Thanks to my membership of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club I enjoyed my second trip to Race Retro over the past weekend.
Just like last year I had trouble getting out of the car park thanks to the fabulous collection of sports cars fellow enthusiasts had brought out for a spin in the glorious sunshine. This Bertone X1/9 particularly caught my eye, I spent many years lusting after an X1/9 when I left school. I eventually ended up with a slightly more practical , cheaper to insure FIAT 128, I’ll be taking a closer look at the X1/9 on Sunday.
Silverstone Auctions have taken the place of H&H Auctions as Race Retro’s Auctioneer partners, among the unusual gems scheduled to go under the hammer was this Twini Austin Cooper S a replica of two experimental works cars originally built in 1963 that raced in the Targa Florio. This replica was built on a 1965 chassis with two Cooper S motors, gearboxes and disc brakes all round.
In the Rally shed it was nice to see the replica South African Chevrolet Firenza CanAm now fitted with a huge rear wing reminiscent of Formula 1 & Can Am cars in 1968 and as used in the original Chev Dealer Team car in 1974.
Nanette seen above on the Brooklands stand was a special built by Felix Scriven in 1925, it was originally fitted with an unreliable Sage motor, which contributed to this car originally being called, Mother Goose until a 4 cylinder Hooker motor that originated from the Marlborough Thomas special and which could be configured as either a 1.5 litre / 92 cui or 1.75 litre / 107 cue motor according to which of two crankshafts was used.
Among the anniversaries being celebrated at Race Retro was the 30th anniversary of the Porsche 956 which evolved into the 956B and 962 and 962 C series that dominated Le Mans, the Daytona 24 hours, Group C and IMSA from 1982 until 1987. The #1 above appears to be a 956 with distinctive 1982 paintwork while the #8 in the background carries the 1988 bodywork of the 962 C commonly carried by chassis #116.
The multiple award winning success of “Senna” the documentary on the Brazilian Triple World Champion has focused interest in his cars, the Toleman TG184 was of the type that Senna drove once his team had secured a supply of Michelin tyres after the first two races of Senna’s 1984 rookie F1 season.
The town of Bourne in Lincolnshire will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of BRM’s World Championship year on October 7th. Graham won the championship driving a BRM P57 with a BRM V8 similar to the #7 in the photo above, though after all these years BRM are probably still at least as well remembered for building a supercharged 1.5 litre 92 cui V16 in 1949 and possibly the most complex racing motor of all time the 3 litre / 183 cui H16, which is said to make so much noise the first time it was opened up in anger every one in the pits at Riems dived for cover as it came down the start finish straight for the first time ! I’ve made it a mission to try and hear the H16 in action this year and hope to be at BRM Day at Bourne in October.
Finally on a personal note it is 40 years since I bought my first copy of Motor Sport, the December 1972 edition was packed with the details of the 1972 Canadian and US Grand Prix’s which Jackie Stewart won in anticipation of an extremely successful final 1973 season. On the Motor Sport stand above is the 1934 Riley Ulster Imp in which after a successful post WW2 competition history the car was acquired by Leslie Hawthorn the proprietor of the Tourist Trophy Garage in Farnham who gave it to his son Mike who raced this car on his competition debut at the Brighton Speed Trials where he won his class and drove it in his first race which ‘The Farnham Flyer’ also won on his way to becoming the first ten British World Champions.
I’ll be posting more blogs featuring vehicles seen at Race Retro 2012 in the coming days and weeks, starting tomorrow with an unusual MG-B.
Thanks for joining me on this ‘Firing Up 2012’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !
