once a decade the Stockdale trophy is up for grabs in the Pennyfarthing race in Knutsford

The Stockdale Trophy is presented to the rider completing the fastest lap. 

Awards are also given to riders for the fastest single lap, fastest solo female, fastest solo male, fastest team, and even the best dressed.

Glynn Stockdale started The Great Race in 1980, when he and a friend both purchased penny farthings and decided to race against each other. “It was a big effort for just the two of us to go head-to-head,” says Stockdale, so they decided to invite other participants from penny farthing clubs across the country. The event ended up attracting 72 competitors and became a fundraiser to support Cancer Research UK and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The subsequent 1990 race garnered 50 competitors, and this year, 111 people participated.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/penny-farthing-race

very interesting variety of vintage race cars on a track... I haven't ever seen an Opel Commadore racing until now!

the coffee and donuts video of the day... I love this sort of thing, a lot of journalists pitching in to be the rescue squad for all the vintage racers, who nearly without fail, fail to make this left. Rescued with joy, and happy shouts!

Elkhart Lake vintage race car show

the Vintage Speed Trials at Grimsthorpe Castle, going on to it's 123rd year of races

the Performance Research Racing (PRR) team entered this Challenger in the 1970 Trans-Am SCCA

The dealership sold new Challenger needed approximately 1,500 hours to become race-ready. 

Notably, the factory dashboard, interior door panels, and quarter panels remained untouched. Due to regulations prohibiting the modification of the car’s body to accommodate larger tires, the rear quarter panels were instead flared to provide additional clearance for the tires. Finally, clips and straps were added to secure the front and rear windows.

Sheet metal was welded between the back seat area and the trunk. The battery was relocated to the trunk. A chin spoiler, crafted from aluminum, was bolted on to assist with front downforce. For the rear spoiler, a Camaro spoiler was used due to the unavailability of a Mopar spoiler in time.

Initially, only corporate race teams received funding due to company politics, but by the end of 1970, even this support ceased. Independent teams like Performance Research Racing lacking factory sponsorship, couldn’t afford an engine. Consequently, their car was sold without one.

The new proprietors procured a Keith Black engine to complete the car and prepare it for racing. Feeding through a single Holley 730 cfm carburetor, the racing engine would produce around 450 hp.

Behind the engine, an A-833 4-speed manual with NASCAR gearing replaced the 727 3 spd auto. The rear axle was a stock 8¾ with 3.55 gears.

The car resurfaced on October 3, 1971, to race at Riverside Raceway in California, once the green flag dropped, the Challenger ran 13 laps but succumbed to engine failure.

This de-stroked 340 cid engine proved to be unreliable for racing. Originally not designed for racing, the 305 cid suffered from oil starvation issues going through corners at speed. 
SCCA regulations prevented the use of dry-sump lubrication, which would have been an instant fix.

Raced for the 1974 season until engine let go, plus the car was ill-handling in the turns due to the fact that it was so nose-heavy. At this point, the new owner decided to move the firewall back to distribute the weight more evenly and help run on the oval track. He started on the project, but he just did not have time. The car was covered and put in the corner.

His son, in 2005, after looking at the car for 30 years, decided to restore it as it raced in Riverside back in 1971, the last attempt by an independent team.

https://moparconnectionmagazine.com/trans-am-treasure-tim-watters-scca-1970-dodge-challenger/

Speed week in the Bahamas must have been super cool in the 50s and 60s, racing, parties, and Slim Aaron’s camera was there to preserve it for posterity. He earned the good life, he'd survived being a WW2 combat photographer

Gordon Butler's Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray at the Bahamas Speed Week at the Oakes Course in Nassau. December 1963.

Long before Instagram was making beautiful people in beautiful locations a thing, Slim Aarons was creating a world of a similar sort. 

Slim, born George Aarons in 1916, begin his foray into photography taking photos at West Point and later earned a Purple Heart as an Army combat photographer in some brutal conflicts in North Africa and Europe during World War II.

During his extraordinary career, Slim Aarons became synonymous with capturing the glamour and elegance of high society. Aarons dedicated himself to chronicling the lives of the rich and famous, creating a visual archive that showcases the opulence and sophistication of the mid-20th century. His lens immortalized the leisure activities of aristocrats, celebrities, and socialites, often set against luxurious estates, sun-drenched beaches, and exclusive resorts.

