Monday, March 14, 2011 at 11:31PM Cool period photos of the Frank Costin-designed Lister Jaguars. Costin was, aside from Jaguar's Malcolm Sayer, the premier designer of aerodynamic racing car bodies in Britain at the time, penning the famous Vanwall GP cars as well as many early Lotus models.
Monday, February 28, 2011 at 11:21PM As most longtime F1 fans will recall, Eddie Irvine's F1 debut at Suzuka in 1993 saw him put in a sensational drive for Jordan. Despite his youth, Irvine's experience at the Japanese track was evident, due to his stint in Japanese F3. What made this race famous, however, was what happened later after this magnificent battle:
Ayrton Senna was the race leader, but due to poor conditions and tire choice, he was unable to cleanly lap both Irvine and Hill, who were battling tooth and nail for position. Senna was therefore held up behind this battle which he had no stake in, as Prost gradually reeled him in. Ultimately Senna won the race, but he felt the need to lecture Irvine about his rash behavior. The Brazilian champion famously punched the Irishman in the face after a tense exchange of words. I never knew it until now, but the dialogue leading up to the punch was in fact caught on tape by a reporter who was present in the room! Enjoy this transcript!
Senna : What the **** do you think you were doing?
Irvine : I was racing!
Senna : You were racing? Do you know the rule that you’re supposed to let the leaders come by when you’re a back marker?
Irvine : If you were going fast enough, it was no problem.
Senna : I overtook you! And you went three times off the road in front of me, at the same place, like ****ing idiot, where there was oil. And you were throwing stones and all things in front of me for three laps. When I took you, you realised I was ahead of you. And when I came up behind Hill, because he was on slicks and in difficulties, you should have stayed behind me. You took a very big risk to put me out of the race.
Irvine : Where did I put you in any danger?
Senna : You didn’t put me in any danger?
Irvine : Did I touch you? Did I touch you once?
Senna : No, but you were that much from touching me, and I happened to be the ****ing leader. I HAPPENED TO BE THE ****ING LEADER!
Irvine : A miss is as good as a mile.
Senna : I tell you something. If you don’t behave properly in the next event, you can just rethink what you do. I can guarantee you that.
Irvine : The stewards said “No problem. Nothing was wrong.”
Senna : Yeah? You wait till Australia. You wait till Australia, when the stewards will talk to you. Then you tell me if they tell you this.
Irvine : Hey, I’m out there to do the best for me.
Senna : This is not correct. You want to do well. I understand, because I’ve been there I understand. But it’s very unprofessional. If you are a back marker, because you happen to be lapped …
Irvine : But I would have followed you if you’d overtaken Hill!
Senna : You should let the leader go by …
Irvine : I understand that fully!
Senna : … and not come by and do the things you did. You nearly hit Hill in front of me three times, because I saw, and I could of collected you and him as a result, and that’s not the way to do that.
Irvine : But I’m racing! I’m racing! You just happened to …
Senna : You’re not racing! You’re driving like a ****ing idiot. You’re not a racing driver, you’re a ****ing idiot!
Irvine: You talk, you talk. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Senna : I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Irvine : Yes. I was battling with Hill.
Senna : Really? Really? Just tell me one thing. Who is supposed to have the call? You, or the leader of the race who comes through to lap you?
Irvine : The leader of the race.
Senna : So what have you done?
Irvine : You, you were too slow, and I had to overtake you to try to get at Hill.
Senna : Really? How did I lap you if I was too slow?
Irvine : Rain. Because on slicks you were quicker than me, on wets you weren’t.
Senna : Really? Really? How did I come and overtake you on wets?
Irvine : Huh?
Senna : How come I overtook you on wets?
Irvine : I can’t remember that. I don’t actually remember the race.
Senna : Exactly. Because you are not competent enough to remember. That’s how it goes you know.
Irvine : Fair enough. Fair enough. That’s what you think.
Senna : You be careful guy.
Irvine : I will. I’ll watch out for you.
Senna : You’re gonna have problems not with me only, but with lots of other guys, also the FIA.
Irvine : Yeah?
Senna : You bet.
Irvine : Yeah? Good.
Senna : Yeah? It’s good to know that.
Irvine : See you out there.
Senna : It’s good to know that.
Irvine : See you out there …
Appearing to turn away Senna then turns and punches Irvine with his left hand landing on the right side of Irvine’s head. Irvine loses his balance and falls off the table. Senna is still shouting as he is hustled away.
Irvine: Insurance claim there!
Senna (leaving) retorts “You got to learn to respect where you’re going wrong!”
1993, Ayrton Senna, F1, Grand Prix, Japanese, Jordan F1, Suzuka, eddie irvine in History, Video of the Week Monday, February 21, 2011 at 9:16PM The Shelby Daytona Coupe, penned by Pete Brock, has to be one of the most elegantly proportioned yet brutal GT racing cars America has ever produced. Below are two films with excellent period footage of the cars when they raced! Note: The opening music and voiceover are the same, but these are two different movies.
This next movie has Dr. Fred Simeone eloquently recounting the history of the coupe on one of his demonstration days at the Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia. His particular coupe (one of 6 made) has a very interesting history. Wish I could have been there! It's a long story but worth the listen if you are a history buff. I found it most interesting to learn that while this car was built in the States, the other 5 bodies were made in Italy in order to save time --the Italians being much more adept at turning out handmade aluminium bodies in a timely fashion.
Click the pic below to see my gallery of Dr. Simeone's car. It's got wonderful patina and amazing presence in its unrestored original state. Kudos to him for not turning it into just another glossy Pebble beach trailer queen.
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 12:08PM I recently acquired a book about the Targa Florio, and discovered an unusual vehicle I hadnt really seen before. The Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta is essentially a Fulvia HF with the top sawn off. Given the tall, spindly nature of the standard Fulvia's greenhouse, this probably didnt affect chassis stiffness much, and probably improved aerodynamics vastly. Supposedly 3 of these cars were made by the factory and 2 were made by privateer tuners, and were campaigned around Italy, most notably at the Targa Florio. I am not sure if the dark red one at the bottom is a "real" one or not, but it is pretty darn sexy. Below is a descriptive exceprt from a 2008 Coys auction of one of these cars:
Perhaps the most highly developed Fulvias were developed for Lancia by Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Maglioli whose trio of F&M Specials were produced to race in the Sport category. Up until that point, the Sport class was the platform for Zagato-bodied Fulvias, but whilst these had proven fast, they were also fragile and unbearably hot with little in the way of cockpit ventilation. Thanks to the funds provided by Lancia, Fiorio and Maglioli developed three cut down Fulvia F&M Barchetta's that were bristling with advanced features. Each F&M Barchetta was very different and most notably, these hot rod prototypes took class victories at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km. No doubt inspired by the level of performance this trio of Lancia prototypes had displayed, two Sicilian Lancia tuners also manufactured their own Fulvia Barchetta's for competition use.
Monday, January 24, 2011 at 8:32PM 
I don't recall exactly where I found this, but it's a really cool period photo I had never seen before showing the Auto Union C-type at speed. This might even be a record attempt on the Autobahn, given how straight the road is. I love these "worm's eye views" that were so popular in the 30s as a way to show the pure speed of the car hurtling towards you. The forced perspective is just fantastic!
Auto Union, Autobahn, C-type, Photography in History 
