Formula One

[OneHungLow]

Just been watching the Goodwood Members’ Meeting 2023 on TV. So enjoyable to watch such close racing in old classic cars. So much more enjoyable than F1.

https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/mem ... programme/

[OneHungLow]

Just been watching the Goodwood Members’ Meeting 2023 on TV. So enjoyable to watch such close racing in old classic cars. So much more enjoyable than F1.

https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/mem ... programme/

Good to see that todays motor racing events started with...

PARADE: Gordon Murray Automotive

[OneHungLow]

Just been watching the Goodwood Members’ Meeting 2023 on TV. So enjoyable to watch such close racing in old classic cars. So much more enjoyable than F1.

https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/mem ... programme/

Good to see that todays motor racing events started with... PARADE: Gordon Murray

GM1.JPG (26.5 KiB) Viewed 1472 times

Oh dear the Salvadori Practice laps ended in tears on the wet cold track.

sal1.JPG (30.63 KiB) Viewed 1466 times

Lister Chevrolet "hors de combat!"

[OneHungLow]

Call me an old hypocritical snob, but I miss the dulcet upper class English tones of people like Raymond Baxter et al as opposed to the two current commentators. I find the woman particularly irritating!

Yesterday's action can be found here...

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-cove ... s-meeting/

[Wodrick]

You are an old hypocritical snob but right, the style of Peter Alliss or better Henry Longhurst, less is more

[OneHungLow]

You are an old hypocritical snob but right, the style of Peter Alliss or better Henry Longhurst, less is more

+1

My Life and Soft Times

The rest of the book is packed with interest, it is splendidly written, essentially readable and full of good stories and anecdotes, about golf, the Home Guard, the Army, travel, politics, airlines, gliding, Charterhouse, Cambridge, the countryside, Fleet Street, boats, field sports, television, railways and what have you, all in autobiographical form, not forgetting, as I have said, Brooklands and “the strange world of motor racing”. Longhurst’s description of deep sea diving made me feel physically ill—he is an able writer—much as did Tom Rolt’s account of going down a coalmine. Rather unusually this entertaining autobiography is in a large format, but this enables a good many illustrations to be used on its art pages. If, as almost everyone does, you read the picture-captions first, these lead you to the irresistible text, appetite whetted. If, perforce, you want to escape for a while from cars, while not escaping entirely, buy “My Life and Soft Times” and enjoy it on Christmas afternoon. It is expensive, but it will occupy a lot of reading time. I recommend it—highly.—W. B.

I also recommend You'll Never Know Till You Get There" by Mr Longhurst.

[OneHungLow]

Rewatched the Ford versus Ferrari film again last night and enjoyed it even more the second time around. It is full of inaccuracies but sticks close enough to the truth to make it really enjoyable, not least because it gives a lot of kudos to Englishman Ken Miles, a cantankerous and complex man, an ex soldier who saw action at Normandy as a younger man, but also in his latter days, a sublime, feisty, driver, who was sadly killed testing the Ford GT 40 at Riverside in 1966, and who had, until the film, been lost in time and memory to many contemporary racing fans.

The film is also a paean to Carroll Shelby, another extraordinary and also likeable character, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving an Aston Martin back in 1959. A heart condition caused Shelby to retire from racing in 1960 but he lived a full, fascinating, and successful life, dying in 2012.

[G-CPTN]

+1 (I was there).

[OneHungLow]

+1 (I was there).

At Le Mans the year Miles was robbed of his win by the perfidious French or the year Shelby won at Le Mans?

"he won the 24 Hours of Daytona, sharing the Ford GT Mk II with Lloyd Ruby, and then won the 12 Hours of Sebring. Several months later, sharing the drive with Denny Hulme, Miles was leading the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in the #1 car, but Ford Motor Company executive Leo Beebe, desiring a publicity photo of three of Ford's cars crossing the finish line together, instructed Miles to slow down, which he did. Accordingly, on the final lap the next car from Ford driven by Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon and the third-place car from Ford drew up, and they cruised to the line together. The French race officials, after initially agreeing to Ford's dead-heat "photo-finish", reneged during the final hour of the race. Although Miles's #1 car and McLaren's #2 car crossed the finish line together, McLaren's #2 was declared the winner because having started in second position behind Miles's car, it had therefore covered 8 meters more distance during the race. Miles was denied the unique achievement of winning Sebring, Daytona, and Le Mans in the same year..."

