Eventually, Mr. Reigel graduated from being a simple enthusiast and is now a part owner and CEO of one of the most successful and monumentally historic race tracks in North America, Lime Rock Park.

A Historic Racing Landmark

Lime Rock Park, Located in naturally beautiful northwest Connecticut, is among some of the oldest speedways in the United States and has played a key role in the history of motorsport since 1957, when it first opened. Originally a sand and gravel quarry, ground was first broken in 1956, and since then, it has hosted some of the most famous and historically significant icons in motorsport, such as Mario Andretti, Derek Bell, Mark Donohue, Tom Kristensen, and countless others. Of the three major continuously operated North American road racing circuits established from 1955-1957, Road America, Laguna Seca, and Lime Rock, Connecticut’s own historic raceway remains the only one of the three to remain completely unchanged from its original track layout. Even after the complete re-paving of 2008, no apex was skewed, no turn was altered, and no other track aspect was modified.

A Timeless Setting

This mantra of tradition still shines through today. Tradition, beauty, and speed are Lime Rock’s main slogan. Being as old as it is, Lime Rock has nurtured generation after generation of motorsport and automobile enthusiasts. Lime Rock has hosted virtually every major North American race series, including IMSA, American Le Mans Series, Nascar, Trans Am, SCCA, and others. LRP pulls from its past to curate events that provoke the same feelings of tradition, beauty, and speed that have been felt since the original days of SCCA races in the 50s and 60s.

I took the time to meet with Mr. Reigel to discuss his connection with motorsport and Lime Rock Park, but also to capture the essence of Lime Rock as an environment of natural beauty and comfort and a feeling of nostalgia and history. Immediately as you enter the main paddock, you can see the original building from 1957. The stands are still intact, although unused, to ensure they remain preserved. Surrounded by mountains and guided along a river, the track truly is beautiful.

Adding to the beauty of the surroundings was the 2023 season pace car speeding around the track. The world’s fastest SUV, an Aston Martin DBX 707 provided by a long-time partner of the track, Miller Motorcars, wrapped in a bright green livery resembling the current Formula One Safety Car and nicknamed “Limey McQueen” as voted by Lime Rock fans.

I wanted to combine shots of Mr. Reigel speeding down the historic No Name Straight (now the Skip Barber Straight), flying through the uphill, and around Big Bend, followed by a series of shots compiled by the Lime Rock Historical Archives in order to portray the untouched figure of LRP. Many of these vintage shots are accumulations of Trans Am from 1970 and 1988, as well as SCCA clips from the 60s and early 70s. My hope is that this video evokes the senses of tradition, beauty, and speed and can help connect you to the history of racing and remind you of the first time a race car caught your eye.

Watch The Interview

The post Racing Through Time: The Legacy of Richard Reigel and Lime Rock Park appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Where do we start with the story of the March 761? In true Sound of Music fashion—at the very beginning. In the late 1960s, a band of four guys, Max Mosley (a barrister), Alan Rees (a former racing driver), Grahame Coaker (engineer and racing driver) and lastly, Robin Herd (a designer), came together to form March. Their dream was to design, build and sell competitive “customer” Formula One racing cars, as well as running a “works” team. It seemed so simple; a Cosworth DFV engine, a Hewland gearbox, an in-house chassis, aluminum body and four lumps of rubber courtesy of Dunlop, Goodyear or Firestone at each corner and anyone could go racing. Funding had now become available to Formula One through sponsorship, as the FIA had relaxed rules governing Grand Prix racing teams, which were now on a similar financial road as American racing series where commercial backing and advertising had been the norm for many years.

The 1970 season started incredibly well, of five race starts (two heats at the International Trophy Races, Silverstone) March managed three poles and four wins, a record on a par with the dominant 1954 Mercedes Silver Arrows! So, there was no surprise in Round Three of the championship, when Jackie Stewart again put his March on pole with Chris Amon sharing the front row at the “Jewel in the Crown” Monaco GP. Enter Swedish racing driver Ronnie Peterson, a young, bright, superstar in the making who hit the Formula One grid at Monte Carlo, driving a sixth March entered by Colin Crabbe’s Antique Automobiles racing team. Peterson had given March its racing debut at Cadwell Park, driving the 693 Formula Three car—so he was part of their DNA. He would have been racing earlier in the 1970 season, but his car wasn’t ready. Making the cut for the race was his first hurdle—only 16 cars were allowed to start at Monaco that year—which he did in 13th position. For March, however, the Monaco race showed flaws, only Peterson was classified as a finisher, in 7th place. Siffert and Amon, the works drivers, together with Jackie Stewart’s Tyrrell March all retired (Servoz-Gavin, Stewart’s teammate failing to qualify).

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Benetton’s standing in F1 

Like many of today’s Formula One teams, the Benetton outfit morphed from an existing team, Toleman, then itself became Renault and today it is operating under the banner of Lotus F1. Benetton first began competing in its own right beginning in 1986 with the Benetton B186-BMW. The team’s first drivers were Teo Fabi and Gerhard Berger, with the latter giving the team its first win at the Mexican GP, the penultimate race of the year, following a season that had been dominated by the Williams and McLaren teams. Prior to competing under its own name, the Italian clothing brand Benetton had sponsored Tyrrell, Alfa Romeo and Toleman, bringing along a certain vibrancy to the outward appearance of the cars with their striking liveries. This joie de vivre embraced the team as a whole in later years with the charismatic Flavio Briatore at the helm, flamboyant car launches and disco music booming from their pit garages. Benetton portrayed a totally different speed of Formula One, way ahead of its time and with a style that, indeed, is now emulated up and down today’s F1 pit lane. During its history it courted controversy too, as well as changing the team nationality from British to Italian in 1996.

Their first car, the Benetton B186, was simply a Toleman in Benetton clothing—sorry about the pun! It was designed by Rory Byrne, Toleman’s chief engineer, who would become a key component of the future for both Benetton and Ferrari as well as, more importantly, Michael Schumacher. Formula One at that time embraced turbo engine power, and the B186 was fitted with BMW’s version. The following season Benetton turned to Ford for its engine, but “the writing was on the wall” for turbo power as it was to be banned from the start of the 1989 season. The team would become virtually a Ford “works” team with regard to engines during this transitional time, and as such was a force to be reckoned with, regularly finishing right behind the might of Williams and McLaren in the Constructors table.

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Automobiles Martini tasted success in the French Formula Three Championship on a regular basis. Race wins and championship success were commonplace for cars designed and manufactured by “Tico” Martini and his loyal team. Race victories around the streets of Monte Carlo were common too, with the most important Formula Three race in the world being won 10 times by a Martini. The 1982 MK37 is one of those winning designs.

CONTINUING THE WINNING WAYS

Martini Formula Three cars were winners, and everyone involved in French motorsport wanted it to stay that way. Each year, when a new Martini MK chassis was launched, the question asked was, “Can it win at Monaco?” In those days, the Monaco F3 race was the race to win, more important than any single championship success and it was a race that Martini cars were very good at winning.

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The Porsche 356 is really the car that “started it all” for the iconic Porsche marque. Manufactured between 1948 and 1965, the Porsche 356 is the automobile that allowed the company to develop. This car is responsible for starting the world’s love affair with rear-engined machines. These rear-engined cars remain as popular with people today as ever before. The 356 is the car that took the Porsche marque from humble beginnings to that of an iconic manufacturer. Versions of the 356 car competed at Le Mans and started the marque’s love affair with the famous 24-hour race. This love affair will start all over again for the company this year, when two factory-supported LMP1-specification 919 cars will compete at La Sarthe in the 2014 Grand Prix d’Endurance.

A CAR IS BORN

The Type 356 can be regarded as the first real Porsche sports car. Prior to the outbreak of World War ll, Porsche designed and built three Type 64 cars for the Berlin to Roma race—but this event was cancelled due to the outbreak of European hostilities. After the war, Porsche built a mid-engined, tubular-chassis car, called “No. 1”—this car was the prototype 356. The car is considered by the marque, and its enthusiasts, to be the first production example.

The post First Arrival – 1953 Porsche 356 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Making its debut in 1963, the Rover P6 was introduced as the new jewel in the crown of the Rover fleet. The car was voted European Car of the Year in 1964 and it revelled in the glow of Britain’s last true motor manufacturing era. By the time the P6 reached the end of its shelf life in 1977, Britain’s motor car industry was in a spiral of decline from which it would never recover.

The Rover P6 in its road-going 2-liter, 2.2-liter or mighty 3.5-liter specification was popular. Built at Solihull in the British West Midlands, the Rover was very much the executive’s car of the era. Used by company managers and by the police as a “Panda” car, the Rover was a car of style and only a Jaguar parked on your driveway allowed the man of middle England to feel he enjoyed a higher social standing.

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It can’t be denied that the world of motor racing, both contemporary and historic, is saturated with egos. Some would say that it’s all really driven by egos, and that is sometimes directly connected to the size of the wallet. Perhaps without such egos we wouldn’t have motor racing at all.

So egos are certainly important, but there is something else that’s behind so many involved in motor racing and, in particular, historic motor sport. I am referring of course to the passion that many have for the sport. A passion that is so strong in some that it outweighs the need for podium finishes and is certainly far stronger than whatever shekels may influence others.

