Sports Car Digest focuses on Classic Car Auctions, Concours d’Elegance, Vintage Car Racing, Road Rallies and other historic automotive events.
A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider from the Jean-Claude Bajol Collection will headline the 2012 Artcurial Motorcars Retromobile auction, scheduled for 3 February in Paris. Approximately half of the cars will be offered at no reserve and many will be fresh to the market. Jean-Claude Bajol, a well-known film director who died earlier this year, was one of the first French collectors of … [Read more...]
Report and photos by Dennis Gray The 2011 Legends of Motorsports Powered by HMSA historic racing season came to a close at Florida's Sebring International Raceway on December 2-3. The season finale of Legends’ sophomore season of competition saw a field of approximately 60 historic racing cars compete on the legendary 3.7 mile, 17-turn Sebring road course. “This weekend has been very … [Read more...]
Bonhams held its Motor Cars and Automobilia auction on 1 December 2011 at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, England, resulting in total sales in excess of £3,000,000. Top sale at the 2011 Bonhams Mercedes-Benz World auction went to an unrestored works racing team 1953 Austin-Healey '100' Special Test Car that sold for a world record £843,000. … [Read more...]
Photos by Dennis Gray and Bob Ross The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 2011 was held June 3-5, at Infineon Raceway Sears Point in Sonoma, California. Led by featured marque McLaren, the field of 400 historic race cars were enjoyed by spectators and participants alike. The highlights of the racing action were the 12 McLaren Can-Am cars roaring around the 12-turn, 2.52 mile Infineon … [Read more...]
The 2012 Goodwood Revival will stage a race exclusively for 30 AC Cobras and their derivatives in honor of the 50th anniversary of Carroll Shelby’s cult Anglo-American sports car. Organizers anticipate the (14-16 September 2012) race will see the finest collection of significant and authentic racing AC Cobras ever assembled in the UK. … [Read more...]
By Will Silk Spark Models has been around for a little over a decade now, and recently the company released a 1:43 scale replica of Porsche’s all new GT3R Hybrid racing car. Selecting the GT3R Hybrid to model in 1:43 scale offers Porsche enthusiasts the opportunity to snatch what is probably the most technologically innovative car to ever emerge from the Stuttgart firm. The 997 GT3R … [Read more...]
A 1965 Lotus 35 Climax powered Tasman Series/Formula 2 race car has been added to the collection of automobiles at the LeMay – America’s Car Museum (ACM), courtesy of a donation by John and Marilyn Dimmer. ACM, set to hold its grand opening in June 2012, took delivery of the race car in time to show it off during their “Hard Hat & High Heels” gala September 24, 2011 at the Museum site, … [Read more...]
By Edward Lenahan Among the many reasons to read Michael Cannell’s newest novel “The Limit,” which accurately reanimates the 1961 Formula One world championship with sharp writing and fastidious research, none is so important or rare as the book’s honest portrayal of frailty in those too often romanticized as superhuman. It’s no secret that books and movies about auto racing have … [Read more...]
The 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will be held Sunday, August 19th on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. The 62nd annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance has begun the search for 200 of the finest automobiles and motorcycles. Features for the 2012 event include Maharaja Cars and the marques of Mercer and Fiat. Special classes will recognize … [Read more...]
Jim Rathmann, winner of both the 1960 Indianapolis 500 and the international 500-mile "Race of Two Worlds" in 1958 at Monza, Italy, died Wednesday, November 23, 2011. Rathmann passed away in a hospice in Melbourne, Florida, nine days after suffering a seizure at his home. He was 83. Rathmann, who was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007, … [Read more...]
Margie McNally Petersen, wife of Robert E. Petersen and co-founding benefactor of the Petersen Automotive Museum, passed away at her home in Beverly Hills, California on November 25, 2011. Her passing was due to a long and valiant battle with breast cancer. She was 76. Margie Petersen was born and raised in New York and was a top professional model having appeared on hundreds of magazine … [Read more...]
The East African Safari Classic Rally 2011 was held November 19-28, starting in Mombasa on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. On the last day of the 2011 Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic rally the priority of all crews was to drive their cars over the finishers’ ramp at Mombasa, come hell or high water. And there have been plenty of both on this incredible adventure of a rally. Out of … [Read more...]
The Belgian Racing Legends will be held 9 December 2011 to 15 January 2012 at the Autoworld Brussels in Belgium. The event will honor the many heroes of Belgian motorsports. After the Second World War, a few young people from wealthy families, smitten with speed and thrills, decided to devote themselves to motorsport. Their names were André Pilette, Jacques Swaters, Charles de Tornaco, John … [Read more...]
The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2011 took place May 20-22 on the grounds of the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este and Villa Erba on Lake Como in Cernobbio, Italy. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Lake Como, the 2011 Villa d'Este Concours presented the chance to not only admire about 50 historic cars, but also take in the myriad of sights off the show field. The 2011 event saw the 1968 … [Read more...]
A Shelby Cobra 427 Prototype is one of the headline offerings at the 12th annual Russo and Steele Scottsdale auction, scheduled for January 18-22, 2012 in Scottsdale, Arizona. This original 427 Cobra CSX3127 built at Shelby American in 1965 was the fourth of just 260 original 427 Street Cobras produced by Shelby. While most Cobras were shipped by boat to the States, the importance of 3127 is … [Read more...]
