Eva Aeppli's 5 Widows - Memorial to the darker side of F1

Swiss-born artist Jean Tinguely was passionate about two things in life: Art and the Automobile, which he saw as a form of moving sculpture.  In addition to collecting both sculpture and cars, he was a fixture at the F1 circuit in the late 1960s and early 70s. He was close friends with Swiss driver Jo Siffert, and was present at Brands Hatch when Siffert was tragically killed. The photo below was taken the night before the accident, with Siffert at left, and Tinguely at right.

Clearly the death of so many friends and heros deeply saddened the artist, and one of the more interesting assemblages in his collection is his juxtaposition of Eva Aeppli's "5 Widows" with an ex-Jim Clark Lotus 33 from his car collection. 

It's my understanding that Aeppli's work - consisting of 5 black-shrouded female figures in folding chairs- was meant to stand by itself. But Tinguely's placement of the racing car beside the women recalls the way that many drivers' wives would sit in folding chairs in the pits, lap-timing the cars of their husbands.  The assemblage was made around 1972, which was a time of unparalleled death and sorrow in the world of F1.  Since the car belonged to Jim Clark, and we know Tinguely was acquainted with Siffert and Bonnier, I added Jochen Rindt and Jo Schlesser to comprise a probable 5 drivers whose deaths between 1968 and 1972 left the darkest shadows on the sport at that time. Tinguely supposedly had this piece in his bedroom as a shrine to his lost friends and a very moving artistic commentary on the waste of life that was all too common in the racing community of that era.  Further, given the gender dynamics of the time, the mute suffering of the women becomes all the more poignant.

The Museum Tinguely  in Basel is having an exhibit of automotive-related art entitled "Car Fetish. I Drive therefore I am" that seems well worth a visit if you find yourself in Switzerland. The show is up until October, 2011.

via italianfuturism.org

Video of the week: Clark and Hill Debut the Sensational Lotus 49!

This fantastic promotional video on the Lotus 49's maiden victory is well worth a watch!  Historians remember the Dutch GP of 1967 as one where Jim Clark won in a car he had never even driven before the race weekend.  Watching this video, one is reminded that Graham Hill not only qualified on pole, but was leading the race until a mechanical failure put him out of contention.  Clark might have been holding back at the start, but once Hill was out, he poured on the speed, taking the innovative new car and brand new Ford DFV engine to victory right out of the box!

I love the moment at 6:32 where Hill, now out of the race, pats the engine's designer Keith Duckworth on the shoulder as if to say "No worries, mate! We'll get her right!"

Elf Scan 9: Matra's 4WD experiment - the MS 84

At the same time that Jackie Stewart was dominating the 1969 Formula One championship in the Matra MS 80, the French team was also experimenting with a 4 wheel drive sister car, known as the MS 84.  Team Lotus was also experimenting with 4WD at the time with the Lotus 63, and also using the same Ford Cosworth V8 in their Lotus 49Bs. Much like Lotus, Matra ultimately found that 4WD added weight and complexity that did not pay dividends in terms of performance. It was the conventional RWD MS 80 that ultimately gave Stewart his first F1 championship.  The MS 84 is pictured above at what appears to be the Montlhery Autodrome near Paris.

How to build your own Tamiya Lotus Seven

Following this month's Lotus Seven theme, here is an instructional video made as a student project by two Japanese communications design majors. It is a really cool visualization of how to assemble Tamiya's 1:24th scale Super Seven kit. And below is the finished product, built by yours truly. Of course, I had to add some custom details like the rims I had left over from -of all things- a Ferrari Dino kit, as well as extra engine detailing. I also scratch built the side exhaust shield-- and those little snaps on the tonneau cover? Those are pinheads inserted one at a time.  Tamiya had molded the fenders integrally with the body to cut cost, so painting the body a distinct color from the fenders required removing the fenders with a razor saw so that they could be painted separately.  All in all, a fun little build.  I have also made their breathtaking 1:12th scale Caterham Seven, but that's for another time...