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The early 1950s found Enzo Ferrari’s burgeoning company quickly climbing the steep end of the power curve. His sports and racing cars, powered by the company’s now signature V12 engine in its various displacements, were proving successful not only on the racetracks of the world, but commercially with customers as well. While Ferrari’s 2-liter V12 showed great success in Formula Two, by 1950 competition from four-cylinder power plants like the Alta engine in the HWM was beginning to give the Prancing Stallion a run for its money. Added to this was the decision by the FIA ultimately to do away with the 1.5-liter supercharged or 4.5-liter naturally aspirated formula, but strangely, not until the 1954 season. With almost two intervening years of a “lame duck” formula, it seemed highly unlikely that any manufacturer would invest money in an engine or program with only a one or two year shelf life. With a new 2.5-liter, normally aspirated formula on the horizon for 1954, it made more sense for teams to bide their time and prepare for the new formula.

Four for the Future

During this same period of time, Enzo Ferrari had two primary engine designers in his employ, Gioacchino Colombo and Aurelio Lampredi. Colombo had been the primary architect of the smaller displacement 2-liter V12 engine being utilized in Ferrari’s then current F2 car. However, looking toward the future, Lampredi argued that a 2-liter, four-cylinder engine would benefit from being smaller, having more torque, fewer moving parts and less internal frictional loss. Ultimately, Ferrari agreed to let him prove his hypothesis, and by the beginning of 1951, Lampredi had the first of his 2-liter, four-cylinder power plants on the dyno in Modena. Using a 90-mm bore and 78-mm stroke, Lampredi’s four-banger produced a solid 170-hp right out of the box, giving it a 10-hp advantage over the existing 2-liter, Colombo-designed V12.

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The 1950s and 1960s were a time of rapid change in both the road and racecar world. Technology was advancing quickly and with this advancement, it became increasingly harder and harder for a lone individual—either engineer or visionary—to be solely responsible for a complete automobile. Yet, some amazing vehicles were given birth during this time by some of the last of these automotive prodigies. One such automotive savant was Italian Giotto Bizzarrini. A tenacious and talented engineer and development driver, Bizzarrini either created or played a major role in some of the most iconic cars of the 1960s, including several built under his own name. Any true understanding of Bizzarrini’s cars, however, first requires an understanding of the man, as the two are virtually inseparable.

Born Survivor

Giotto Bizzarrini was born in June 6, 1926, in Quercianella, near Livorno, Italy. Born into a long line of engineers, it is perhaps not surprising that Bizzarrini would gravitate toward things mechanical. However, his early childhood years were more dominated by soccer and hunting, at least until World War II intervened. When the war broke out, Giotto’s father took up arms against the Germans, leaving young Giotto behind to fend for his family. During the war years, times were tough and much of what the Bizzarrini family had to eat ended up coming from Giotto’s hunting prowess. Bizzarrini would look back on these years of deprivation and state, “That period really influenced me for the rest of my life. It made me into a survivor, somewhat of a maverick.”

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If I asked you to pick a brand associated with high performance and motorsport, chances are good the name Volkswagen would not be one of the first names to pop into your head. Known as the “People’s car”—and forever linked to the bulbous but iconic “Bug” nee Beetle—by the 1960s, Volkswagen had built a worldwide reputation for affordable cars, but not necessarily performance.

This lack of breadth was not lost on U.S. Volkswagen dealers, including Jacksonville, Florida-based Hubert Brundage of Brumos fame, who had been experimenting with various Volkswagen-based racing specials. Fortuitously, Brundage made a trip to Italy in 1959 and while there toured the workshops of Enrico Nardi. Impressed with Nardi’s ability to build small, nimble racecars around Fiat’s more pedestrian components, Brundage commissioned Nardi to build him two Volkswagen-powered, open-wheeled prototypes.

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I couldn’t quite pinpoint why, during the research and writing of this profile, that I kept hearing the Lennon/McCartney hit “Come Together” somewhere in the back of my head. I have often used the metaphor of how some of the most interesting motor racing tales are based on an almost accidental “coming together” of a number of threads, people and incidents. But this seemed different.

The 1969 Beatles hit was inspired by the drug-taking Timothy Leary and his campaign against Ronald Reagan to become California governor…Leary went to jail for possession. The song was unlike any other of the period, constructed only of verse and refrains, there were legal battles in America over it, it was considered a radical structure, it was a big hit in the USA, and everyone wanted to copy it….ah, now it’s “coming together.” I hear Max Mosley and Robin Herd “marching” in downstage left, and the Daytona drum and bugle corps strutting their stuff on a warm February morning in 1984. I hear lawyers arguing about which car is which! It’s eerie…even a bit “kreepy.”

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In 1966, the rain in Spain didn’t stay mainly on the plain. It blew eastward to the Ardennes Mountains of Belgium, and hurled itself down onto the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, one of the regions unfortunately prone to such downpours. One lap into the race, Jackie Stewart and the BRM you see here flew off the road, bringing the Scot to the very edge of a critical accident. It started the Jackie Stewart safety campaign that changed motor racing circuits, cars and drivers, and which continues to this day. Rather like Stewart, who escaped relatively unscathed, the car had used up one of its lives…not its first, and certainly not its last.

BRM in the 1960s

VR regulars will recall that we have done BRMs before…the P25 that was the first from the Lincolnshire firm to win a World Championship race, a V12 P126 that had been driven by Rodriguez, Attwood and McLaren, and an H16, which was another Stewart machine. The P261 also has an Attwood, as well as the Stewart, connection. For those of us who have been around for a while, BRM was symbolic of great hope against the odds, the underdog against a stronger and richer opponent, touches of brilliance, and years of incompetence. BRM attempted to raise the British flag in post-war industrial Europe, but struggled in taking over a dozen years to do it. And, when it nearly got to the top, it was close to giving up. BRM is a great story.

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All right, I suppose I should start off with a confession. I am a mad, keen Austin-Healey enthusiast, and have had one example or another locked away in the garage for over 40 years. In fact, I have been quite taken by anything that was done by the Donald Healey Motor Company (DHMC) from its formation in 1946 right through to the death of Donald Healey in 1988.

That the cars, both Healeys and Austin-Healeys, achieved so much during the 1950s and ’60s is nothing short of amazing, given that they were powered by what were literally heavy, cast iron sedan engines that were really more at home in trucks and taxis.

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With the recent passing of automotive icon Carroll Shelby, it is easy to look at his  amazing life through the lens of his greatest achievements—the revered Cobra and GT350 being but two that will immediately pop to mind for most casual enthusiasts. But Shelby’s career as a constructor and team owner was much more than just snakes and horses. For a brief time, in 1964, Shelby unleashed a tiger, as well.

Alpine Sickness

The story of Shelby’s involvement with the Tiger starts as early as 1956. Like so many European car manufacturers in the ’50s, Britain’s Rootes Group was looking for an economical sports car that would appeal to the seemingly bottomless American market. Since 1953, Rootes Group had been selling the fairly heavy and sedate 2.3-liter Sunbeam Alpine. Based off the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Saloon, the Alpine looked more like a mini-Bentley than a Ferrari and had performance that set no one’s heart aflutter.

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Like most German industrial companies, World War II left much of Mercedes-Benz’s Stuttgart factory in ruins. However, with time Mercedes rebuilt and returned to what it knew best, manufacturing passenger vehicles. But Mercedes-Benz also had a passion for competition on the world stage and so by 1951 factions within the company were already making noises about a return to racing. Many of the players that contributed to Mercedes’ great prewar success, like team manager Alfred Neubauer and engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, were still with the company and itching to get back to racing. Another one of these pro-racing voices was Technical Director Dr. Fritz Nallinger, who, when asked about Mercedes intentions, shyly responded that the company was “…just opening a little window on the motor racing scene.” However, Mercedes was never known for doing anything “little.”

Unbendable Rules

Mercedes’ return to racing was fraught with difficult decisions. Beyond the obvious financial cost to the company, the then current F1 rules would only allow 1.5-liter supercharged cars—like the prewar W165—until the 1954 season when the rules would change to either a 750-cc blown or 2500-cc unblown format. The W165 was no longer competitive and Daimler-Benz management couldn’t justify investment in a new, purpose-built racecar that would in reality only be good for one or two seasons before being made obsolete.

The post Wings of Change – 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194) appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Formula Ford, as unlikely as it may seem now, brought me closer to being on the inside of professional motor racing than anything I experienced before or since. After a 35-year lay-off from that particular single-seater category, it was both an eye opener—and somewhat familiar and reassuring—to go back and do it again. It was also a little bit scary!

This is a long story, so I will try to tell it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

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Twenty years ago, CSRG (Classic Sportscar Racing Group) decided they wanted to work with the then named “Sears Point Raceway” to support the Sonoma, CA community. Since then, CSRG has raised more than $1,200,000 to help teenagers and young adults, quite a feat. The Charity Challenge allows spectators to purchase rides in real race cars around Sears Point Sonoma Raceway. For many, riding around Sonoma Raceway at near racing speeds in a race car is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Saturday night, CSRG celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Charity Challenge with a party for team owners, drivers, crew members, track workers, and invited guests. Held in the T11 building. Sears Point’s new turn eleven track hospitality center. Chief Registrar Petey Thornton announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2023 season.  She will be missed but has certainly paid her dues.  It’s time for her to kick back and relax!

The Track

Sears Point or Sonoma Raceway, is a Northern California twelve-turn 2.520-mile road course featuring more than 160 feet of elevation from its highest point, turn three at 174 feet to its lowest turn ten at 14 feet.

