Click on the picture to enlarge

The circuit of Le Mans, a unique and fascinating race track, on which Ferrari gained some of its most prestigious victories in its motor sports history, was the stage of the third run of the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. The race was held in the frame of the "LM Story 2007" event, where French Prime Minister François Fillon was present.

On the final day of the weekend race 2 of grid A (for single-seaters) was won by the Maserati 6CM (1937) with Willi Balz, while Max Werner, behind the wheel of a Maserati 300 S (1955) gained victory in the second run of grid B (sport-prototype and GT cars equipped with drum brakes). After yesterday's victory in race 1 of grid C of the Ferrari 312 PB (1972) with Irvine Laidlaw, today it was Jean Guittard, with a Ferrari 512 BB LM (1980), winning the race.

On Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July the Ferrari Corse Clienti events will proceed with the fifth run of the Italian Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli racing series at the Autodromo Internazionale in Mugello, the same weekend as the sixth run of the DTM championship at this track.
Continue reading "Ferrari Emotions with the Historic Challenge at Le Mans"

Click on the picture to enlarge

Le Mans, 7 July 2007 - Third round of this season's Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, a series that always features an element of period dress, giving the paddock and track a really special atmosphere. An added zest comes from the fact that this is the "LM Story 2007" event taking place on France's Le Mans circuit which is redolent with history.

In the European series for the Prancing Horse historic cars, as well as those running under the Maserati banner, in Race-1, it was the 1937 Maserati 6CM of Willi Balz which recorded the win in Grid A (single-seaters). In the separate grid B classification (sports-prototypes and GT cars fitted with drum brakes) victory went to Max Werner's 1955 Maserati 300 S.

Tomorrow is the main day of the programme, with the final races getting underway at 9.30, with the Grid C (cars with disc brakes) also on track.
Continue reading "Diving into the past at Le Mans with historic Ferraris"

Click on the picture to enlarge

Convincing victory in 1987 in Colorado with Sport quattro S1
19.99 kilometres, 156 corners, with over 600 bhp
* Audi won the famous hill-climb race three years running

Of the many rally victories recorded by Audi in the 1980s, the last one was particularly memorable: 20 years ago, on 11 July 1987, Walter Röhrl and his Audi Sport quattro S1 won the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the US state of Colorado.

Following Audi’s withdrawal from the World Rally Championship in the previous year, this success marked the seamless transition of “Vorsprung durch Technik” into series production. After the company retired from rallying, quattro technology continued its success story on the road – Audi has sold 2.5 million cars with permanent four-wheel drive up to the present day.

Walter Röhrl and Audi, the best driver and the most successful rallying team at that time, enjoyed a close and always extremely intensive relationship. Röhrl, the world champion of 1980 and 1982, had joined the Ingolstadt team in 1984 at a time when the brand with the four rings dominated the entire rallying scene. The permanent four-wheel drive system left the rear-wheel-drive competitor vehicles with no chance whatsoever. A mere two years after first testing the Audi quattro at the end of 1980, Audi had already clinched the manufacturers’ world title. The Finn Hannu Mikkola won the drivers’ world championship in 1983, and in the following year Audi took both titles, with Stig Blomqvist from Sweden topping the drivers’ rankings.

From 1984 Audi’s rivals – Peugeot, Lancia, MG and Ford – also featured four-wheel drive to compete against the brand’s new racing car, the Sport quattro, whose wheelbase had been reduced to 222 centimetres. The regulations of what was then Group B imposed few restrictions in terms of technology; the fierce competition resulted in engines which generated over 370 kW (around 500 bhp). The supercar era ended in 1986; Audi withdrew from the World Championship.

In order to acquaint the US public, too, with the “art of engineering” (the slogan in the USA), Audi had entered the world’s best-known hill-climb race for the first time in 1984 – the “Race to the Clouds” on Pikes Peak in Colorado.

4,301 metres high, it is in the Rocky Mountains and is named after the explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who charted it by order of the US army. The first race was staged in 1916, and subsequently took place on a regular basis, generally on the national holiday, 4 July. At the start of the 1980s the organisers introduced a category for rallying cars – an ideal stage for high-tech brands such as Audi.
Continue reading "Quattro hits the heights: Walter Röhrl triumphed at Pikes Peak 20 years ago"

Abarth, AC, Alfa Romeo, Allard, Aston Martin, Austin Healey, BMW, Brabham, BRM, Chevrolet, Chevron, Cooper, De Tomaso, Elva, ERA, Ferrari, Ford, Hesketh, Jaguar, Kawasaki, Lagonda, Lancia, Lister, Lola, Lotus, March, Maserati, McLaren, MG, Mini, Morgan, Nissan, Porsche, Spice, Stanguellini, Sunbeam, Surtees, Suzuki, Triumph, TVR, Tyrrell, Vincent…

These are just some of the evocative makes from motorsport history that form the line-up for the biggest and best ever Silverstone Classic, in association with Bonhams, which takes place on 27-29 July.

More than 600 entries have been drawn from the historic car and motorcycle worlds. They will fight it out on the hallowed Historic British Grand Prix circuit in 22 races, some of which boast packed fields bursting with more than 40 machines.