... from WIkipedia

[G-CPTN]

1966 and 1967.

[OneHungLow]

1966 and 1967.

Wow, what a wonderful era to have attended two outstanding and historic races at Le Mans!

[OneHungLow]

Ken Miles...

These photographs are not mine but taken by Dave Friedman (famous motor sport photographer ).

Ken with his son.JPG (68.54 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

At full chat in a Cobra...

Miles at his best.JPG (44.79 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

[PHXPhlyer]

F1 Cancels 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix amid Heavy Rain, Flooding

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/100 ... =editorial

There will be no Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend as a result of the rain and flooding in the Imola, Italy, region.

Formula 1 announced the decision to cancel the event Wednesday.

"The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities in the region," the announcement read. "It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time."

Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, added more context:

"It is such a tragedy to see what has happened to Imola and Emilia-Romagna, the town and region that I grew up in, and my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the flooding and the families and communities affected.

"I want to express my gratitude and admiration for the incredible emergency services who are working tirelessly to help those who need help and alleviate the situation—they are heroes and the whole of Italy is proud of them."

ESPN's Laurence Edmondson noted F1 personnel were instructed to leave the paddock area Tuesday and remain away Wednesday after Italy's Department of Civil Protection issued a red alert for flooding and landslides in the area because of the heavy rains.

Water in the nearby Santerno river was running high, and Edmondson noted there were two deaths in the area weeks ago when the region was impacted by weather.

Sunday's race was set to be the first Grand Prix since the May 7 one in Miami and the first of three consecutive weekends for the sport, followed by races in Monaco and Spain.

This means Red Bull will have to wait to build its momentum after winning each of the first five races of the season. Two-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen has won three of the races, while teammate Sergio Pérez has won two.

As a result, the team is already 122 points clear of second-place Aston Martin in the constructor standings. Verstappen leads the individual driver standings and is 14 points ahead of Pérez.

The standings leader is coming off an impressive performance in Miami that saw him go from ninth place on the grid after a disappointing qualifying effort to his third win of the year.

PP

[OneHungLow]

F1 Cancels 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix amid Heavy Rain, Flooding

PP

I am willing to bet some of the teams will secretly be breathing a sigh of relief. The GP schedule is so packed these days that a couple of days out might be welcome.

23 races planned! Money uber alles.

[PHXPhlyer]

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney among new investors backing F1 team Alpine in $218 million deal
Reynolds and McElhenney completed a $2.5 million takeover of Welsh soccer team Wrexham in November 2020.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/rya ... -rcna91122

BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, France — After soccer, Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are setting their sights on Formula One.

F1 team Alpine has secured a 200 million euro ($218 million) investment from a group of investors that includes the actors.

French automotive company Renault Group — Alpine’s parent company — said Monday that the group has acquired a 24% stake in the team. It includes Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, which is led by Reynolds.

“The transaction values Alpine Racing Ltd. around $900 million following this investment,” the team said in a statement. “It will accelerate Alpine’s growth plans and sporting ambitions in F1.”

Other investors include actor Michael B. Jordan.

Reynolds and McElhenney completed a $2.5 million takeover of Welsh soccer team Wrexham in November 2020. The club was thrust into the global spotlight because of its A-list owners and secured promotion to the fourth tier of English soccer this season.

With drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, Alpine stands fifth in the constructors’ championship. The team was fourth in the constructors’ standings last year and has been struggling in its goal to close the gap on Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes this season.

Renault said the investors have an expertise in the sports industry, having previously worked with the Dallas Cowboys, Fenway Sports Group, the NFL, French soccer club Toulouse and Wrexham.

Renault said Alpine Racing SAS, the entity manufacturing F1 engines in France, is not part of the transaction and will remain entirely owned by Renault Group.