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A rebranding with an unerring Motorsport focus

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend, the three days of historic racing, formerly known Silverstone Classic, now rebranded into the all-encompassing Silverstone Festival, albeit with the beating heart of classic Motorsport still at the forefront of its focus, but with an array of other attractions, seeking to spread the appeal to a wider audience. Huge car club presence sees the infield awash with eclectic collections of rare, unique and quirky motors, indeed, one could easily spend a day wandering around the seemingly endless lines of immaculately presented cars, basking in their elegance. The prestigious Silverstone Auctions, now operating under Iconic Auctioneers saw some spectacular lots offered with many auction world records broken, the undoubted star of the show being the ex-Colin McRae Subaru Impreza 22B, Chassis 000/400 selling for £480,500. One of three prototype 22Bs built, and offered on the open market for the very first time.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of motorsport at Silverstone, the expected partnerships with Masters Historic Racing, HSCC, HGPCA and Masters Racing Legends offered a bumper timetable throughout the weekend, with grids seemingly offering more depth and diversity than has been seen over the past couple of editions, certainly a fine way to celebrate this landmark year in the history of Silverstone. The HGPCA in particular, holding the 75th Anniversary Trophy  for front engine Grand Prix cars from 1948-1960, harking back to the very start of Silverstone’s racing history, with a field featuring imperious cars such as the Maserati 250F, Ferrari 246 Dino and Talbot Lago T26 to name but a few.

Formula One Celebrations

Some of the most mesmerizing and spellbinding moments of previous Silverstone Classic events have been provided by the special demonstrations that form an integral part of the on track action over the course of the weekend. There was no exception this year, with a superb demonstration of some of the loudest and dynamic Formula One cars to have graced the circuit in period to celebrate 75 years of action at Silverstone. The deafening roar of the Williams FW19, and screaming Dallara F191 rolled back the years as the grandstands reverberated to the sound of the now unthinkable V10 engines, while the gracious Mercedes F1 W04 in the hands of the supremely talented Esteban Gutierrez brought a more contemporary celebration. They were of course joined by a diverse grid of other Grand Prix greats, reaching back to the halcyon days of the 1970s, where cars like the sublime Tyrrell 001 wowed spectators with the raw blend of speed and innovation.

75 Years of NASCAR

A rare treat on these shores, but a welcome follow up to the superb NASCAR demonstrations at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, a wonderful display of NASCAR Stock cars, ranging from the 1958 Ford Thunderbird, through to contemporary giants, like the 2017 Ford Mustang and 2012 Chevrolet Impala, showcased the brute force and thunderous rumble of the iconic American race cars. In a year when the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 wowed crowds at the 24h of Le Mans, running under the Garage 56 rules, and an expanded programme for the Whelan Euro NASCAR Series, European fans have been treateSd to a special year in chances to witness the powerful V8 powered stock cars, paying tribute to 75 years of the highly successful race series. While the weather curtailed the chances for the NASCAR display on Saturday, those who stuck around til Sunday were treated to a wondrous display, with a soundtrack that epitomized the drama of this thrilling race series.

Race Winners

• Historic Formula Junior (Races 1&2) – Sam Wilson, Cooper T59
• MRL Historic Touring Car Challenge – Wim Kuijl, Ford Capri
• HSCC Thundersports – Michael Lyons, IBEC 308LM

• MRL Big Cat Challenge Trophy – John Pearson & Gary Pearson, Jaguar E Type
• The Derek Bell Trophy for HSCC Formula Libre (Races 1&2) – Henry Chart, Trojan T101
• MRL RAC Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy – Olly Bryant, Lotus XV
• Masters Racing Legends Race 1 – Ken Tyrrell, Tyrrell 011
• Masters Racing Legends Race 2 – Michael Lyons, Lotus 92
• Masters GT Trophy – Craig Wilkins, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo
• Masters Endurance Legends (Race 1&2) –  Steve Brooks, Peugeot 90X
• International Trophy for Classic GT Cars – Julian Thomas & Callum Lockie, Shelby Cobra Daytona
• HGPCA Pre ’66 Grand Prix Cars – Charlie Martin, Cooper T53
• HGPCA Front Engine Pre ’66 Grand Prix Cars – Mark Shaw, Scarab Offenhauser
• HGPCA Rear Engine Pre ’66 Grand Prix Cars – Charlie Martin, Cooper T53
• Adrian Flux Trophy for Transatlantic Pre ‘66 Touring Cars – Sam Tordoff, Ford Falcon Sprint
• Yokohama Trophy for Masters Sports Car Legends – Gary Pearson & Alex Brundle, Ferrari 512M
• HSCC Road Sports Trophy – Kevin Kivlochan, Shelby Cobra

Gallery

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Established 75 years ago, the Goodwood Motor Circuit, nestled in West Sussex, England, has been an epicenter for exhilarating spectacles and displays of vehicular prowess. Its chronicles intertwine with the eminent British automaker Lotus, which is also marking its 75th jubilee during this year’s festivity. In an inaugural move, the Revival introduces the Rudge-Whitworth Cup, echoing the original accolade of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Commemorating the century-long journey of the famed endurance race—a momentous occasion observed by Rolex and the motorsport cognoscenti in June—this dual-driver challenge will spotlight iconic sports cars from the initial eras of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The grid is poised to feature revered marques, encompassing the likes of Alfa Romeos, Bentleys, and Bugattis. Concurrently, the event will pay tribute to Carroll Shelby, the mastermind behind the triumphant 1966 Ford GT40 team.

Jenson Button

Among the line-up of legendary drivers at the Revival, this year is Jenson Button, who has achieved success across a variety of motoring disciplines. Fresh from competing in the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2009 FIA Formula 1® Drivers’ World Champion Button says:

“The Goodwood Revival is the best weekend of the year for many reasons, such as the cars, the track, and seeing everyone dressed up. As soon as you walk through the gates, it’s like you’ve stepped back in time. There is nothing like it. This year is going to be particularly memorable as I’ll be racing my own car in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy; a bronze C-Type Jaguar, which Juan Manuel Fangio owned. The technology differs greatly from the car I raced at Le Mans a few months ago. Everything is very mechanical, which I love.”

Jackie Stewart

A familiar face at the Revival is three-time FIA Formula 1® Drivers’ World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who joined the Rolex family of Testimonies in 1968. He reflects:

“From Sir Malcolm Campbell’s land speed records in the 1930s, to the 1960s when the Daytona watch was born and to modern-day Formula 1, Rolex has been part of tremendous moments in motorsport history. This relationship has stood the test of time and continues to thrive worldwide, be it at Daytona, Monte Carlo or Goodwood. The track at Goodwood always brings back fond memories for me, having first visited it when I was just 14. Driving there changed my path in life, ultimately allowing me to race in Formula 1 so it’s a special place for me.”

During the three days, close to 150,000 motorsport and vintage enthusiasts are expected to flock to the beautiful Sussex Downs to experience the nostalgia of a bygone era while celebrating the ongoing influence of these pioneering years on the modern world. Rolex has been closely associated with motor racing for more than 90 years, supporting the sport’s development of technologies for future generations and the sharing of its expertise with wider society. Reinforcing this commitment, the 2023 Goodwood Revival will present its first-ever 100 percent sustainably fueled race: the Fordwater Trophy, featuring Mark Webber, who will compete at the event for the first time in a pre-1966 Porsche 911. Off the track, the Revive & Thrive community provides a platform for fashion and craft experts who gather to share their passion for preserving items for a lifetime of use.

Mark Webber

Ahead of his Revival race debut next week, multiple Formula 1® Grand Prix winner and a Rolex Testimony since 2017, Webber comments:

“I’m very much looking forward to participating in the Fordwater Trophy, it’s been a long time coming, trying to find the right type of car and the right race with the famous Porsche logo. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun, it’s a great weekend for getting into the spirit of things. Rolex has had a number of Testimonies racing there in the past so I’m happy to join a very cool list of people behind the wheel. Both Rolex and the Goodwood Revival have an appreciation for the meticulous precision it takes to make something elegant that can be cherished forever.”

Information

Tickets and general information HERE

Original press release provided by Rolex & Motorsport

Previous action at the Revival

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Preserved for close to a century

A 1920s wooden handle screwdriver, which was used by one of the original mechanics before Major Henry Segrave broke the 200mph barrier, had been dropped into the filler neck of its engine oil tank while he checked the levels – and stayed inside for almost a century. Meanwhile, a preserved shilling with a 1921 stamp was found in solidified oil on top of the rear suspension spring, when bodywork was taken off to expose the chassis. An adjustable spanner from the time of its landmark run was also uncovered after being similarly ‘glued’ to the chassis with vegetable-based Castrol R oil.

What’s making that noise?

National Motor Museum Senior Engineer Ian Stanfield explained: “It’s the first 200mph screwdriver, which couldn’t have been removed from the oil tank because it was buried under the engine. We cleaned out the tank where the oil had solidified, using hot water and detergent, and after shaking the tank the vintage screwdriver eventually tipped out. After the LSR breaking run, the oil would have stuck like glue on top of the chassis which is where we made the other discoveries. It is like a time capsule which is all part of the incredible history of Sunbeam 1000hp. It has only ever been driven for 50 miles to break the world record and these are the style of tools the mechanics would have used when they built it.”

The National Motor Museum’s specialist workshop team has needed to make its own bespoke tools to fit the iconic record breaker to dismantle it. Visitors to Beaulieu can see the exposed chassis on show in the National Motor Museum until Sunbeam 1000hp is taken to motoring events at the end of the summer.

