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.
By Art Evans | Photos as credited 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 … [Read more...]
Three times Formula One World Champion, motorsport safety campaigner and former F1 team boss Sir Jackie Stewart will join leading motorsport figures for the first History of Motorsport Technology Conference and Dinner at Cranfield University on 3 July 2012. The History of Motorsport Technology Conference will be an integral part of National Motorsport Week 2012, held between the Goodwood … [Read more...]
By Art Evans | Photos as credited On the morning of April 18, 2012, I received a call that Andy Porterfield had died the night before. I knew he had been ill and in the hospital; I had been expecting a call telling me it would be ok for me to visit. His is survived by his wife Judy, daughters Pamela and Melanie, plus a son, Tracy. Andy and I were best friends and Judy recently told me that … [Read more...]
Renngruppe Rendezvous By Louis Scalzo | Photos by Tom Morgan Renngruppe Motorsports is located in Lexington, North Carolina in a industrial park area looking like a very ordinary brick fronted metal building, blending in with all the others in the area. When you enter the spacious facility, formerly home of a NASCAR team, you quickly realize that this place is anything but ordinary! It can … [Read more...]
Championship racer and innovator Jim Hall was honored on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at the Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) Evening with Jim Hall presented by Firestone. This was the fourth annual RRDC West Coast banquet, held prior to the running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The dinner was also supported by Chevrolet and Honda. Hall, whose accomplishments ranged from the 1960s, with … [Read more...]
Interview by Dennis Gray | Photos by Gray unless noted Jon Shirley makes good decisions whether finding and buying one-off Ferrari 375MMs or guiding Microsoft through its initial public offering. The son of Navy man, Shirley was born in 1938 and moved with his family in 1941 to a little known place named Pearl Harbor. After the bombing, with his family thankfully well, they moved across the … [Read more...]
Review by Wallace Wyss It was a long time coming; a near complete authorized biography of a giant in American sports car circles, Carroll Hall Shelby. The author is a surprising choice, British author Rinsey Mills, surprising only because in a couple of his earlier books on Shelby he seemed of the opinion that the British side of the AC Cobra story wasn't being given due credit, a … [Read more...]
Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve, better known as Gilles Villeneuve, passed away May 8th, 1982 in a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. The memory of Gilles Villeneuve is still vivid and alive in the minds of many; his talent, his speed, his bravery which bordered on recklessness, all go to make his name still hugely popular with motorsport fans, even among younger … [Read more...]
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, designer of the iconic Porsche 911, died on 5 April 2012 in Salzburg, aged 76. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was born in Stuttgart on 11 December 1935, the oldest son of Dorothea and Ferry Porsche. Even his childhood was shaped by cars, and he spent much of his time in the engineering offices and development workshops of his grandfather Ferdinand Porsche. … [Read more...]
Alan Mann, who died on March 21, 2012 at the age of 75, was a highly successful motor racing team owner who played a key role in the Ford Motor Company’s worldwide Total Performance programme of the 1960s. Alan Mann Racing, based in Byfleet, UK won numerous major championships including the British Saloon Car Championship, the European Touring Car Challenge and the FIA World GT Championship … [Read more...]
Racing drivers Hans Herrmann, Geoff Brabham, Denise McCluggage, Johnny O'Connell and Jim Downing were inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame on 16 March 2012, the day prior to the 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring. Hans Herrmann is a two-time Sebring winner in addition to his Le Mans victory in 1970. … [Read more...]
By William Edgar | Photographs as Credited It was July 19, 1974 that I really got to know John Young Stewart, even though I’d already met and worked with him several years before that British Grand Prix Friday practice day riding with him in a chauffeured Daimler out to Brands Hatch, a distance of some 25 miles from London’s Savile Row where we’d first made a stop at Jackie’s tailor. … [Read more...]
George Follmer, who has competed in virtually every form of auto racing and is considered one of the sport's living legends, was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club with the 2012 Phil Hill Award. RRDC president Bobby Rahal presented Follmer with the award at a dinner prior to the running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener of the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. The Phil … [Read more...]
With over 50 years in motorsports – as a driver and team owner – American A. J. Foyt’s remarkable career has seen him make his mark nationally and abroad in at least four countries: Canada, Great Britain, France and New Zealand. His race record includes: winning the Indianapolis 500 four times in 35 consecutive tries; the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1967); and the Rolex 24 At Daytona (1983, … [Read more...]
By Csaba Kiss If one has the occasion to visit Yvan Mahe's Equipe Europe workshop in Ozouer Le Voulgis, France, the feeling one can get is that of dropping in on a living classic car museum. Situated in the picturesque French countryside, about 30 miles from Paris, the Equipe Europe garage is specialized in the restoration, preparation, service and development of historic racing cars. … [Read more...]
