Mouth watering. I can’t believe I didn’t somehow get it together to make it down there. A dizzying array of Bandinis and Stanguellinis and Siatas and OSCAs, and that doesn’t even mention the gaggle of Porsche 917s. Good gravy! Head over to Etceterini for the complete set.
I’m sure by now you’ve all read about Stirling Moss’ accident in his home elevator. The one-off carbon fiber elevator made by Williams opened it’s doors improperly, allowing Stirling Moss to enter the empty elevator shaft, tumbling 30 feet and breaking both ankles.
I’d been wondering when we might hear from the man himself, and he’s dispatched an email to various motoring news outlets. I’ve pasted the entirety of the message below:
Greetings!
DEAR ALL OF YOU,
THE LAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN QUITE FANTASTIC AND I’D LIKE TO THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR YOUR KIND THOUGHTS, MESSAGES AND OTHER PARAPHERNALIA.
ON SATURDAY EVENING, I WAS AT HOME WITH SUSIE, ELLIOT AND HELEN AND ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR A CURRY, FOR WHICH WE WERE RUNNING LATE. I ASKED HELEN TO JOIN ME IN THE LIFT TO GO DOWNSTAIRS, BECAUSE SUSIE AND ELLIOT WERE SMART ENOUGH NOT TO RIDE IN MY LIFT. I OPENED THE DOOR AND STEPPED INTO THE LIFT, WITH HELEN READY TO FOLLOW ME, WHICH SHE NEVER DID. THAT IS BECAUSE THE LIFT HAD STOPPED ON THE FLOOR ABOVE AND INCORRECTLY ALLOWED THE DOOR BENEATH IT TO OPEN.
STILL CHATTING TO HELEN, I STEPPED INTO THE OPEN DOORWAY–AND FELL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LIFT SHAFT.
THE AMBULANCE WAS CALLED AND ARRIVED AT RACING SPEED, WHEREUPON THEY PUT ME ONTO A SERIES OF ABOUT 10 STRETCHERS! HAVING FINALLY SETTLED ON WHAT MUST HAVE SEEMED A GOOD ONE, I WAS TAKEN, ALONG WITH MY FAMILY TO THE ROYAL LONDON HOSPITAL IN WHITECHAPEL, WHERE THEY USED ANOTHER BATCH OF SIMILAR STRETCHERS!
THEY DID A GOOD JOB OF HELPING ME, BUT WERE UNABLE TO DO THE REQUISITE SURGERY. SO, ON THE SUNDAY, I WAS MOVED TO THE PRINCESS GRACE, WHERE A FANTASTICALLY EFFICIENT, KIND AND AMUSING STAFF DID ALL THE JOBS.
I AM NOW IN A LOVELY ROOM, NUMBER 222, AND WITH THE HELP OF ELLIOT AND THE PORTER, AM FINALLY ON THE EMAIL. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY SEND THIS TO YOU, BUT I WILL TRY!
NOW FOR THE FUTURE… WHICH I CAN SEE WITH SUSIE, HELEN AND ELLIOT AROUND ME, IS GOING TO BE A BLOODY STRUGGLE!
AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, SUSIE AND I ARE BOOKED ON A SEABOURN CRUISE FOR OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY, NEXT MONTH. I HAVE TO CROSS THE HURDLE OF GETTING THE DOCORS, AND FAMLY HANGERS-ON, TO ALLOW ME TO THIN MY BLOOD, IN ORDER TO AVOID ANY ISSUES INVOLVING DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS.
IT WILL BE SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS FROM SUNDAY BEFORE I WILL ABLE TO PUT ANY LOAD ON MY FEET. THEREFORE I’M FACING MY SIXTH OR SEVENTH REDUCTION TO A WHEELCHAIR (SUSIE SAYS SHE’S STOPPED COUNTING) WHICH I MUST ADMIT, IS RATHER BORING. THE GOOD NEWS IS; THAT I DIDN’T SELL THE WHEELCHAIR AFTER THE LAST SHUNT!
THE WHOLE THING IS A REAL PAIN IN THE ARSE, IF I HAD LOOKED WHERE I WAS GOING, I WOULDN’T BE HERE AT ALL, SO IT’S MY OWN DAMN FAULT.
I HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED BY YOUR COLLECTIVE CONCERN AND KINDNESS.
I CAN TELL YOU THAT CURRENTLY I’M LYING IN HOSPITAL, TAKING DEEP BREATHS, LIFTING ONE ARM WITH THE OTHER, RAISING MY LEGS (WITH PLASTERS ON THE END) AND DOING ALL I CAN DO TO KEEP MYSELF AS MOBILE AS POSSIBLE, BUT, HAVING SAID THAT, I’M NOT YET WINNING THE BATTLE.
I’M NOT SURE WHEN I’LL BE ABLE TO GO HOME BUT THE LIFT HAS TO WORK, OTHERWISE I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET UPSTAIRS IN MY WHEELCHAIR, MAYBE I’LL GO AND STAY WITH HELEN AND ELLIOT FOR A WHILE…
THIS REALLY HAS OPENED MY EYES TO HOW KIND ALL MY FRIENDS ARE, OVER AN OLD EX-RACING DRIVER, FLOGGING A FADING IMAGE!
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON,
MANY THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS,
CIAO
This might be a good side trip to add on to this year’s Historic Challenge at Road Atlanta. To celebrate Porsche’s 60th year in North America, the Porsche Museum will be exhibiting the 1939 Berlin-Rome Type 64 at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art exhibit The Allure of the Automobile from March 21-June 20. The car is undoubtedly the spiritual ancestor to every Porsche made since and was the first appearance of many of the design hallmarks that would define the cars. The exhibit will also feature the ‘53 550 LeMans Coupe.
The 64 was a prototype hand built special assembled in Zuffenhausen immediately before the Porsche family left Germany for Austria during WWII. The car was designed for the Berlin-Rome race, the nimble and lightweight car would be a perfect competitor for a long overland race through the Alps. Three examples were made: one was destroyed in a bombing raid, one was joy-ridden to death by celebrating American soldiers, the only remaining example holds a prized place in the Porsche museum since it was re-acquired by the factory in 1951.
This is indeed a rare opportunity to see this priceless and important machine in the only setting anyone is likely to ever see it again, a museum pedestal.
CarCulture.com has some marvelous photos of the Berlin-Rome car here.
Update: Still looking into an inconsistency on this bit of news, the High Museum exhibit lists the ‘39 on display as a replica, Porsche seems to be listing it as the genuine article – waiting on confirmation from Porsche on this.
Maybe our fretting about lost tracks isn’t all for naught, as the long defunct UK racetrack, Crystal Palace, is reopening. After 10 or 20 years (depending on who you ask) of disuse, the track is set to once again host vintage and modern racing cars for the British Bank Holiday in May.
This is fantastic news. That UK motorsport sanctioning bodies and businesses have found the funds to reopen Britain’s first ever purpose-built track (it opened in 1899) gives us hope that crumbling Stateside tracks like Paramount Ranch and Willow Springs can too find backers to bring racing back to these classic locations. Coupled with major track developments (the racetrack country club phenomenon), and redevelopment efforts (the Brainerd update), there’s hope that we might once again be entering a period of growth for all aspects of motorsport, and not just the super-speedway variety. Octane reports that the track will use much of the old course, including the North Tower Crescent and Big Tree Bend.
More information at Crystal Palace’s site and on Octane.
Speaking of Riverside, the 2nd Legends of Riverside event is only just over a month away. This year’s event and gala dinner honors Carroll Shelby. I watched with quite a bit of interest the coverage of last year’s Legends. I thought it interesting to see how a vintage racing event would fare without the benefit of an actual race, or without proximity to Monterrey or some other high-visibility vintage weekend. I do like their film-festival-meets-academic-conference approach—it’s the very kind of thing we do here—and hoped that it would be a success.
Now that they’re following it up with a second event, I think the verdict on the concept is in. I must admit that that a large part of the appeal for me was the film festival. As someone substantially younger than the events and cars that we’re so obsessed with, historic film has been my only full-sensory exposure to the racing of the era. Sure, I’ve read a lot of old racing books, and heaven knows i’ve spent a lot of time looking at photos of old racecars, but the full experience has best been displayed to me through film. Even attending vintage race weekends, which is invaluable and does so much to showcase these incredible machines, doesn’t convey the era in full (I suspect that Goodwood is the exception here). These films have long been our conduit to the races, drivers, and machines as they were; to a time when drivers didn’t think twice about banging the doors of their Gullwing through the turns, or happily risked spinning their GTO or 550 in a tight battle. Few drivers are willing to take these levels of risk today (and I applaud those who are). So I’m glad the film portion of the Legends of Riverside event remains prominent this year; filled with old favorites (LeMans, Winning), and less-seen productions (Sound of Speed, Formula One Comparo).
Of course, the opportunity to meet with legendary drivers is the big draw for the event, and with invited drivers as Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant, Vic Elford, Jim Hall, Brian Redman, and David Hobbs (I’ve seen Hobbs speak before, and his stories are absolutely hilarious), it’s sure to be a weekend of excellent tales. The ticket price may seem steep, but with all the events, meals, opportunities to mingle with both fellow racecar geeks and drivers, and the donations made to charity by the event, it seems like money well spent to me.