Future plans

The Sunbeam 1000hp Restoration Campaign was launched with Hampshire-based Brookspeed Automotive in March. To help raise the profile of the vehicle’s centenary celebrations and fundraising campaign – through individual donations and corporate sponsorship – there are plans to take it to Europe and on tour to motoring museums across America. Opportunities will also be offered for schools, colleges and universities to get involved with STEM workshops and activities.

The Sunbeam’s 22.5 liter engines, each producing 435bhp, have not run since before World War II more than 80 years ago – after corrosion attacked internal workings. With painstaking rebuilding, using specialist knowledge and bespoke parts, National Motor Museum engineers will recapture the sounds, sights and smells of this ground-breaking machine and help to preserve it for future generations.

Donations welcome

Funds are now needed to turn back the clock and complete the full restoration project. Donations for the Sunbeam 1000hp Restoration Campaign can be made online HERE.

Sponsors and corporate donors who would like to be associated with the campaign are urged to contact by emailing michelle.kirwan@beaulieu.co.uk.

Original story here

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The Concours of Elegance 2023 at Hampton Court, is set to extend a warm welcome to Fritz Burkard, a renowned classic car enthusiast from Switzerland, who will be honored with the title ‘The Collector.’ This prestigious Concours is proudly presented by A. Lange & Söhne and is scheduled to take place at the esteemed Hampton Court Palace, situated near London, UK, spanning from September 1st to 3rd, 2023.

Burkard’s remarkable Pearl Collection is a testament to the rich legacy of the automotive world, spanning a wide range of decades, from the very inception of the automotive age to the present day. This ever-expanding collection, based in Switzerland, is a treasure trove of automotive marvels, encompassing a diverse array of vehicles. From the awe-inspiring historical Grand Prix machinery, evoking memories of glorious racing eras, to the intriguing and unique 1960s one-offs, each reflecting the essence of a transformative period. Additionally, the collection boasts a splendid selection of 21st-century hypercars, representing the pinnacle of engineering ingenuity and pushing the boundaries of automotive innovation.

Burkard is passionate about all his acquisitions, firmly believing that a love of such machinery comes from the heart. In fact, he doesn’t even think of himself as a collector, in the traditional sense: “I see myself more as a custodian, as somebody who has fun for myself and the people around me,” he told film-maker Luca Pieri Pilotti. “I get very emotional around my cars, especially when I can see their history, when I can smell it.”

The Pearl Collection is known for using its vehicles enthusiastically, rather than just leaving them on static display, as Burkard explains: “Cars combine several passions: history, design, innovation, the feeling when you drive them, the sound… a car has its own aura. You feel it or you don’t. We at the Pearl Collection love quirky and unusual models. We show them, we race them and we use them.”

Highlights

• Swiss classic car aficionado Fritz Burkard will showcase diverse selection from Pearl Collection
• Line-up to include Ettore Bugatti’s first-ever racing machine from dawn of motoring age
• 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza first registered to Scuderia Ferrari; 1934 Bugatti Type 59 owned by King Leopold III of Belgium
• 1939 Maserati 4CL Monoposto ‘Works’; Park Ward-bodied 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental
• Also to feature 1936 Bugatti T57S Atalante, Abarth ‘La Principessa’ and 2022 Bugatti Centodieci
• World’s rarest, most spectacular vehicles will be on display from 1st to 3rd September 2023
• The Concours of Elegance remains the UK’s top concours d’elegance and among the top three in the world
• Tickets now on sale here: https://concoursofelegance.co.uk/tickets/

Featured Automobiles

1897 Prinetti & Stucchi Tricycle

Established in Milan in 1883, Italy’s Prinetti & Stucchi was a big name in sewing machines, bicycles and, eventually, by way of production of licenced DeDion tricycles, and motorized vehicles. But it was also the starting point for one Ettore Bugatti, a teenaged apprentice destined for automotive excellence.

Exhibiting innovation and mechanical skill beyond his years, at the behest of the Automobile Club of Italy Bugatti developed a two-engine racing version of the tricycle – namely, the inaugural Bugatti Type 1. In 1899 it won its first race in Reggio Emili against very stiff competition at a world-record average speed of 64kp/h over 90km. This was a remarkable feat – one that set the tone for many more incredible cars and motor-racing victories to come for Ettore.

1933 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza

Moving forward several decades, the next display car from the Pearl Collection is the 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza running a 2866cc straight-eight engine. Designed by the legendary Vittorio Jano, this supercharged, Brianza-bodied competition machine was registered to Scuderia Ferrari. It was raced in the Monaco Grand Prix by Tazio Nuvolari, and went on to win the Swedish GP in August 1933. It also competed in the Mont Ventoux and San Sebastian hillclimbs.

After mechanical upgrades, and now renamed SF28, it took part in the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, and at the Circuito di Varese. Over the succeeding decades the Alfa moved between several owners, and eventually it underwent a full restoration. Since then it has been a regular in historic motorsport, and in 2012 it was driven from Germany to the Goodwood Revival. It duly won its race, before being driven back to Germany.

1934 Bugatti Type 59

Returning to the Bugatti story is the Pearl Collection’s Type 59, produced in 1934 in answer to increasing competition from Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz. With its dropped body, lower centre of gravity, longer wheelbase and supercharged straight-eight, it is considered both a technical marvel and a masterpiece of industrial design. Only six were built, and this example took third at the Monaco GP and overall victory in Belgium. The T59 was Bugatti’s last GP car, and is considered to be the most elegant of all pre-war competition machines.

This example was then redeveloped for sports car racing, with the supercharger removed, a dry-sump gearbox installed, and heavily revised chassis and bodywork. Through a series of successes, it became France’s fastest sports car. It even had a stint in the ownership of King Leopold III of Belgium. Endlessly fascinating this historic, singular machine, which is presented in very original condition, embodies the ineffable magic of the Bugatti marque, ‘le pur-sang des automobiles’.

1939 Maserati 4CL Monoposto

While the Maserati marque was still relatively new by the time the 4CL arrived in 1939, it had already built a name for itself in competition circles. With its four-valves-per-cylinder straight-four engine, the model debuted at the Tripoli GP, and just seven were built before the start of World War Two. This particular 4CL Monoposto, chassis 1564, was the prototype. It would see ‘Works’ team action at Naples, Abbazia and Livorno, with the likes of Carlo Felice Trossi, Franco Cortese and Luigi Villoresi at the wheel.

It continued to race post-war under the command of such names as ‘Raph’ and Maurice Trintignant, before starting a less frenetic career as, variously, a hillclimber, a VSCC trials machine and a museum exhibit. At the turn of the millennium, it resumed its rightful place on the circuit, and it eventually joined the Pearl Collection in 2019.

1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental

The Phantom II Continental moves the focus of the collection’s display cars from mainland Europe to Britain. Proving a glorious swan song for Rolls-Royce’s venerable six-cylinder side-valve engine, this Continental boasts unusual wind-tunnel-honed Streamlined Saloon coachwork from Park Ward. With a boosted compression ratio and high-lift camshaft for its 7,668cc engine, the car could reach a very swift 92mph in period.

After taking pride of place on Park Ward’s stand at the 1934 Olympia Motor Show, the Phantom II had a distinguished ownership career, eventually settling across the Atlantic. In the early 2000s, after a full restoration, it appeared at both the Pebble Beach and Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance events.

And more…

Further Pearl Collection exhibits at the 2023 Concours of Elegance will include the stunning 1936 Bugatti T57S Atalante, along with the super-slippery, Pininfarina-designed Abarth 1000 record car ‘La Principessa’ from the 1960s. Bringing the collection up to date is the limited-edition 2022 Bugatti Centodieci, built to celebrate 110 years of the marque’s exceptional design and performance.

James Brooks-Ward, Concours of Elegance CEO, said: “The diversity and quality of the Pearl Collection, along with Fritz Burkard’s clear passion for the subject and enjoyment of ownership, exemplify all that is great about classic cars.  From Ettore Bugatti’s first-ever racing machine to its 2022 Centodieci spiritual successor, the selection of vehicles Fritz has chosen to exhibit at the Concours of Elegance embodies British and European automotive history both on-road and on-track. We are delighted to play host to such a wonderful display for this year’s The Collector feature. Britain’s ultimate automotive extravaganza will take place at Hampton Court Palace in September. We look forward to welcoming guests from around the world to the show in just over a month’s time.”

Star exhibits include some of the world’s most revered Ferraris, Le Mans Centenary machinery, 30 Under 30 classics from the next generation of motoring enthusiasts and the all-female Levitt Concours. Further categories, cars and features will be announced in the coming weeks, as we build towards September’s event.

Away from the automotive displays, Concours of Elegance 2023 will again be an occasion of pure luxury, with champagne provided by Charles Heidsieck, picnics by Fortnum & Mason, and a collection of art, jewelry and fashion displays. Presenting Partner A. Lange & Söhne will once again showcase some of its most intricate timepieces.

More information HERE

Gallery

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Another great VSCC race meeting at Donington Park; being British we have to mention the weather: scorching sun to torrential rain and back again! The rain was so heavy that the penultimate race had to be cancelled and it was only by waiting for a long period beyond the scheduled finish time that the last race got started, albeit with reduced length.

This was a rather special race and features in most of the photo gallery here: the Longstone Tyres Light Car race. This was only the second time that the Light Car race had been run this century! It was revived in 2021 at Oulton Park and everyone agreed that it must be repeated- it’s like nothing else, anywhere in the world! I think that it was last run prior to WW2 before these two modern “revivals”, when some of these small cars were still fairly new.