Aarons’ intimate connections with his subjects, including some of the most illustrious personalities of his time, allowed him to capture candid moments that revealed the essence of their lifestyles. His close relationships with figures such as Diana Vreeland, C.Z. Guest, and Gianni Agnelli provided unique access to private aspects of their worlds. This proximity enabled Aarons to publish numerous monographs filled with his captivating photographs.

Here are the Cushings of Newport, The Fords of Grosse Pointe, and the Rockefellers of New York; here are the kings and queens of Beverly Hills playing croquet, the Cabots sailing off Boston's North Shore, and Barry Goldwarer on the range in Arizona. Here are the Whitneys entertaining on Long Island, the Armours in their pool in Lake Forest, the Klebergs on their Texas ranch. and the scions of Palm Beach, San Francisco, and New York having a wonderful time.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/slim-aarons-cars-photography/

https://leisurepiece.com/products/bahamas-speed-week

https://www.holdenluntz.com/artists/slim-aarons

https://slimaaronsprint.com/category/posters-prints/

Kodachrome deserves an award

For a look at the 1955 Speed Week, photos of Tom Burnside https://automedia.revsinstitute.org/sun-sand-and-speed-an-atmospheric-look-at-the-1955-bahamas-speed-week

Historic Sports Car at Sebring’s Classic 12 Hour Pistons & Props, December 4 - 8

The annual dual celebration of Sebring International Raceway's rich auto racing history and patriotic military aviation legacy returns to the legendary airport road course for the ninth time December 4 - 8. The full weekend of competition also includes the season-ending HSR Sebring Historics that bring the curtain down on the full slate of HSR sprint, endurance and feature race series contested throughout the 2024 season.

Still in part an active airport, the featured vintage aircraft will be landing on the Sebring runways throughout the day on Friday. At 5:15 p.m. EST that day, the parade of planes will taxi along parts of the actual Sebring race course to the paddock where they will be on display alongside the historic race cars through Sunday morning at 11:10 a.m. EST.

https://www.hsrrace.com/classic-12-hour-at-sebring-sebring-historics/

historic races for the next 12 months are already on a calendar at revivalraces.com

 just a clip to show a sample.

https://revivalraces.com/

or these sites: 

Automobilsport

Historic Motor Racing News 

Historic Racing News

Motor Sport Magazine  

News Classic Racing 

Old Racing Cars

Petrolicious 

Primotipo 

Sports Car Digest 

Ultimatecarpage 

Vintage Motorsport 

Vintage Racecar

Sir Henri Deterding, GM and chairman of Shell Oil, decided to pave the first road in St Moritz, and called the street Shellstraße (now Via Val Roseg) because he liked to golf without cars kicking up dust

Until 1925 cars were not permitted on the Upper Engadin’s dusty roads, until the Canton of Grison ended its ban on cars driven over public roads

The Bernina Gran Turismo AG drew inspiration from the International St. Moritz Automobile Week of 1929, which was held just four years after the end of the driving ban, and was founded by classic car enthusiasts from the Engadine region of Switzerland

A standing-start acceleration race of 1 km was also held on a nearby road between Punt Muragl and Samedan specially surfaced for the event with asphalt from Shell Oil. To this day, it is known as Shellstrasse, The Shell Road

1932

The legend is that the the boss of the Shell oil company at that time was annoyed with the dust raised by passing drivers while he was playing golf at Kulm Golf, St. Moritz. To combat the problem he had the road paved.

Kulm is one of the highest altitude golf courses in Europe 

the Bernina Gran Turismo now races between La Rösa and Hospizio Bernina, just outside St. Moritz. With a starting elevation of 6138 feet, the course climbs 1500 feet through 50 curves. Participants make six runs on the closed road: two test runs and four timed competition runs that offer opportunity to fully stretch the legs of a vintage car.

The aim of the Bernina Gran Turismo is to keep alive the memories of the legendary Bernina races of 1929 and 1930.

https://www.carpixx.ch/en/fuer-jeden-etwas-das-motto-der-internationalen-st-moritzer-automobilwochen/

https://i-s-a-w.com/images/pdf/press/Octane_issue_082022_ADVERTORIAL_ISAW.pdf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markewing/2017/11/02/bernina-gran-turismo-st-moritz-the-worlds-most-beautiful-vintage-racing-competition

https://www.stmoritz.com/en/cars/

https://www.engadin.ch/en/activities/kulm-golf-st-moritz-39679/

https://greatruns.com/st-moritz-via-val-roseg/

https://www.magnetomagazine.com/bernina-gran-turismo-organisers-revive-st-moritz-automobile-week-with-two-new-events/

https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/65897/sir-henri-deterding-chairman-and-founder-of-shell-oil-st

https://histclo.com/bio/c/ind/ch/chamb/app/d/ba-deteh.html

Deterding was knighted by King George V for his role as head of Royal Dutch Shell in helping to win World War I for the Allies.

