The Petersen Automotive Museum opened its newest exhibit on Saturday, February 23, 2019 that features ten race cars from the collection of Petersen Founding Chairman Bruce Meyer. Titled “Winning Numbers: The First, The Fastest, The Famous,” the exhibit contains Le Mans winners, land speed record setters, dragsters and road racers from Meyer's personal garage. “Affectionately called ‘the car guy’s car guy,’ Bruce … [Read more...]
Aston Martin Cloverleaf Returns to Aston Hill
It was 95 years ago that the Aston Martin which came to be known as ‘Cloverleaf’, XR 1981, lined up at the bottom of Aston Hill. One of eight customer cars built in late 1923, this early Aston Martin was competing against two Bugattis and two other Aston Martins -- one of which had been entered by the company’s founder, Lionel Martin, who won the trophy on the day. This four-cylinder 1,486 cc side-valve engined … [Read more...]
Celebrating Maserati’s Land Speed Record
Mario Umberto “Baconìn” Borzacchini, at the wheel of a Maserati Tipo V4, set the world land speed record for the flying 10 kilometres on 28 September 1929. The car had made its race debut on 15 September, driven by Alfieri Maserati in the Monza Grand Prix, finishing the race in sixth place. Two weeks later, before the race at the Circuito di Cremona, the “Giornata dei record”, a time trial on the flying 10 … [Read more...]
Continuation ‘Blower’ Bentley Revealed
One of the most iconic cars from Bentley’s history -- Sir Tim Birkin’s 1929 supercharged 4 1/2-litre 'Blower' -- will be reborn with a new build of 12 matching cars that will form a pre-war race car continuation series. Only four original ‘Team Blowers’ were built for racing by Birkin, in the late 1920s. All were campaigned on the racetracks of Europe, with the most famous car -- Birkin’s own Team Car No. 2, … [Read more...]
BMW M1 Art Car by Andy Warhol
“I love this car. It’s more successful than the artwork,” was the opinion of Andy Warhol after his sweeping brush strokes had transformed the BMW M1. It took him less than half an hour to create the fourth exhibit in the BMW Art Car Collection. 40 years later, enthusiasm for the mid-engined sports car remains unabated. Already world-famous at that time, the Pop Art icon shared the same passion with many … [Read more...]
Porsche Reveals Retro Coca-Cola Livery
As the 50th Anniversary of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) comes to a close at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) will turn to an Atlanta neighbor to help celebrate and commemorate the sports car racing series’ Golden Anniversary. The twin Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR race cars will carry a familiar red and white livery in the 22nd running of the Motul Petit Le Mans … [Read more...]
Bentley Corniche Rises from Ashes
Bentley has recreated a long-lost car from its past that was lost in a wartime bombing raid in France. The ground-up rebuild of the only 1939 Corniche made connects the Embiricos 4 1/4 Litre and R Type Continental. The only car of its type now in existence, the Corniche was conceived to be a high-performance version of the new MkV saloon, itself a technological advance that was due to be launched in October … [Read more...]
Remembering Ferdinand Piëch (1937 – 2019)
Ferdinand Piëch died on 25 August 2019 at the age of 82. Born in Vienna on April 17, 1937, Piëch was fascinated by technology since childhood, especially by kinetic technology. At the age of nine he was already able to drive a car. After graduating from school, he studied mechanical engineering in Zurich, having written a master thesis about the development of a Formula One engine. The spiritual father of the Porsche … [Read more...]
Corvette’s Journey to Mid-Engine
The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the brand’s first-ever production mid-engine Corvette, is the culmination of 60 years of mid-engine experimentation. While the eighth generation Corvette marks a radical leap forward in terms of capability from the seventh generation, it also incorporates lessons learned from past engineering exercises such as the Chevrolet Experimental Research Vehicles (CERVs) I-III, the … [Read more...]
Maserati Birdcage Debuted with Victory
On 12 July 1959, the Maserati Tipo 60 'Birdcage', with the 30-year-old Stirling Moss at the wheel, made its race debut in the Sport category at Rouen. The Tipo 60 recorded its first win, defeating two Lotus 15 cars and getting the fastest lap in 2.28.5 at an average speed of 158.594 km / h. This was just the first of a long series of victories: the Birdcage also won four Italian Hill Climb Championships (driven by … [Read more...]
How the Bugatti Type 35 Legend Was Born
The Bugatti Type 35 is one of the most successful racing cars of all time. And deservedly so: the French manufacturer's open-top sports car secured over 2,000 victories between 1924 and 1930. Today, the Type 35 is a legend in international motor sport. And a whole lot more besides. … [Read more...]
Celebrating 45 Years of the Porsche IROC
It was 45 years ago when the first "made-for-TV" race series pitted the world's most famous and successful race car drivers from around the globe against one-another in the aptly named International Race of Champions (IROC). With champion drivers coming from sports car racing, Indy car racing, Formula One and NASCAR, the only common element in the inaugural season was the identically matched 1974 Porsche 911 RSR race … [Read more...]
Silver Arrows Victory at 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours
Thirty years ago, Mercedes-Benz achieved a double victory in 1989 with the new Sauber-Mercedes C 9 Silver Arrows. A third Mercedes-Benz car finished in 5th place. This result makes the race a highlight of the anniversary year for "125 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsports", which is being celebrated throughout 2019. How can one possibly translate the thrilling 24 Hours of Le Mans on 10 and 11 June 1989 into easily … [Read more...]
Ten Facts from Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans Win
Sixty years on from Aston Martin’s greatest victory, when Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby took Aston Martin’s only outright win at Le Mans, the crews of the Vantage GTEs once again prepare to fight. In the front-running GTE Pro class, Aston Martin Racing will race against five of the world’s greatest sportscar manufacturers in a 17-car battle for supremacy. Not long after their victory in 1959, Aston Martin’s … [Read more...]
Maserati Triumphed in the 1939 Targa Florio
Maserati recently celebrated the 80th anniversary of Luigi “Gigi” Villoresi's impressive win at the 1939 Targa Florio at the wheel of the Maserati Tipo 6CM. The Milan-born driver achieved victory at the Parco della Favorita circuit in Palermo, Sicily on May 14th 1939 by covering the race's 40 laps, totalling 228 km, in 1:40.15.4. Luigi Villoresi also recorded the fastest lap in the race with the time of 2:24.6, … [Read more...]
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