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Il Commendatore

Research the Ferrari automobile, and it will soon become apparent that it was built from one man’s passion for speed. Enzo Ferrari’s vision to build a superior automobile and dominate motor racing was an enduring obsession that never faded throughout his lifetime. A man deeply enamored by racing, Enzo’s aspirations would lead to world championships and a sports car brand that still defines prestige to this day. Unlike other manufacturers, Ferrari was not a car company that entered racing; it was a racing company that entered car production. Having just toured the Petersen Museum’s exhibit, “Maranello Masterpieces: The Legacy of Enzo Ferrari,” Sports Car Digest thought we were due to discuss some of the defining chapters of Enzo’s life and share some images from the exhibit.

Alfa Romeo

At the age of 10, Enzo Ferrari attended his first automobile race, the Coppa Florio, in Bologna. It had a profound effect on him, and 12 years later, he sold the house he grew up in to buy a race car. Enzo Ferrari’s journey with Alfa Romeo began in 1920 when he was employed as a test driver. Soon, his remarkable abilities were recognized, and he was appointed head of the racing division, Alfa Corse, in 1929. Under his stewardship, Alfa Romeo achieved significant victories, demonstrating Enzo’s deep understanding of race dynamics and automotive engineering. However, disagreements with Alfa Romeo’s management, coupled with his own unfulfilled aspirations of constructing his own vehicles, led him to sever ties with the company in 1939. Nevertheless, this tenure at Alfa Romeo solidified Enzo’s commitment to racing and automobile design.

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A mere hundred years have passed since the first Grand Prix d’endurance de 24 heures, a somewhat humble beginning for the race now considered the ultimate test of man and machine, a grueling challenge set over 24 hours where the world’s best drivers fight for one of the ultimate prizes in motor racing. It was back in May of 1923 when the first race was contested, with no official winners prize to fight for, the field of cars fought to see which team could cover the most distance over the 24 hour period. The field comprised of predominantly French cars with the notable inclusion of a single Bentley and two Belgian Excelsiors, the overall winners were Andre Lagache and Rene Leonard, who piloted a Chenard-Walcker Type U3 15CV Sport one hundred and twenty-eight times around the track, covering an astonishing 1372 miles over the course of the 24 hours.

The track itself has evolved over the years, but unlike many of its contemporaries, retains most of the charm and mystique, which have characterized the race over the years. The Mulsanne Straight, now punctuated by two chicanes, introduced in 1990 in an attempt to curb the ever increasing speeds along its former 3.7 mile grandeur, still offers a scintillating thrill, where top class prototypes can realize their top speed potential, as the track cuts through the forests which lead into the French countryside south of the circuit. Still considered a pure test of both driver and car, the fast sweeping corners, tight chicanes and blisteringly fast straights combine to offer a challenge unlike any other, more raw than other circuits used for the World Endurance Championship.

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Fresh off its appearances at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans and the recent Le Mans Classic, the Mazda 787B will take center stage at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This marks its return to the festival after an absence since 2015. As Goodwood commemorates the centenary of the inaugural running of the world’s most celebrated endurance race, the iconic Mazda 787B will join other esteemed Le Mans contenders and winners.

Highlights

• The 1991 Le Mans-winning Mazda 787B will be in action at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed*.
• On Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th July, the Mazda 787B will be driven at Goodwood Festival of Speed by Johnny Herbert.
• With victory in 1991, Mazda became the first Japanese manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Drivers

The iconic Le Mans-winning car, adorned with the distinctive ‘Renown’ livery, will tackle the Goodwood hill climb throughout the Festival of Speed. Johnny Herbert, one of the triumphant drivers in the 1991 Le Mans race, will once again take the wheel alongside former Grand Prix driver Karun Chandhok and ex-Mazda IMSA factory driver Harry Tincknell, who will also have the opportunity to showcase their skills in the historic vehicle.

Rotary conquers Le Mans

The 1991 Le Mans victory represented a remarkable moment for Mazda’s rotary engine technology, which embodied the company’s relentless pursuit of innovation. When Johnny Herbert crossed the finish line on June 23, 1991, at 4 pm, it marked an extraordinary achievement. Mazda had not only become the first Japanese manufacturer to win the prestigious endurance race but had also captivated fans with the distinctive and ear-catching sound of its unique engine.

During its victorious campaign, the Mazda 787B completed 362 laps of the renowned French circuit with minimal maintenance. Across its 28 pit stops, the winning car only required a single oil top-up, a change of brake discs and pads, and a nose change. The 700bhp four-rotor R26B-powered 787B demonstrated the reliability, efficiency, and performance of Mazda’s rotary engine technology, relying mainly on fuel and tire replacements throughout the race.

The triumphant car was driven by Johnny Herbert, alongside fellow Formula One drivers Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot. Their race was relatively uneventful, with Weidler making impressive progress from the 787B’s starting position of 23rd on the grid. By 6 pm, car number 55 had climbed into the top ten, and at the halfway point of the race at 4 am, it was running in third place. With three hours remaining, the Mazda secured second place when the leading Mercedes-Benz encountered engine issues and retired from the race.

Overall victory for Japan

This turn of events left the number 55 Mazda 787B to continue its consistent performance and cross the finish line, clinching the overall victory for Japan. This achievement was particularly significant as Toyota and Nissan had been striving to win the prestigious race throughout the Group C era. However, it was Mazda, a relatively small manufacturer from Hiroshima, and its rotary engine that secured the first outright victory at Le Mans for a Japanese brand. Adding to the triumph, the Mazda 787B, designed by Nigel Stroud, became the first car with carbon brakes to win at Le Mans. The sister car, number 18, finished in sixth place, while the older number 56 Mazda 787 secured eighth place. Nevertheless, it was chassis number 002 of the Mazda 787B that etched its name in history with an exceptional overall victory at Le Mans.

More information HERE

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Over the weekend of June 15 to 18, 2023, the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association held the Brickyard Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As part of the SpeedTour series of races, this event highlighted everything from pre-war racing cars all the way up to late 20th century classic, and even a few recent era, racing machines, all competing around the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit layout that includes the infield section.

Check out the gallery below for some classic race machines doing what they were designed to do: Go racing!

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Highlights of Chassis No. 2155

• One of 20 Zagato-bodied A6G/54 Berlinettas
• Likely the only A6G/54 with a “Double-Bubble” Zagato roof
• Raced in the 1956 Mille Miglia
• Restored in Italy, exquisitely refined by Paul Russell and Company
• Documented with digital copies of Maserati build sheets, factory and Zagato correspondence, period photography
• Comprehensively researched by Adolfo Orsi Jr. and includes an Orsi Report
• Class award at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, part of Maserati’s centennial celebration at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
• Eligible for all manner of top level vintage touring events including the Mille Miglia

Post-war “rarified air”

In the pantheon of coachbuilt, post-war sports cars, the Tipo A6G/2000 more commonly known as the A6G/54 sits in rarified air. Alongside Allemano and Frua, the famous Carrozzeria Zagato provided bodywork for the Gran Turismo with approximately 20 bespoke closed-roof Berlinettas produced by the Milanese design house during the three years of A6G/54 production. With a free-flowing, elegant Zagato design, this A6G/54 was clothed in lightweight aluminum bodywork, with the silhouette showcasing a purposeful form, its racing intentions, and, for this example alone, the trademark Zagato “double-bubble roof .” Hand-built with custom coachwork, minute details vary on each A6G/54 providing a unique opportunity to trace the lineage of a particular chassis number through historical photographs and documentation.

Inline-six

Of course, no post-war Italian GT is simply about its looks, no matter how alluring they may be. At the heart of Maserati’s GT Berlinetta was a 2.0-liter, dual overhead camshaft inline-six derived from Maserati’s A6GCS and A6GCM competition cars. Three Weber DCO/3 carburetors fed the 1,986 cc engine and with twin-spark ignition debuting in 1956, an increase in horsepower to an impressive 160 hp. Naturally, a lightweight and aerodynamic Italian GT with a race-bred engine would be designed with all the componentry to support it with coil-sprung independent front suspension with Houdaille lever-arm type shock absorbers, hydraulic drum brakes and Borrani wire wheels at all four corners.

Built for the 1956 Mille Miglia

Said to be the 17th of 20 Berlinettas built by Zagato, chassis number 2155, according to Walter Bäumer’s Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato was delivered to the coachbuilder on 15 April 1956. Completed as a 3rd Series Berlinetta, it was returned to the Maserati factory a month later, on the 15th of May. Built for Luigi Fornasari to compete in the 1956 Mille Miglia, it was delivered to Fornasari just days in advance of the start of the famous—and treacherous Italian road race. The owner of chassis number 2150, Fornasari was intimately familiar with the A6G/2000 series of cars. Bäumer recounts that Fornasari ran the car unpainted, featuring all the raw hallmarks of its hand-formed aluminum body, with a temporary rear window registration (BO59891) from the Maserati factory either due to the narrow timeline before its first race, or possibly that chassis number 2155 was loaned to him by the factory. Along with his co-driver Gianfranco Roghi, Fornasari left the starting line in Brescia with start number 311. Hopes for a well-placed finish were dashed on the rain-slickened roads of Ravenna with an accident that resulted in the brand-new Maserati landing on its roof and a subsequent DNF. With all aboard spared serious injury, the Gran Turismo was returned to Zagato to be repaired, this time painted in Silver Metallic with a smaller radiator opening, lowered headlights, a unique strip of alloy trim running from the back of the front fenders to the door handle—the only known A6G/54 Berlinetta from Zagato to receive this treatment and a detail that would remain with the car until today. A period photo included in the car’s history file shows Fornasari’s son standing in front of the repaired Maserati with its unique double-bubble roof profile in full view.