Click the pics below for a full gallery of my Tamiya Lotus Seven. Special thanks to my dad for taking these photos for me on the spur of the moment!

Ronny Norkvist and his homebuilt Alfa Seven!

The internet is a marvelous thing. One moment, you are trolling through youtube looking for interesting videos, and the next minute you find yourself writing a note to the anonymous person who posted a cool video of his homebuilt racer. The next day, you get a reply from an affable Swede, an ocean away, who is pleased to tell you all about his awesome project! The project in question is the Alfa Seven!  Essentially, it’s a magnificent Alfa V6 mounted in a custom-made Lotus-seven-inspired chassis.  The builder of this wonderful-sounding machine (listen to the video below!) is one Ronny Norkvist, and he didn’t just buy a kit and bolt it together, folks! This is a one-off car built entirely from the ground up with a great deal of planning and thought. He employed 3D CAD modelling to develop his concept before building it, and Ronny even molded his own fiberglass hood (visible in the video clip) from scratch! I’ll let him tell the story in his own words. Our interview follows below:

Automobiliac: So give me a general overview of the project.

Ronny Norkvist: Ok, this is my first car built. Because I wanted to find a cheap and relatively simple projects, choosing the Seven-style concept was obvious. Since I had an old Alfa 75 standing around, it seemed natural to use it as donor car. That this would cause a lot of extra work, because of the rear gearbox, I was well aware of.  In order that the work would run as smoothly as possible, I decided to CAD up my ideas first. This proved to be an invaluable advantage!  The work to re-construct the original concept to fit the Alfa Parts began in summer 2003. In summer 2004, after a year in front of the computer, the "real" construction work began.  During construction, the engine [was upgraded] several times. From 2 Liter 4cyl to newer 2L twinspark to 2.5 Liter V6 (Alfa 75 Milano) and finally to 164 3.0 Liter V6 engine. 

A: What inspired you to build this car and how long did it take?

RN: The inspiration is the original lotus seven and of course the book by Ron Champion "Build your own sports car". CAD work took from 2003-2004 and construction work from 2004-2007. Another inspiration is the brilliant locost website in sweden (www.locostsweden.se) --great forum.

A: What challenges have you found with using the Alfa V6 and transaxle if any, and why did you choose the Alfa engine?

RN:  I´m stubborn ;) several guys told me that I could not fit the big rear transmission from Alfa in the little seven. I had to show them it was possible. But of course the real answer is that I like Alfa and my dream was to build my own car. And this concept is relatively cheap and simple. 

Because of the Alfa transmission, I could not use the drawings from Ron’s book. I had to do make a new design of the whole concept. Wider, longer and with oversize transmission tunnel. But I did not use the Alfa original dedion suspension at rear. It was more fun to create new suspension, and maybe a little bit lighter. 

A: What are your driving impressions of the car?

RN: Actually I don’t have a lot of experience of fast cars. I´m more of a builder, so I don´t know. But it feels very fast and very nice to drive.
On one track day this summer I was faster or equally fast as these cars: Porsche 944turbo, Corvette C5 Z06, BMW M3, Evo6, Golf R32 Turbo, Porsche 968 CS, Audi 90q-85, 944 Turbo S, Audi s2, Nissan Skyline R32GTRS -90. That was a good feeling :)

Anyway, compared to other sevens my car is not the fastest, not even close... 

Here is the video clip of the magnificent engine sound!

Ronny also wanted to mention his exciting new project: He is building a new racer called the ROX GT60, which is meant to re-create the look and feel of a late 60's prototype road racer, but at an affordable price. You can check in on his progress here:www.roxgt.se 

It seems ambitious, but for a man who spent so much time building the Alfa Seven, we feel confident he'll eventually get this one done as well! Keep me posted, Ronny!

All photos courtesy Ronny Norkvist