Club race pic's
Discussion
You might like to see this then...
A couple of shots from my ride in one *insert HUGE grin*
Imagine the noise! by PGDesigns.co.uk, on Flickr
A couple of shots from my ride in one *insert HUGE grin*
Imagine the noise! by PGDesigns.co.uk, on Flickr
chevronb37 said:
I know, I could be tempted one day but would need to have been built by someone skilled and with the right engine - only a small block Ford would suffice. I can never understand a Cobra rep powered by a Chevy engine for example. Seems wrong to me.
It's just a little bit pointless not to do it properly if someone is going to go to all the trouble of doing it in the first place. If I had the time/skill to do it I'd try and build a new version of the original with the correct Ford lump. Ok it's still a rep, but it'd be as damn close to a real one as it could be. Pushrods? Check! Carbs? Check! Gorgeous shiny exhaust manifold? Check! There were several doing parade laps at Le Mans Classic when we attended as the sun dropped on Friday evening. I can hardly imagine how evocative it must be turning out of Tertre Rouge and nosing out onto the Mulsanne for a big speed run in your own GT40. Absolute magic. Not sure I'd swap the Exige for one but they'd look nice together in the garage :-)
srob said:
chevronb37 said:
Love the second shot emerging from the water splash!
Just to keep the thread moving...Jean-Eric Vergne during his British F3 title campaign in 2010.
It's cool when you remember a 'star' from their early days. I once saw Casey Stoner as a 14 year old on a plain red Honda RS125 racing at Snetterton Just to keep the thread moving...Jean-Eric Vergne during his British F3 title campaign in 2010.
I'm off to Snett tomorrow to see the Elises racing. Hopefully, if a) I'm not too hungover and b) it's slightly better weather than East Anglia's experiencing today!
I may have a pic somewhere
Great story, Jonny. It's special seeing a young chap out-performing their contemporaries in a way which is so visible to the naked eye. A few years ago I saw a guy called Daniel Zampieri dance his way to victory in a soggy Italian F3 race at Magione. It was a mesmeric display and proved the guy was head and shoulders above his contemporaries. Sadly he didn't end up doing much, but did catch Ferrari's eye. In the UK I was convinced of the talent of Marko Asmer but he seems to have disappeared off the radar too. I wonder if I'm actually just a rubbish talent spotter!
Was chatting on a Lotus forum about Nick Adams' Lotus 23B. Here are a few shots of his pain-stakingly restored car at last year's Goodwood Revival where he competed in the Madgwick Cup for small-capacity sports racers of the 1960s. I expect srob will probably know car and driver well...!
Chaps,
My dad kindly sent over some photos from the 1997 FIA GT Championship round at Donington on 14th September 1997. I was an over-enthusiastic 13 year old at the time, madly in love with sportscar racing of all kinds. Very brief description of what was going on and some GT worship photos from Chev Snr - scanned from negatives, originally taken with an Olympus OM10.
Chev.
Back in 1997 the GT landscape was markedly different to how we find it in 2012. The FIA GT Championship and Le Mans ran GT1 and GT2 machinery with the top class being dominated by the long-tail homologation special froms McLaren, Porsche and AMG Mercedes-Benz, ably supported by Lotus with their wild V8 engined Elise derivative (!) and the thundering Roush-motivated Panoz ‘Batmobiles’.
The FIA Championship visited the UK twice in 1997. Early in the year deluges left Silverstone treacherous, with Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia splashing their way to victory in the McLaren F1 GTR #23R – now owned by Lawrence Stroll. I recall it was several days before we had dried out and warmed up, having spent the race shivering under an umbrella on the infield by Becketts.
By September the AMG Mercedes team had really hit their stride, having moved from the defunct International Touring Car Championship over to GT1. Their CLK GTR bore no discernible resemblance to the road-going CLK. With dramatic bodywork and a monster 6L V12, these were Grand Tourers in name only.
However, that is not to dismiss spectacle of seeing these mighty racers in action. The field comprised a useful miscellany of GTs, with 6, 8, ten and twelve cylinder engines across the two classes. The AMG team were supreme and watching the mechanics simultaneously service two cars at once in the pits was a sign that the level of professionalism in GT racing had just moved up a notch. By comparison, the previously dominant McLarens were left breathless as the silver arrows swept to a 1-2-4, with only the genius of JJ Lehto allowing McLaren onto the podium. Lehto was never less than totally committed in hustling the big GT cars everywhere.
Atop the podium was loyal Mercedes driver Bernd Schneider, accompanied by Alex Wurz. The Austrian would be in Formula One within 6 months and is still a leading sportscar racer today – leading Toyota’s mega LMP1 programme.
It was an honour to see the GT1 cars in action. Despite their somewhat dubious GT claims, they were among the most charismatic racers in sportscar history; and as handsome as anything which has followed since.
My dad kindly sent over some photos from the 1997 FIA GT Championship round at Donington on 14th September 1997. I was an over-enthusiastic 13 year old at the time, madly in love with sportscar racing of all kinds. Very brief description of what was going on and some GT worship photos from Chev Snr - scanned from negatives, originally taken with an Olympus OM10.