Hill climb competition

Later that year in June, according to the Orsi report and Maserati factory paperwork, also on file and available for review, the car was sold to Roberto Federici based in Rome. Less than a month later the car was purchased and registered by Gianfranco Peduzzi. By September 1957 the Maserati began competing again, this time in smaller road races and hillclimbs. On most weekends throughout the racing season the European Alps hosted numerous hillclimb contests and, with lower entry and maintenance costs, they proved extremely popular even if they were inherently more dangerous than traditional circuit racing. Bäumer’s book indicates that the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb was its return to racing on 1 September with a start number 48 and entered by Giacomo Moioli of Verona, who commonly raced under the pseudonym “Noris.” Moioli was at the wheel once again later that month at the Pontedecimo-Giovi Hillclimb with start number 306, finishing fourth in class, while its final race of 1957, chronicled by the Orsi report indicates that Natale Gotelli was entered to pilot 2155 at the Trieste-Opicina Hillclimb on 6 October 1957 but was classified with a likely DNS. The report also contains correspondence between Zagato and Maserati on behalf of Peduzzi regarding specific engine technical details, likey surrounding a fresh engine break-in.

Upon completion of the repairs and while at Zagato, the car was taken for a shake-down by none other than Gianni Zagato, who was involved in a high-speed accident while performing his tests. Subsequent correspondence between Zagato and Maserati beginning in November of 1957 is recorded by Orsi, regarding repairs to the car and some back-and-forth over the specifics and costs. Zagato smartly capitalized on the situation by utilizing chassis number 2155 as a design study for Maserati’s upcoming 3500 GT. Period color photographs on file show the new design, revised from previous iterations and proudly on display. By the summer of 1958, the car was racing again with Natale Gotelli at the helm at both the Bolzano-Mendoa and Trento-Bondone hillclimbs. In 1959 the Maserati was entered in two circuit races at Monza, both the Gran Premio Lotteria on 28 June, finishing 11th in the GT class, and in the Coppa Intereuropa on the 13 of September where it did not finish. A fine third in the GT class at the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb rounded out the season and its racing career.

Restoration

Over the next decade, Adolfo Orsi records a successive chain of Italian owners before the car was acquired by Enrico Bertotto likely in the late-1960s. By 1977, a letter from Zagato to Maserati recounts an inquiry by the current owner to restore it to the original state with a request to Maserati for assistance in the matter. In 1984 photographs document a restoration with a color change to red with covered headlights and over the next decade, and until the turn of the century it appeared at concours, exhibitions, and in print in this configuration. Sold in Paris in the year 2000 to heralded Maserati collector John Bookout of Houston, Texas, he returned the car to Modena for a return to its 1958 configuration under the guidance and control of Adolfo Orsi Jr. During the restoration a number of Modanese specialists participated including Carrozzeria Autosport, Carrozzeria Cremonini, Officina Giuseppe Candini, and Interni Auto Maieli handing the bodywork, paint, mechanicals, and upholstery respectively. By 2005 the restored A6G Zagato was displayed at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Remarkably, after its restoration and while still in Europe, Gianni Zagato was reunited with the car, likely seeing it for the first time since 1958!

Ownership trail

In 2008 Bookout parted ways with the car, passing it to a collector also based in Texas. As documented by over 140 pages of invoices and receipts, the car was entrusted to the experts at Paul Russell and Company of Essex, Massachusetts to further refine both the cosmetics and mechanicals. Beginning in January 2009, work began at Paul Russell to prepare the car for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and its highly discriminating judges. Over the next eight months the craftsman at Paul Russell’s shop delved into all areas of the Maserati, with particular focus on the mechanicals and detail items unique to the car as well as cosmetic finishes that are critical to a high score at Pebble Beach. The fastidiousness of their work was evident in a well-earned Zagato class award. In addition to Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach this Zagato Berlinetta has been shown at The Quail in 2010 and Cavallino Classic in 2013, where it won two awards including Finest GT, later returning to Pebble Beach in 2014 as part of Maserati’s centennial celebration during the Concours d’Elegance festivities.

Retained within the consignor’s collection since 2008, this Maserati A6G/54 Zagato Berlinetta, one of only 20 Zagato bodied variants built and the only known example built with a double-bubble roof, is an expertly restored and highly decorated example. With period race history, including the famous Mille Miglia in 1956, circuit races at Monza, and numerous hillclimbs well documented in print by Walter Bäumer and a comprehensive report by Adolfo Orsi Jr., its colorful, outsized history makes it a compelling choice for one of the most unique and interesting Maseratis to emerge from Modena and Milan.

Details and auction listing HERE

Video of another A6G

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Having just conquered the most prestigious challenge in endurance racing, Ferrari’s overall win at the Le Mans 24 Centenary begs us to honor some of their most historic moments at the French marathon of man and machine. Starting over half a century ago, Ferrari’s exploits at Le Mans showcased their technical expertise, engineering, and above all, one man’s personal quest for dominance. While each triumphant win helped build its reputation as a world-class sports car builder, we select five to remember starting with…

1949: A legacy is born

Ferrari achieved a historic milestone by winning the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans. This victory marked the beginning of the brand’s illustrious history in motorsports that continues to this day. Driven by Luigi Chinetti and Lord Selsdon, the Ferrari 166MM featured a Lampredi-designed tube frame chassis with a double wishbone/live axle suspension. The small V12 engine had single overhead camshafts and a 2.0-liter displacement. Output was only 138 BHP at 6,600 rpm, but enough to propel the little “Barchetta” to over 130 mph down the Mulsanne straight. What’s so incredible about this victory is that Luigi Chinetti drove over 22 hours, a feat never to be repeated.

1954: Seven minutes of panic

Ferrari added another chapter to their Le Mans history, courtesy of their brutish model 375 Plus, a powerful aluminum-bodied purpose-built racecar. Piloted by José González and Maurice Trintignant, the Ferrari demonstrated remarkable speed and endurance, overcoming formidable competition from the factory Jaguar D-Types and Aston Martins.

But it wasn’t without drama. With two hours left, González and Trintignant were two laps ahead of the factory D-Type. Thirty minutes later, Trintignant brought the Ferrari in for a routine pit stop. González jumped in, but the V12 refused to restart. The Ferrari lost seven minutes as the mechanics desperately worked on the engine. In what felt like a lifetime, the Ferrari was motionless until the problem was found; rain-soaked ignition wires. Finally, González left the pits just in time to stay ahead of the second-place Jag and finish for the win.

1958: Ferrari breaks Jaguar

Between 1955 and 1957, six Jaguar D-Types earned podium finishes. Its reliable inline-six engine and low-drag body made it unbeatable over the long-legged straights that formed the Le Mans circuit. And with Stirling Moss at one of the wheels, it looked like Jag was the favorite for winning their fourth in a row.

Ferrari drivers Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill drove a model 250 “TR58.” Unlike the previous 250 Testa Rossas (aka Red Heads), the body was constructed by Fantuzzi and featured a cutaway nose that replaced the famous pontoon fenders. The design was more aerodynamic and incorporated numerous ventilation grilles and air inlets. It was also fitted with disc brakes, a first for Ferrari. Moss took an early lead in the Jag and continued out front until a connecting rod broke shortly after 6PM. Later a storm passed through with a torrential downpour causing 12 entries to crash and retire. As daylight emerged and the checkered flag fell, the prancing horse of Hill and Gendebien crossed first, ending three years of dominance by the Jaguar D-Type.

1965: David vs. Goliath

From 1960 to 1965, Ferrari embarked on an unprecedented dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, securing six consecutive overall victories. This remarkable record proved to the automobile world that a small company could still win through superior design and talent.  The traditional front-engine 3-liter 250 Testa Rossa captured the first two wins, followed by a “one-off” 330 TR (larger 4-liter V12) taking the third in 1962. The 1963 through 1965 races were won using Ferrari’s new mid-engine design 250 P, 275 P, and 250 LM racecars.

During the 1965 event, both of Ferrari’s factory entries had numerous issues resulting in DNFs. However, Luigi Chinetti’s NART (North America Racing Team) Ferrari was driven by Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt ran smoothly. A bad distributor would cost the team a 30-minute pit stop, as did a damaged rear differential towards the end of the race. Nevertheless, the duo nursed the car home and earned the win. Why all the fuss about this win? Ferrari’s victory in 1965 exemplifies the “David versus Goliath” scenario as the small Italian company was attacked by no less than six Ford GT-40s and four Shelby Daytona Coupes. As is said in racing, to finish first; first you have to finish.

2023: Return of the Prancing Horse after 58 years

Excitement was in the air as the new era of the Hypercar class dawned at the Le Mans 24 Centenary. Ferrari’s new hypercar, the 499P, uses a 3 liter, 671 bph, twin-turbocharged V6 engine and features semi-permanent all-wheel drive, with an electric motor at the front axle for an additional 268 hp.

