was more than one). Even though the Formula One series was started in 1950, the concept of having a country’s premier event began long before that. The first one was held in 1906 near the city of Le Mans in France. The first in the U.S. took place in 1908.

Before that, the premier series in the U.S. was the Vanderbilt Cup. The Cup events were run according to the internationally-recognized regulations of the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus (AIACR).

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The 2012 running of the California Mille was held April 30th to May 3rd on the twisty and scenic back roads of Northern California and Nevada.

Similar to the previous twenty editions of the rally, the California Mille departed San Francisco on Monday morning from its traditional starting line at the famed Fairmont Hotel, located atop Nob Hill.

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The 11th annual Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance will include 23 distinct classes including Brass Era, Classic, Sports and Micro Cars while celebrating America-made vehicles in 10 of those classes:

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Celebrating the Shelby Cobra, the Reunion brought together an amazing group of former Shelby employees, racing legends and Ford Cobra Shelby aficionados. More than 1,000 spectators participated in the day-long festivities which included a Show-n-Shine display, a racing legends panel discussion, a new exhibit and a special banquet.

From Mustangs to Cobras, more than 150 collector cars in every color lined the Museum parking lot.

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Sponsored by Michelin, the rally will take place 25-26 August 2012 on the roads of Cheshire and North Staffordshire, with Special Stages in the grounds of castles and stately homes and service at Oulton Park race circuit.

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The Speedfest Mitty 2012 was held April 27-30 at the 2.54 mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. A field of 336 entrants showed up to participate in the event, which is ably promoted by Classic Motorsports Magazine and sanctioned by HSR.

Triumph was the featured marque at the 2012 Speedfest Classic Motorsports Mitty, with Kas Kastner, a hard charging Triumph racer and the driving force behind Triumph’s early racing program, serving as Grand Marshal.

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Porsche Club Members meet at Schloss Solitude in Germany, 1960

For six decades, the history of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has been inseparably associated with the worldwide enthusiasm of the Porsche Club scene. 60 years ago, on 26 May 1952, seven passionate Porsche drivers founded the Porsche Club Hohensyburg in Westphalia. According to its articles of association, the common goal of this first club was to “unite all Porsche drivers in friendship and comradeship”. The creation of this first club was the foundation stone for a long and unique success story that has become a global phenomenon.

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Report and photos by Rick Carey, Auction Editor

Branson’s Leap Day EF3 tornado, just 7 weeks before the scheduled Spring Branson auction date, injected more than a little uncertainty into this year’s version of the Cox family’s semi-annual event.

The Convention Center’s highrise Hilton hotel featured prominently in news reports of the disaster, with curtains flying out of multiple smashed windows.

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The History of Motorsport Technology Conference will be an integral part of National Motorsport Week 2012, held between the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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