PP

[OneHungLow]

I woke up this morning with, for some unaccountable reason, Englishman Eric Broadley on my mind. People like Broadley along with others like Colin Chapman, John Cooper, Ken Tyrrell et al. fell into the category of British racing car designers, team owners and, some cases, bona fide engineers, who despite all the odds, took on the big manufacturers in the 60's and 70's, and through the 80's and even into the 90's too, and who, very often beat the big boys, and in some cases were feared by the likes of Enzo Ferrari who initially, rather contemptuously, dismissed these determined and talented men from fair Albion as mere garagistas, i.e. amateurs who built their cars in the their garages at home.

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/articl ... zo-ferrari

Of the British triumvirate who wrote motorsport history, Eric Broadley remained somewhat in the shadows of Colin Chapman and John Cooper. But his cars, which bore the name Lola, were ground-breaking and successful. In fact, without them, the Ford GT40 would probably have never come to fruition…

Silicon Valley and its founding generation gladly claim that the offices of California were where young pioneers orchestrated the upheaval of the digital industry. But even in England during the bleak post-War years, automotive garages were rife with the spirit of innovation. The start-up of Colin Chapman, from which Lotus was born, and the father-son Cooper team, the first to mount an engine amidship, both originated in small backyard workshops. Their contemporary Eric Broadley can also be included in this gifted group of motorsport constructors, all of who created competitive racing cars with limited means.

Incidentally, they all belonged to the ‘750 Motor Club’ — named after the cubic capacity of a pre-War Austin Seven — and, each weekend, competed against each other with their modified contraptions. The 1956 ‘Broadley Special’, however, with its tuned Ford side-valve engine, already bore the DNA of the legendary Lolas to come. Enzo Ferrari was probably blissfully unaware of the ingenious young Englishman at the time — that was until the Lola Mk6 GT burst onto the scene. Its genes were to be used as a basis for the Ford GT40, which was set to give Maranello a big fright.

Eric Broadley was born in 1928, to a family of gentlemen outfitters in the London borough of Bromley, and the fact he was always pictured smartly dressed, even while casually chatting with the likes of John Surtees or Mario Andretti in the pit lane, is probably more thanks to his upbringing rather than the fashion of the time. Incidentally, or maybe purposefully, the family’s successful emporium was located next to Lola’s first headquarters. And while the attraction of motorsport was strong, Broadley was initially trained as a quantity surveyor. Inspired by his cousin Graham, he quickly became fascinated with motorsport and began to develop and race his own cars. He also soon realised that his cars were quicker without him at the wheel, so he settled on designing them for the rest of his life instead.”

It’s not really known whether the song ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ from the musical Damn Yankees inspired Broadley’s cars’ name. But from the opening of Lola Cars International in West Byfleet in 1959 to its sad end in the 1990s, following a ruinous renewed attempt at Formula 1, this auspicious female name adorned the aerodynamically sophisticated, feather-light, organically curved bodywork of such legends as the Mk6 and the T70 — cars that still raise pulses at historic motorsport meetings today.

From the beginning, Broadley saw his core competency in racing and never aspired to design cars for the road. And if he did follow the old mantra of ‘race it on Sunday, sell it on Monday’, then it was with the view of selling racing cars to privateer customers. And so it was when his agile Coventry Climax-powered Mk1 vanquished the rivals from Lotus and Cooper and set the lap record at Brands Hatch in 1958. Customers queued up to buy replicas of the car, which provided Broadley with a much-needed financial lifeline. Later, in 1963, Broadley further signalled his motorsport ambitions when he presented the Mk6 GT at Le Mans. With its almost flat roofline, doors that cut into the roof for easier ingress and egress, innovative glass-fibre components, and brutal 4.2-litre Ford V8, it was a promising sign of what was to come from the visionary designer.