Because of numerous rain showers and resulting accidents, the fight for the lead eventually came down to the #51 Ferrari and the #8 Toyota. Although Ferrari driver Pier Guidi went off course at the Mulsanne chicane, he climbed back into the lead until a pitstop in the 19^th hour went south when the car wouldn’t start. This brought the two leaders just seconds apart when the Ferrari eventually came back out.

Then Toyota pilot Hirakawa lost control under braking at Arnage, sliding into the barriers. He limped the car back to the pits, and the crew scrambled to make repairs before sending it back out. Shortly after that, Pier Guidi brought the Ferrari in for its final stop and had to perform another power cycle to get it started. With just 23 minutes left, the #51 Ferrari left the pits and stayed in front of the Toyota to capture the win.

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The son of a wealthy Tennessee family, Pete Kreis had grown up during the time that European manufacturers dominated automobile racing at the Indianapolis 500. When he broke into big-time racing in 1925, Pete and his American compatriots were eager to demonstrate that cars and drivers from the U.S. could successfully compete against Italian, German, and French roadsters.

Pete quickly became known for his track speed as he drove a Duesenberg to eighth place in the Memorial Day Classic at Indianapolis in his rookie season. He was delighted when he was chosen by the team to travel to Italy to test his car against the best that the Europeans could offer. He gladly packed up his roadster and prepared for competition in the Grand Prix near Milan.

Although the season was only half over, Pete had quickly made a name for himself. He had shed his youthful shyness, and his newly adopted bonhomie gave him the ability to make friends easily. His personality, however, was not what attracted attention to the young driver.

When racing veterans saw him on the track, they quickly learned that the boy could fly. Speed—that’s what attracted the race crowd to Pete. The veterans watched, and they knew. People like Tommy Milton, the first two-time winner at Indy; Harry Miller, the mechanical genius; and Harry Hartz, an early convert to the Millers and one of the few who later would make the difficult transition from driving a car to managing a team. Like the Duesenberg brothers, these men had witnessed Pete’s ability to reach the sustained speed needed to win on the fastest tracks.

The young driver’s growing reputation paid off when he was named one of two drivers to represent the Duesenberg team in the European Grand Prix, an 800-kilometer, 496-mile race in Monza, Italy. American racing was coming into its own, and the Grand Prix circuit (today called Formula 1) had seized on the growing rivalry by announcing that it would encourage American entries to test their machines against the best the Europeans had developed.

Pete would soon learn that the captain of the Duesenberg team, Milton, was one of the strangest men ever to grasp a steering wheel. He was blind in one eye, and, to compensate, he had developed a habit of tilting his head back and shifting it quickly from left to right like a nervous sparrow. He never acknowledged his disability, and few had the nerve to ask him about it, but he adopted the odd physical strategy to ensure that his single eye could keep him fully informed about his surroundings.

Milton had learned his moves by racing on the county roads and dirt tracks of the Midwest, and that probably played a role in the selection of Pete, who had mastered his driving skills in a similar rural setting. Tommy was widely recognized as a hard charger, not only behind the wheel, but also in the garage, where he hovered over mechanics shouting instructions in rapid-fire staccato.

Seeing a great opportunity to trumpet the mechanical achievements of their cars internationally, the Duesenberg brothers immediately jumped at the opportunity by registering two drivers: veteran Tommy Milton would drive one of the Dueseys and Pete Kreis the other. Indy winner Peter De Paolo had decided to enter Monza in a home-grown Alfa-Romeo, a brand celebrating his Italian heritage.

Although some have described Milton as somber, intense is a more precise adjective, and he exhibited that defining quality throughout his life. In advanced age when poor health precluded his fulfilling a long-standing retirement job at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he shot himself in the head to end his frustration. In 1925, Pete knew he could learn a lot from the veteran, and he eagerly joined the trip to Italy even though it would require missing a few races on the American circuit.

The men and their cars sailed to Genoa on the SS Colombo, the luxurious ocean liner that F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda took to Italy a few years later. After docking, the race crew shipped the cars to Monza, northeast of Milan, which was the site of a royal park and summer retreat for the kings of Italy.

The Monza racecourse was set amid the park’s huge trees, gardens, fountains, and rolling hills. When the Americans arrived, they found that the track consisted of a road course and an oval, totaling six miles in length. Twisting like Italian spaghetti, the road course had ten curves, both right and left; some of them were complex with blind entries and double apexes. At one point, the track even passed over itself on a bridge. At the head of the home stretch was the notorious Parabolica, a right-hand, steeply banked curve. Like the turns on board tracks, the banking enabled cars to generate tremendous speed just before they were propelled down the home stretch, the longest on the course.

The third purpose-built track in the world after Brooklands in England and Indy, Monza was known to be a fast course, and drivers who had raced on it had a healthy respect—some might even say fear—of the facility. Living up to its reputation well into the modern era, the course has claimed the lives of fifty-two drivers and thirty-five spectators. In one of the worst accidents, Italian champion Emilio Materassi lost control of his roadster in 1928 and plowed through a flimsy barrier, killing himself and twenty-two spectators and injuring thirty more fans.3 As horrific as the accident was, it failed to dampen Italy’s enthusiasm for the sport, nor did the course’s reputation deter the Americans from giving it a try.

When they arrived, the Yanks quickly recognized that they weren’t in Indiana anymore. Italy was in the fervor of the Fascist revolution. Only three years before, Benito Mussolini—self-dubbed Il Duce, The Leader—had commanded his black-shirted Fascisti on the march to Rome, where they seized power. By 1925, the revolution was well established and growing stronger as Mussolini applied a powerful jolt to a country he perceived as an international sluggard. Throughout his career, Il Duce preached advancing—and even more so, accelerating. Sensing the worldwide spirit of the age, Italy placed a premium on speed.

But the Fascist revolution was more than a nationalistic political movement; it sought to infuse every facet of the nation’s life—even automobiles and racing. Mussolini loved powerful, speedy vehicles, and he purchased one of the fastest for his personal use, a two-seat Alfa-Romeo Type Two painted in the national tone, Italian racing red. Equipped with a supercharged straight-eight engine, the car could carry the dictator from Rome to his birthplace in northern Italy in record time.

The central role that racing played in Mussolini’s revolution was made clear in the wake of the Materassi accident at Monza, when one of the dictator’s ministers defended the sport from attacks by Catholic critics bemoaning the violence, carnage, and death. Party Secretary Augusto Turati declared that “Fascism has taught us that we need to live and win dangerously. The new Italy salutes its dead with pain, but from that pain we gain the strength to continue the battle to the summit.”

Using the prophetic rhetoric of the Italian poet Filippo Marinetti, the Fascists linked the growing cult of speed to the cult of death, a new alliance in which “living dangerously” on the track became a heroic act that encouraged other Italians to accelerate national progress. Those who died in the process became martyrs that energetic, determined citizens would emulate to advance Italy’s fortune. They were destined to become what Mussolini called “the new Fascist man.”

Il Duce wrote personal letters to Pete, Tommy Milton, and Peter De Paolo welcoming them to Italy and wishing them good luck at Monza; during practice, he visited the Americans in their garages. Following the dictator’s lead, scores of influential Italians journeyed to the track to examine the American cars, and Pete was photographed with King Victor Emmanuel, senior army officers, and many Fascist elite. As much as the Americans hoped to show the Europeans how their roadsters could perform, the Italians were sure their cars would put the entries from the United States in the shade with a swift surge of nationalistic pride.

As the Yanks sorted their cars out, they soon became the objects of scorn from their European competitors. Many of the jibes were aimed at the Americans’ lack of experience on road courses.

“What do you have to do to win Indy?” shouted one glib French driver. “Just get on the track and turn left . . . and turn left . . . and turn left . . . and turn left,” answered his compatriot, lampooning the Americans and their ubiquitous oval tracks. Such jokes were invariably accompanied by every European in the garage hoisting and twirling his index finger to mock the American “roundy-roundy” drivers.

The crowning blow was when another driver made a mock-heroic announcement that Pete’s last name, Kreis, was actually the German word for circle, something the American had never before heard. “Young Mr. Kreis is always going around in circles, getting nowhere,” shouted the rival driver with malicious irony.

A few days later, Kreis and his friends would have their revenge against the European tormentors, thanks to Kreis’s penchant for practical jokes. The culminating event was so hilarious that Peter De Paolo remembered it years later.

The drivers were scheduled to have dinner at a hotel located on a circular plaza in a nearby town. Pete had alerted his American friends to find parking away from the plaza, while the Continentals eagerly grabbed the reserved VIP spots surrounding the central fountain. As the Yanks entered the banquet hall a bit late, the European drivers welcomed them warmly with cheers and raucous shouts of “roundy roundy” emphasized by whirling index fingers—taunts aimed at the oval drivers from across the Atlantic.

After the laughter died down, the rivals enjoyed a feast of the finest Italian pasta, sauces, and wine. As the drivers shared their experiences and chatted about the upcoming race, no one noticed that Kreis had left the hall and returned inconspicuously sometime later. The conversation and drinking continued well past midnight even though the crews faced an early morning call for practice the next day.

As they finally finished and walked out of the hotel around one in the morning, the drivers found an amazing sight waiting for them. Dozens of taxis were clogging the plaza by driving around it bumper-to-bumper, with the hacks enthusiastically blowing their horns and waving their index fingers in “roundy-roundy” circles. The cars of the European drivers in reserved spaces were trapped by the noisy circular parade organized and paid for by Pete Kreis.

When the Europeans finally deduced that the Americans had organized the rolling blockade to delay their going to their beds, they looked across the plaza and saw the Americans doubled over in laughter. Pete, Tommy, Peter, and friends had taken their nationalistic revenge.