Chev.
Back in 1997 the GT landscape was markedly different to how we find it in 2012. The FIA GT Championship and Le Mans ran GT1 and GT2 machinery with the top class being dominated by the long-tail homologation special froms McLaren, Porsche and AMG Mercedes-Benz, ably supported by Lotus with their wild V8 engined Elise derivative (!) and the thundering Roush-motivated Panoz ‘Batmobiles’.
The FIA Championship visited the UK twice in 1997. Early in the year deluges left Silverstone treacherous, with Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia splashing their way to victory in the McLaren F1 GTR #23R – now owned by Lawrence Stroll. I recall it was several days before we had dried out and warmed up, having spent the race shivering under an umbrella on the infield by Becketts.
By September the AMG Mercedes team had really hit their stride, having moved from the defunct International Touring Car Championship over to GT1. Their CLK GTR bore no discernible resemblance to the road-going CLK. With dramatic bodywork and a monster 6L V12, these were Grand Tourers in name only.
However, that is not to dismiss spectacle of seeing these mighty racers in action. The field comprised a useful miscellany of GTs, with 6, 8, ten and twelve cylinder engines across the two classes. The AMG team were supreme and watching the mechanics simultaneously service two cars at once in the pits was a sign that the level of professionalism in GT racing had just moved up a notch. By comparison, the previously dominant McLarens were left breathless as the silver arrows swept to a 1-2-4, with only the genius of JJ Lehto allowing McLaren onto the podium. Lehto was never less than totally committed in hustling the big GT cars everywhere.
Atop the podium was loyal Mercedes driver Bernd Schneider, accompanied by Alex Wurz. The Austrian would be in Formula One within 6 months and is still a leading sportscar racer today – leading Toyota’s mega LMP1 programme.
It was an honour to see the GT1 cars in action. Despite their somewhat dubious GT claims, they were among the most charismatic racers in sportscar history; and as handsome as anything which has followed since.
Nice
I remember that era of GT racing with fondness too. I remember going to Snetterton and, whilst paying to get in seeing a tower of black smoke coming up from around Corrum. We drove around and (from memory!) a Blue Chorral (sp?) GT1 Porsche was mid burning-out!
I think it was probably that same day that a McClaren F1 spun coming out of Russels and got stuck between the barrier and the curb, which was too tall for him to get back over. He did about a 100 point turn, much like a very expensive version of the scene from Austin Powers where he gets stuck in the corridor in a golf buggy
I remember that era of GT racing with fondness too. I remember going to Snetterton and, whilst paying to get in seeing a tower of black smoke coming up from around Corrum. We drove around and (from memory!) a Blue Chorral (sp?) GT1 Porsche was mid burning-out!
I think it was probably that same day that a McClaren F1 spun coming out of Russels and got stuck between the barrier and the curb, which was too tall for him to get back over. He did about a 100 point turn, much like a very expensive version of the scene from Austin Powers where he gets stuck in the corridor in a golf buggy
Yes - there were GT1 911s in Pennzoil yellow and Blue Coral blue. I can clearly recall the spit of flame out of the exhaust of the Blue Coral car with every gear change as it ascended Clay Hill at Oulton Park. That was 1998 I believe - programme here (not that I'm an archivist geek or anything...):
Simon - do you know Nick Adams or his green Lotus 23B (above)?
Simon - do you know Nick Adams or his green Lotus 23B (above)?
srob said:
chevronb37 said:
Simon - do you know Nick Adams or his green Lotus 23B (above)?
Yeah, I know Nick pretty well! Sorry, I don't know how I missed that post We've done the odd 'can you just' on some bits of that car - I'll point him in the direction of this thread when I see him
chevronb37 said:
I rather imagined that might be the case! It's beautifully presented but I understand it's taken years to get to that standard. I'm sure he'll enjoy the thread but once he starts at page 1 he won't be able to stop so warn him to leave plenty of browsing time!
Haha, that's very true! Was he racing at the Revival this year then - or did they do the Dan Gurney thing last year too?srob said:
chevronb37 said:
I rather imagined that might be the case! It's beautifully presented but I understand it's taken years to get to that standard. I'm sure he'll enjoy the thread but once he starts at page 1 he won't be able to stop so warn him to leave plenty of browsing time!
Haha, that's very true! Was he racing at the Revival this year then - or did they do the Dan Gurney thing last year too?Thanks for those pics Chevron, reminds me of when my father managed to get he and I tickets to Silverstone to watch the BPR series. Was great seeing Steve Soper pedalling the Fina short tail F1 around the grand prix circuit, and even having lunch sat next to Nelson Piquet! However, being only 6 at the time, my abiding memory is that of a Lotus Esprit catching fire in the pits, and Cor Euser's Marcos making the building shake as it went flat through Woodcote..
chevronb37 said:
Chaps,
My dad kindly sent over some photos from the 1997 FIA GT Championship round at Donington on 14th September 1997. I was an over-enthusiastic 13 year old at the time, madly in love with sportscar racing of all kinds. Very brief description of what was going on and some GT worship photos from Chev Snr - scanned from negatives, originally taken with an Olympus OM10.