Broadley narrowly made it to Le Mans with the new car and, alas, it retired in the 15th hour, thanks to transmission damage. This was new ground for the largely undeveloped car, after all. What happened next, however, was to be woven into the fabric of the Lola legend. Henry Ford II had wanted to return to the global motorsport stage for several years, and after a bold-but-failed attempt to buy the Scuderia Ferrari, he and the brass from Detroit discovered Broadley and his innovative prototype. Broadley was neither a mechanic nor an engineer, but there were few who understood the optimal relationship between the engine, gearbox, chassis, and slippery bodywork.

When Eric Broadley came on board as a consultant, the GT40 project was already in its development phase. The Mk6 formed the basis, especially since the Ford V8 had already been fitted into it. In addition, a separate development team in Slough, England, was employed, as there were no real financial constraints. Despite being plagued with political, performance, and reliability issues, in 1966 the GT40 — now with seven litres of displacement — dominated at Le Mans, claiming 1-2-3 in the standings, ahead of the Ferraris. And the car wasn’t done at the great endurance race — it won the following three races, too.

But by then, Broadley was long annoyed by the skills-scramble from his Ford adventure. During his 18 months of involvement in the project, however, he did gain experience and sufficient means to dominate in the following decades with such models as the T70 in the Can-Am series and at Le Mans and the T90 at Indianapolis. Up until the 1980s, Lola was still one of the leading racing car manufacturers. Along the way, Lola chassis have been powered by engines from Ford, Chevrolet, Aston Martin, Honda, and BMW and were piloted by such legends as Graham Hill, John Surtees, Roy Salvadori, Al Unser, Jo Siffert, and Jacky Ickx.

Formula 1 was Eric Broadley’s dream and, ultimately, his failure. He’d made his debut in the top-flight in 1962, with the Mk4 driven by John Surtees and Roy Salvadori. By the end of the 1980s, Lola was supplying just two unsuccessful Formula 1 teams, and in 1997, having found a potent sponsor in MasterCard, the racing team managed just one outing at Melbourne before it was forced to file for bankruptcy. The talented man, who’d instilled so much fear in Enzo Ferrari, died just a few months ago. But his innovative and successful cars stand testament to the British garagistas who dared to push the boundaries and challenge motorsport’s old guard. Suffice to say, Lola almost always got what she wanted…

[OneHungLow]

This is just pure poetry set to automotive polyphony!

[1DC]

Of the British triumvirate who wrote motorsport history, Eric Broadley remained somewhat in the shadows of Colin Chapman and John Cooper. But his cars, which bore the name Lola, were ground-breaking and successful. In fact, without them, the Ford GT40 would probably have never come to fruition…

Many years ago whilst travelling from Paris to Douala the flight stopped at Nice, DC8 if I recall. Whilst waiting at Nice I saw one of the greatest "Don't you know who I am" hissy fits I have ever seen starring Colin Chapman. Apparently he had arrived at the airport without his passport and could not understand why they were not going to let him leave without it.It was a grim performance with much screaming and shouting and he made a fool of himself but I didn't see the outcome because I had to reboard my aeroplane.

[OneHungLow]

Of the British triumvirate who wrote motorsport history, Eric Broadley remained somewhat in the shadows of Colin Chapman and John Cooper. But his cars, which bore the name Lola, were ground-breaking and successful. In fact, without them, the Ford GT40 would probably have never come to fruition…

Many years ago whilst travelling from Paris to Douala the flight stopped at Nice, DC8 if I recall. Whilst waiting at Nice I saw one of the greatest "Don't you know who I am" hissy fits I have ever seen starring Colin Chapman. Apparently he had arrived at the airport without his passport and could not understand why they were not going to let him leave without it.It was a grim performance with much screaming and shouting and he made a fool of himself but I didn't see the outcome because I had to reboard my aeroplane.

I read Mike Lawrence's biography " Wayward Genius" of Colin Chapman some years back (I thoroughly recommend it).

Chapman, ex-RAF engineer, and keen instrument rated private pilot was clearly a wide boy of note, who wasn't above "lifting" or appropriating other people's ideas and presenting them as his own. That said, he was also a gifted engineer in his own right and certainly applied novel aeronautical design methods to his cars. He was a serial adulterer as well, and despite that fact his wife stuck with him to the bitter end. Ultimately his "unorthodox" business practices, read fraudulent, and the stress of his imbroglio with John Delorean, resulted in his fatal heart attack that thwarted the authorities here in the UK, who would certainly have imprisoned him had he been tried in the UK.

A flawed and fascinating genius who clearly was a bit of a self-important dick as well, based upon 1DC's fascinating anecdote!

https://speedreaders.info/23606-colin-c ... rd-genius/

[OneHungLow]

For those interested in Colin Chapman and what it was like working for the man, South African mechanic Cedric Selzer's autobiography is well worth a read.

https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/01/if- ... -reviewed/

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arch ... mechanics/

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/blo ... ry-in-1963

I travelled up to Silverstone last week and wondered anew at the transformation of the place since I first went there in 1988. Never the most charismatic of circuits, the old layout did at least have an all-or-nothing aspect to it that enabled you to see cars and drivers on the absolute limit.

I was standing on the inside of the old Stowe corner when Nigel Mansell took pole position by a country mile in 1990, and the memory still gives me goosebumps.

The track itself retains much of that appeal, but the demands placed upon the venue by Grand Prix racing have led to an increase in the scale of the surrounding infrastructure. Its transformation into a modern Formula 1 ‘facility’ has, inevitably, changed the face of Silverstone.

An example of that is the ‘Wing’ building that incorporates the pits, media centre and umpteen other things. It was here that I met a man whose memories of the place went back a lot further than mine.

Much is being made of this year being the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s first F1 World Championship, with events taking place up and down the country. And, quite by chance, I found myself taking a spare seat at lunch next to Cedric Selzer (standing in main picture and on far left above), who that season acted as the legendary Scotsman’s mechanic.

Selzer didn’t enjoy the most promising start in motor racing, however: “I met Stirling Moss in 1960 when he was racing in South Africa. He offered to write a letter of introduction to BRP and I came over to Britain, but the team didn’t have any vacancies for a mechanic at that point.

“I then very briefly worked in Formula Junior for a guy named Ian Raby, but he sacked me because I wasn’t very good!”

By no means disheartened, Selzer instead set his sights even higher, and made his way to Monaco for the 1961 Grand Prix.

“My mum knew someone who lived in Nice, so I had somewhere to stay and the use of a motor car. In those days, you could just walk along the circuit after the race.

"I asked someone where all the Formula 1 teams hung out and he told me, The Tip Top bar. I went down there, got talking to the Lotus guys and it turned out that they needed a mechanic.”

“Working for Colin Chapman was okay as long as your face fitted," he adds. "I actually got sacked twice! Once was when I got blamed for a bearing failure in one of the engines, but it turned out that Coventry-Climax had fitted the wrong type of bearing, so that saved me.

“Then another time Trevor Taylor had a suspension failure. When we got back to the factory, everyone was sort of keeping their heads down. It turned out that I’d been fired and reinstated without really knowing much about it! It took about six weeks for Chapman to actually say anything to me, mind…”

“After that I was assigned to Jimmy’s car. He was the best driver I ever worked for. At Rouen in ’64, he jumped into Pat Lindsay’s ERA, which was there for the historic race. His first standing-start lap wasn’t far off Lindsay’s best, then within a few flying laps he was quicker. I asked him how it was and he just shrugged and said, ‘Bit of a bumpy ride’. It was so easy for him.”


Although it was an incredibly successful period for Clark and Lotus, Selzer left in 1964: “It was a great time to work for the team, but we were always looking to the next race. There was never time to sit around celebrating. I needed to go and do something else. I needed a new focus. I didn’t find it, though – I’m still looking for it now!

“I went off and built my own car for the Formula 100 series. I sailed yachts, too, but that was a bit expensive, so I decided to sail other people’s yachts...”

More than 50 years after leaving his native South Africa, Selzer still lives in England and remains busy. Even after only a brief chat, I suggest that he has enough stories to fill a book.

“I’ve got more than 100,000 words here,” he says with a smile, patting a black folder that he’s been holding. “It needs sorting out, but I’m hoping that it’ll be published later in the year.”

It should be quite a read.