a Corvette on the race track is a thing of beauty

https://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2022/09/ariens-art-on-wheels-vintage-weekend.html

At Road America (Elkhart Lake, Plymouth Wisconsin) this past weekend with VSCDA

skip to 2:45

 

legit vintage racing Ferrari in the Craftsman tools booth

 

motivation to add the annual Monterey Motorsports Reunion to my list of things to experience someday

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96353766@N05/albums/72157719864897395/with/51449119076/

Mustangs vs. Minis Night Race at Laguna Seca Raceway, Fri, Nov 12th, at the 2021 Sonoma Speedfest, then a weekend of vintage racing .........thanks to Chase and Kahn Media!

 

There will be the Mustangs vs. Minis night race, and additionally there will be two 1 hour enduro races with driver changes in the minis

https://www.flipsnack.com/victorylane/victory-lane-vol-36-no-7-july-2021/full-view.html?fbclid=IwAR0veUaCzcqElbwr198IuAyKMzrFDGZizwnBC8ndgImTc0PiTeIJbC39UTo

https://velocityinvitational.com/  Nov 11-14th, Monterey California, at the Laguna Seca racetrack

https://www.minimania.com/2021_Mini_vs_Mustang

online digital magazine about vintage racing

 

at https://www.flipsnack.com/victorylane/victory-lane-vol-36-no-7-july-2021/full-view.html?fbclid=IwAR0veUaCzcqElbwr198IuAyKMzrFDGZizwnBC8ndgImTc0PiTeIJbC39UTo

Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. acquired Vintage Motorsport magazine and VintageMotorsport.com a year ago. They have a hell of a nice website now

https://racer.com/ which has several offshoots, http://vintagemotorsport.com/ being the one I'm looking through

Brad told me about this old school dune buggy facebook page, thanks Brad! Here are 2 from 1966, Oregon coast, and some other cool ones

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1773736916084550&id=229443403847250

the 1939 first meeting of the Vintage Motor Car Club of America - it had some interesting and rare cars out at a fun event, seeing if they could balance on a teeter totter for example

so, does anyone recognize this speedster? I've never seen a windscreen like this!

More than 75 veteran cars participated that September day. Celebrities attending the event included Freeland O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame, Charles B. King (the first person in Detroit to design, build, and drive a self-propelled automobile), race car driver Fred Marriott, who set the world land speed record of 127.6 miles per hour in the Stanley Rocket, and Ralph DePalma, the racecar driving champion who won the 1915 Indianapolis 500.

https://www.sealcoveautomuseum.org/the-pioneers-of-automobile-collecting

the largest smash up in classic car racing I've ever seen, Road America 2005

The fifth place guy was racing well before the green flag and tried to force his way between the wall and the car in front of him. He started scraping the wall and the guy behind him checked up and the car that hit him started to spin and then it was one after another into them. I am amazed that no one was killed. All the drivers except two had hans devices.

The green flag was in deed thrown. I red flagged the race with in 3 seconds of the green. Even with the red flag the drivers in the back just keep driving into the rear

Even with the red flag the drivers in the back just keep driving into the rear. The red was shown at corner 15(the walk over bridge). The drivers just did not pay attention. All drivers were forced to attend a meeting right after the incident. They were all yelled at.

many fist fights started after drivers started getting out of there cars.

Apparently the prior lap was not green-flagged due to the cars not being in position so this was a second attempt to start the race. Whether or not all of this contributed to the accident remains to be seen.

What is known is that some drivers starting racing before the green flag

(statement by the operating steward for this race, http://www.freshalloy.com/archive/index.php/t-115446.html )'

I was in the second row...we came up the hill as always and as the front row accelerated the starter did NOT throw the flag, the front row let off the gas and I hit my brakes as did the Jag next to me also the third row and fourth row...someone maybe 5 rows back hit the car in front of him and that caused all of this. You are looking at a few million dollars in wrecked cars.

as it turns out the (novice) race director told ONLY the front row he wanted a 50 mph start.....these cars do not do 50 mph

http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/very-sad-vintage-racing-pictures-dont-look.78906/

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=42651.0