More info and tickets at the Legends of Riverside site.
The Mille Miglia legacy and Ferrari are closely intertwined, and with good reason. As such, Mille Miglia 2010 is celebrating the history of the race and the marque by allowing a special 120 car procession of post 1958 Ferraris to precede the Mille competitors from Rome to Brescia. This means, of course, that drivers of contemporary Ferraris can join in the fray, driving through the lovely Italian towns that are otherwise closed to automobile traffic. Pistunzén here sure seems excited about it (what the Hell is up with the cartoon piston?). I suppose this is good news for Ferrari drivers, but I really don’t see the point of it all.
The Mille Miglia isn’t a race anymore, officially anyway 
. It’s billed as a time trial, but even that is a bit of a stretch. It’s a renaissance festival. I’m not saying that to disparage it. The thing I like most about it is that we get out our early sportscars—the Mille ended quite early after all—and we parade them through some of the most picturesque countryside the world has to offer. I think that is what makes the event what it is, extraordinarily rare cars seen in the appropriate environment. Oddly, in this case, it’s the modern cars that are an anachronism. There’s a reason Lord March hides the modern cars indoors during Goodwood.
Don’t spoil the fantasy.
What do you think? Do modern Ferraris add to the fun and I’m just a stick in the mud? Or should the Mille Miglia remain the exclusive domain of period appropriate racers?
La Carrera Panamericana 2009 is set to start in a few short days. While most of us won’t be making the trip, Coop will be photoblogging from the road. He’s already begun with photos of the trip down to Huatulco for the start. Head on over to his blog for updates over the next several days. Have a great race, Coop.
Coop’s a veteran of a few Carreras. Check out his photos from his previous races.
Update: Coop made it safely back and has hundreds of photos on his Flickr stream.
Photo from The Orlando Sentinel, who puts Roar 'n Soar in their list of 10 best festivals in Florida.
The Roar ‘n’ Soar weekend looks like a great day out for every variety of gearhead and vintage enthusiast. Vintage aircraft from the Fantasy of Flight Collection will be on display, with aerial demonstrations on their little brothers: hang gliders, paragliders, and RC planes. A display of vintage racing boats will pepper Lake Agnes in conjunction with the Classic Race Boat Association. Photos of a previous year’s event show show a large contingent of hot air balloons as well, but I don’t know if that’s continuing this year.
Of particular interest to Chicane readers though, is the adjoining autocross sponsored by the Jaguar Club of Florida. I’ve been to my share of autocrosses, and I’ve never before considered them particularly good spectator events. A great deal of fun to participate in, to be sure. But with no overtaking, it simply pales in comparison to wheel-to-wheel action. I think the team behind the Roar ‘n’ Soar has found a way to change all that. The simple overload of vintage machines at every angle make the autocross part competition, part high-speed car show. This is one autocross I would definitely attend as a spectator. Better yet, bring your vintage machine.
Any vintage machine, apparently.
Well my friends, The 2009 Goodwood Revival is already in the books. We spent an inordinate amount of time blasting you with every bit of minutia we could a few weeks back for the Monterey Historics. Sadly, the truth is very likely that the world’s greatest classic motorsport festival doesn’t take place on American soil at some desert track. It doesn’t even take place at my beloved Road America. It is almost certainly on the disused service roads surrounding the decommissioned airfield on the country estate of Lord March.
The beauty of the event, as I’ve said many times before, isn’t the tremendous quality of its racing cars and motorcycles, it isn’t the period-appropriate track itself, it’s not even the vintage aircraft that share the spotlight. The sheer enthusiasm of the period-attired participants and spectators for this event are the reason she so outshines her peers.
Enough of my jealousy of having missed Goodwood yet again, on to the booty! Videos and photos have been flooding the interwebs in the past week. Here are links to some favorites:
These Flickr streams were the sources of the photos above and offer many many more lovely captures from the weekend:
simmoB44, Bernie Condon, Eduard Mossinkoff, richebets, jobeywan, Natasha Baille, andAston-Phillips.
Of course, Octane is also on top of it with galleries from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
I have returned, and have mostly recovered, from the always spectacular Fall vintage event at Road America. The VSCDA always puts on a good event, and this particular event is among my favorite every year. This was also the first year that I was able to tear myself away from the track long enough to take in some of the racecar procession around the old Elkhart Lake road course that was used from 1950-52.
I have a soft spot for this particular 356, a photo of which was the header for The Chicane for 2 years.
Here’s a small sampling of the photos that I took this past weekend, you can see more on Flickr.