The Europeans were in for another surprise on September 6, race day in Monza. From what the Continentals had heard, the Americans knew how to race only on ovals; they supposedly had no experience on road courses. What the Europeans didn’t understand, however, was that most US drivers grew up in rural areas where they had learned to deal with backroads, narrow rural lanes that swerved left and right into irregular, bumpy curves. In this manner, the Americans had undergone the same kind of grueling training the Italians had earned on the demanding Mille Miglia, a thousand-mile race on public roads that began and ended in Rome.

During days of tuning and practice, the Yanks adapted quickly to the challenges of the Italian road course, and Pete had shown amazing speed around the circuit. Impressed Italian crowds soon cheered the young Tennessean as il valoroso corridore americano (the valorous American driver).

Pete and the rest of the Yanks, however, were up against Europe’s best drivers, among them Gaston Brilli-Peri and Giuseppe Campari, Grand Prix champions piloting brilliant red Alfa-Romeos, at that time the dominant marque on continental tracks. Descendant of a noble Florentine family, Brilli-Peri cut his teeth on motorcycle racing before switching to four wheels. He was an Italian favorite who ran the Grand Prix circuit for years before his death in a Libyan race in 1930.

Giuseppe Campari was also a national hero, having won many races in Italy and abroad, including two victories in the Mille Miglia, which attracted an astounding five million spectators along the way. Besides his racing ability, Campari was also adored by fans because of his enormous appetite for pasta—confirmed by a Pavarotti-sized stomach—as well as his Pavarotti-toned voice, which led to a second career as an opera singer. A master of the Italian passions for opera, eating, and racing, he died in a crash at Monza in 1933, the perfect final aria that enriched the national cult of death.

While the two Alfa drivers dominated the scene in pit lane, standing in the background was a young mechanic who later became world-famous for his ability to construct speedy cars. Enzo Ferrari had originally driven for the Alfa team, but the deaths of so many of his racing friends convinced him to join the safety of Alfa’s team of designers and mechanics. After Enzo founded his own company in 1947, his red Ferraris dominated the Formula 1 world for decades and fulfilled his fervent dream: “I want to build a car that’s faster than all of them, and then I want to die.” In the end, he built thousands of the fastest cars in the world, and when he died in 1988, his cars had won an unprecedented sixteen Formula 1 championships.

For obvious reasons, the national press billed the 1925 Monza Grand Prix an “Italo-American Duel,” a face-off between the two nationalities that attracted thousands of fans from all over Italy and around the globe. A British correspondent observed that “If the French are enthusiastic over motor racing, the Italians are delirious. Milan did not sleep the night before the Grand Prix . . . and the masses of spectators were quite satisfied to spend a few hours noisily and joyously in cafés and music halls, hotels and restaurants.”

Shortly after daybreak, a massive crowd of three hundred thousand fans began the twenty-mile trek from Milan on trains and buses to the track, dwarfing the 180,000 spectators who had attended the Indy 500 earlier that year. As the gates opened a short while later, drivers began assembling their roadsters on the starting grid, giving the fans a good chance to examine the cars that entered the race.

The differences in the designs of the teams’ cars were stark. Both featured roadsters with straight-eight-cylinder engines, but the Alfas contained a supercharger spinning at only 6,000 rpms, while that of the Duesenbergs revved to an astounding 27,000 rpms, forcing a much larger volume of powerful fuel-air mixture into the cylinders.

As it turned out, however, the most significant difference was not the engines, but the gearboxes. Designed for oval tracks, the American cars had three-speed transmissions because little shifting was required once the roadsters attained speed on the roundies. The Alfas, however, were developed for European road courses requiring many more shifts through the curves; as a result, the Italian cars had four-speed gearboxes of stronger design to accommodate the mechanical stress of frequent shifts. Because Monza was a course that required many shifts, Alfas had a built-in edge.

The American cars arrived at the starting grid sporting new livery: white bodies with blue numbers: Milton number 7, Kreis number 11—a not-so-subtle tip of the hat to the Goddess Fortune, who ruled the risky game of auto racing. Small American flags were emblazoned on the rear quarter panels of both machines in a nod to national pride.

The start was from standing positions, and the first to get away was the crowd favorite Campari, followed in order by Guyot, De Paolo, and Kreis. Poor Tommy Milton stalled his engine and got away last, angry steam rising from beneath his cloth helmet.

Campari had the lead when the pack passed the grandstands to finish the first lap, but on the second lap, Pete Kreis had planned a surprise to kick off the anticipated “Italo-American Duel.” When the fans expectantly looked to their right to catch the first glimpse of the cars coming out of the sweeping Parabolica curve at the head of the homestretch, they didn’t see the expected Alfa red, but the American white. Flying around the course, Pete had passed Campari and gone on to establish the fastest lap in the race—three minutes and thirty-five seconds.

This was Kreis at his absolute best, running the race he always envisioned: ahead of the pack, drifting curves with grace, and roaring down the homestretch of his dreams. Drivers often describe this unusual sensation as being “in the zone,” a space magically out of time and place in which racing is easy, effortless, and intuitive. All negative thoughts are vanquished.

“Suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously,” Brazilian Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna said of a similar experience years later. “I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.”

Pete reached that mystical dimension right on time to bring Monza’s crowd to its feet, cheering his achievement. The Americans had likely planned to send Kreis out as a rabbit to tempt the Italians into some hot laps to test their mettle. Then, according to the scheme, Tommy would charge to the front when the forerunners backed off to save their engines. The strategy worked out perfectly, except for Milton’s stalled engine, a disadvantage that Tommy’s skill would soon erase.

As the crowd looked up the homestretch to see who was leading at the end of the third lap, however, they were amazed to see not Kreis in the lead, but Campari. They waited several tense moments, but when Milton’s white roadster appeared before Kreis’s, Italian racing aficionados concluded that Pete had suffered a breakdown or an accident.

Kreis’s crash happened at Porto Lesmo, a blind, complex curve with dual apexes where he lost control in the first bend. Pete ended up broadside against a tree just off the racing surface; multiple spins had scrubbed off much of his speed so that there was virtually no damage to the Duesenberg. The American driver leapt from the car and put his shoulders to the wheel to push the roadster back on track, but it was wedged too tightly for him to budge it.

Noting his plight, enthusiastic spectators who loved the Americans broke down the restraining barrier and gleefully joined in moving the car back to the track. It was then that Pete envisioned the dreaded black flag in a racing official’s hand: it was forbidden for the drivers to receive assistance from spectators. Kreis would be disqualified. Before that action was taken, however, Pete managed to withdraw from the race, a move that ensured that his new lap record would be preserved for the time being. The crowd gave the American driver a huge ovation for his speed and sportsmanship as he walked back to the pits.

Track officials blamed the accident on excessive speed, but Pete clarified the matter later. Under the pressure of frequent shifts, the Duesenberg’s clutch had broken, and Kreis had entered the curve in neutral. When he tried to reengage the gear to negotiate the second apex, the gear seized and spun the car out of control. Meanwhile, Milton carried the American reputation into fourth place with Campari, Brilli Peri, and De Paolo leading the way. Soon, however, Milton’s Duesey passed De Paolo, and when the two other Alfas pitted for fuel and tires Tommy forged into the lead with an average speed of 96.7 miles per hour. Very shortly, however, things began to fall apart for the second American car, when Milton’s transmission stuck in third gear and slowed his acceleration coming out of turns for the duration of the race.

At the halfway mark, Milton pitted—and the time the stop required demonstrated the valuable experience of the Italian team. The Duesenberg crew took four minutes and fifty seconds to get Milton back on the track, while the Alfa team accomplished the same task in less than a minute and a half. The European cars once again took the lead, never again surrendering it. With only ten laps to go, Brilli Peri had a seven- and-a-half-minute lead over the second-place car and won by the same margin. Milton finished fourth, with De Paolo in fifth.

At the conclusion, fans poured onto the track and hoisted the hefty Brilli Peri, Campari, and the diminutive De Paolo on their shoulders and marched to the royal box where the trio was presented to Prince Umberto, the oldest son of the Italian king. Standing in front of the royal party, the huge crowd broke into an enthusiastic version of the Italian national anthem.

Amid the jingoistic fervor, European newspapers were quick to declare that the “Old World had beaten the New.” Even so, the Americans had raced well: Milton and De Paolo finished in the money, while Kreis had established the fastest lap. But given the steep learning curve and the logistical challenges the Americans faced, the Duesenberg team felt that they had represented their nation well, and they looked forward to another opportunity to test themselves against the Europeans—one that would come in 1927.

After a team celebration that extended well into the evening, Pete slipped away to downtown Monza where he located the local telegraph office. On a single white sheet, he scribbled a few words that profoundly confused the Italian telegraph operator but made immediate sense to the US recipient that Pete craved most to please.

“Broke track record and car. Love, Pete,” read the telegram that was delivered to the owner of Riverside Farm.

After a promising start to his career, Pete began to experience a series of increasingly serious accidents. He died in a crash in Indy’s first turn in 1934. His car had no mechanical failures, there were no impediment on the track, and Pete apparently did not attempt to steer or brake his car out of danger. An unofficial “coroner’s jury” declared that the incident was “the strangest death in all racing history.” Pete’s career and mysterious accident are thoroughly investigated in The Last Lap, a new book to be published on May 28. The book is available from Octane Press at: 

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