Assuming consistent weather conditions, the fastest races of the weekend will be the ACO Plate Award (on Saturday July 28) and the Silverstone Classic Trophy (Sunday July 29) for Group C/GTP cars from the 1980s and early ’90s. Bringing back some of the great Silverstone 1000 Kilometres and 6 Hours races, these will be fought out by Porsche 962s, Jaguars and Spices, plus the formidable IMSA GTP Nissans. That’s not all, for joining the field in Sunday’s Silverstone Classic Trophy, a longer race featuring driver changes, is Porsche Group C legend Derek Bell.

Bell is also scheduled to appear in another of the fast races - the Daily Express Silverstone International Trophy for Invitation Formula 1 cars with Grand Prix Masters. Another highlight of Sunday afternoon, this race - along with the James Hunt Trophy on Saturday - revives the Silverstone F1 races of the 1970s. Cars with Hunt history (Hesketh, McLaren M23 and M26) will line up against Tyrrell, Lotus, Brabham, Surtees and the V12 BRMs. These races were absolute thrillers last year, and 2007 will be no different.

Taking place on Saturday evening, the Denny Hulme Silverstone Endurance Trophy for the Hagerty World Sportscar Masters will be a 90-minute storm through dusk for a massive field of late 1960s and early ’70s sports- racers. Ford GT40s, Porsche 917s and Lola T70s will take on Italian challengers in the form of Ferrari’s sensational 312PB and 712, plus Alfa Romeo T33s. If Steve McQueen was still alive, he’d be filming this race…
Continue reading "Timeable announced for 2007 Silverstone Classic"

Click on the picture to enlarge

Never one to rest on his laurels, the Earl of March will introduce a number of exciting new additional attractions to this year’s Goodwood Revival, being held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit from 31 August to 2 September.

Complementing the nostalgic appeal of the world’s most authentic historic motor race meeting will be some innovative features not seen at previous Revival meetings. These will include the redevelopment of the popular Revival period garage into an exciting 1930’s-style art deco building, housing a range of mouth watering machinery in stylish art deco settings, to recreate the automobile showrooms and exhibitions of old. Expect to see a mouth-watering selection of historic Ferrari road cars on display in the showroom to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the celebrated Modena marque. The familiar Revival wooden country garage façade will be relocated behind the Chicane Grandstand area.

Away from these car displays, the inaugural Freddie March Spirit of Aviation ‘concours d’elegance’ for pre-1967 aircraft will bring together around 30 of the world’s finest, most elegant, original and rarely-seen aeroplanes.

By contrast, a selection of pre-1967 touring caravans, being towed by appropriate period vehicles, will form part of a display to help mark the Centenary of the Caravan Club. The sight of immaculate classic caravans being pulled around the legendary Goodwood Motor Circuit promises to be a surreal experience for all. Almost as ‘far out’ will be some groovy mid-1960s hippie era American chopper motorcycles on display on the Goodwood lawns.

The racing on the circuit will also see some key changes for this year. The improved Revival line-up to make the weekend even more action-packed and enjoyable.
Continue reading "Goodwood Revival 2007: new innovations and traditions"

Click on the picture to enlarge

Round five of the 2007 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship is the toughest on the schedule as crews head for the Isle of Man for two and a half days of flat-out asphalt rallying (19-21 July).

The daunting closed roads of the island provide a massive test for man and machine and the Isle of Man Historic Rally marks the start of the second half of the BHRC season.

Current overall championship leaders – and 2006 winners - David Stokes and Guy Weaver will lead the field away from Douglas on Thursday evening, while the survivors will finally finish back in Douglas on Saturday afternoon after classic stages on the island roads.

Stokes and Weaver are having a superb season and already have four strong scores to their credit in their Ford Escort Mk1. Having recently reached his 60th birthday, Stokes is driving with commendable restraint as he mounts a very serious title bid. Now comes one of the toughest events of the year and if they can bag another strong finish in the post-historic category on the Isle of Man, they could tighten their grip on the title.

Currently chasing Stokes in the overall points is Jimmy McRae who, partnered by Andy Richardson, won the recent Mid Wales Stages in the Prepfab Ford Escort Mk2. However, McRae is switching to a category 2 Porsche 911 for the asphalt event and will be tough to beat on stages he knows so well. With McRae not running in category 3, the pacesetter could well be young Irish ace Martin McCormack. Partnered by Liam Moynihan in another Escort Mk2, Martin has been sensationally quick on his first events outside Ireland and will surely fly on the island, even though the stages will all be new to him.
Continue reading "Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship: Isle of Man Historic Rally"

Click on the picture to enlarge

Today we have added more interesting items in our Automobilia, Memorabilia Shop. Available now, more rally badges, rally plates.

A great collection of Tulip rally (Tulpen Rallye) automobilia items have been listed: competitor rally plates, finisher's awards, lapel badges, and more.

Programmes' collectors will also find interesting regulations and programmes from the 50's, 60's and 70's: Brands Hatch, Adritic rally, Tour de France Automobile, 24H du Mans, 24H mexico, Rally Int. Mont-Blanc, etc...

And much more, so visit our shop!