Chev.
Back in 1997 the GT landscape was markedly different to how we find it in 2012. The FIA GT Championship and Le Mans ran GT1 and GT2 machinery with the top class being dominated by the long-tail homologation special froms McLaren, Porsche and AMG Mercedes-Benz, ably supported by Lotus with their wild V8 engined Elise derivative (!) and the thundering Roush-motivated Panoz ‘Batmobiles’.
The FIA Championship visited the UK twice in 1997. Early in the year deluges left Silverstone treacherous, with Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia splashing their way to victory in the McLaren F1 GTR #23R – now owned by Lawrence Stroll. I recall it was several days before we had dried out and warmed up, having spent the race shivering under an umbrella on the infield by Becketts.
By September the AMG Mercedes team had really hit their stride, having moved from the defunct International Touring Car Championship over to GT1. Their CLK GTR bore no discernible resemblance to the road-going CLK. With dramatic bodywork and a monster 6L V12, these were Grand Tourers in name only.
However, that is not to dismiss spectacle of seeing these mighty racers in action. The field comprised a useful miscellany of GTs, with 6, 8, ten and twelve cylinder engines across the two classes. The AMG team were supreme and watching the mechanics simultaneously service two cars at once in the pits was a sign that the level of professionalism in GT racing had just moved up a notch. By comparison, the previously dominant McLarens were left breathless as the silver arrows swept to a 1-2-4, with only the genius of JJ Lehto allowing McLaren onto the podium. Lehto was never less than totally committed in hustling the big GT cars everywhere.
Atop the podium was loyal Mercedes driver Bernd Schneider, accompanied by Alex Wurz. The Austrian would be in Formula One within 6 months and is still a leading sportscar racer today – leading Toyota’s mega LMP1 programme.
It was an honour to see the GT1 cars in action. Despite their somewhat dubious GT claims, they were among the most charismatic racers in sportscar history; and as handsome as anything which has followed since.
That brings back memories! I was 12 at the time and sat in the same grandstand watching.....I absolutely fell in love with gt racing....it's a real shame if you look at today's current crop of drivers and cars, and compare it to back in the mid 90s....especially with the lack of top level gt cars, and all the lmp cars are soooooo boring in comparison to back thenMy dad kindly sent over some photos from the 1997 FIA GT Championship round at Donington on 14th September 1997. I was an over-enthusiastic 13 year old at the time, madly in love with sportscar racing of all kinds. Very brief description of what was going on and some GT worship photos from Chev Snr - scanned from negatives, originally taken with an Olympus OM10.
Chev.
Back in 1997 the GT landscape was markedly different to how we find it in 2012. The FIA GT Championship and Le Mans ran GT1 and GT2 machinery with the top class being dominated by the long-tail homologation special froms McLaren, Porsche and AMG Mercedes-Benz, ably supported by Lotus with their wild V8 engined Elise derivative (!) and the thundering Roush-motivated Panoz ‘Batmobiles’.
The FIA Championship visited the UK twice in 1997. Early in the year deluges left Silverstone treacherous, with Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia splashing their way to victory in the McLaren F1 GTR #23R – now owned by Lawrence Stroll. I recall it was several days before we had dried out and warmed up, having spent the race shivering under an umbrella on the infield by Becketts.
By September the AMG Mercedes team had really hit their stride, having moved from the defunct International Touring Car Championship over to GT1. Their CLK GTR bore no discernible resemblance to the road-going CLK. With dramatic bodywork and a monster 6L V12, these were Grand Tourers in name only.
However, that is not to dismiss spectacle of seeing these mighty racers in action. The field comprised a useful miscellany of GTs, with 6, 8, ten and twelve cylinder engines across the two classes. The AMG team were supreme and watching the mechanics simultaneously service two cars at once in the pits was a sign that the level of professionalism in GT racing had just moved up a notch. By comparison, the previously dominant McLarens were left breathless as the silver arrows swept to a 1-2-4, with only the genius of JJ Lehto allowing McLaren onto the podium. Lehto was never less than totally committed in hustling the big GT cars everywhere.
Atop the podium was loyal Mercedes driver Bernd Schneider, accompanied by Alex Wurz. The Austrian would be in Formula One within 6 months and is still a leading sportscar racer today – leading Toyota’s mega LMP1 programme.
It was an honour to see the GT1 cars in action. Despite their somewhat dubious GT claims, they were among the most charismatic racers in sportscar history; and as handsome as anything which has followed since.
37chevy said:
That brings back memories! I was 12 at the time and sat in the same grandstand watching.....I absolutely fell in love with gt racing....it's a real shame if you look at today's current crop of drivers and cars, and compare it to back in the mid 90s....especially with the lack of top level gt cars, and all the lmp cars are soooooo boring in comparison to back then
Small world, huh? My old man has some photos from BPR in 1995 and ISRS in I think 1998 so hopefully should have some more late 1990s GT/LMP racing to share over the next few weeks. It was a great period to watch long distance racing, and such a shame it all imploded. Having said that, the ALMS visits were great as well. Loved watching the V12 LMR BMWs. Gassing Station | UK Club Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff