Flickr user Malcolm Mitchell has uploaded a translated version of the 1997 French language comic book commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ferrari’s first race. The comic book, illustrated by Patrick Leseur and written by Dominique Pascal, follows Enzo’s journey from disinterested schoolboy to racing pioneer to businessman and icon. Although the storytelling can be a bit dry as we enter the years where each panel is just a new road car’s debut, there’s still a lot of information here about the Commendatore.
Malcolm has the entire comic translated to english (by Desmond Tumulty) and available for viewing, so click on over.
There are benefits to having renowned photographer Louis Klemantaski as your navigator when you’re competing in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Peter Collins’ Ferrari 335 Sport didn’t quite make it back to Brescia after suffering a driveshaft failure 5 hours in, but at least he had this astounding photograph to show for his efforts.
Seems like a pretty fair trade to me.
Update:
In the comments, Richard found another of Louis’ shots from the Mille that’s definitely worth sharing. Thanks, Richard!
Bench test of a V12 out of a 330GT 2+2. The mechanic prefers the engine with the DFI Webers rather than the DCZ-DCL Webers. Who am I to argue? Sounds just lovely.
The only thing that could make Man on the Move contributor Dave Pinter’s photo gallery of Le Belle Macchine d’Italia car show better would be if the Italian Cars at Pocono organizers had the event on the track and not a golf course.
Gaby participated in this year’s LeMans Classic and despite being busy with her own (gorgeous) car that weekend, still had time to flex her fabulous eye for photography. Head over to Meals n’ Wheels for the complete set.
I don’t expect a lot from racing graphics in the modern era. Nascar’s rolling billboards and F1′s abandonment of the national racing colors is something I’ve long since come to terms with. I suppose it makes sense in an era when the needs have changed so radically. When, 30 years ago, a spectator sat in the balcony above the racing surface, or low resolution printing technology reproduced the photos in the racing news, you needed a bold color with a large number on the side to tell which car was which. The live spectator is a virtual irrelevance in the contemporary racing world, and the cars can be seen in near-perfect detail by the HD cameras throwing their images around the world. Now you can have imagery with fine details, so you can see the faux lighting effects on the M&Ms logo on the hood, or the crisp lines of the mobile phone logo on a front wing. That’s simply the reality of how the sport is presented today.
This though, really puzzles me. Ferrari has released images of it’s new 458 Challenge racing car. This is the car that will compete alongside the F430 in the Ferrari Challenge one-make racing series that continues to grow each year. The press release for the new machine boasts of it’s enormous Brembo brakes, the stiffer aluminum bushings on the suspension that allow for a 30mm lower stance than the street version, and the implementation of the F1 traction control platform. All heady technology that will no doubt drive the more well-heeled tifosi into the dealer’s doors. The Ferrari Challenge continues to grow each year, this year launching an Asia-Pacific division of the series.
But would you just look at that thing? The shape of the body is slippery and mean looking, and is quite lovely. The graphics though, look like your 6 year old nephew had some leftover decals from a model kit. Uninteresting choice of type for the numbers; the mix of various checker-meets-carbon-fiber patterns; the weird swoopy stripes.
The Scuderia sheild on the fender, the shell logo on the hip, these are traditional and proper logo placements, but even if you can look past the enormity of the Pirelli logos on three (probably four) sides of the car, and the odd placement of logos in front of the rear wheel. There’s nothing about the graphics of this car that I like. The checkers along the doorsill are particularly bad, not complementing but fighting the lines of the car. It’s heartbreakingly bad. Italy usually knows its design, and its such a shame that simplicity loses out to douchey patterny stripy nonsense yet again.
You’ll remember the panic that ran through the classic sportscar press last summer when David Love’s brakes went out as he rounded Laguna Seca during last year’s Monterey Historics. The car quickly met the wall and suffered an ugly black scar down her passenger side.
I’m happy to report that David took the car to this year’s Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance and it looks wholly restored. Looks perfect.
Sports Car Digest has a wonderful gallery from the event, where Porsche was the featured marque… Check it out.
Usually I try to space out my posts about cars for sale. The Chicane’s focus has always been about the larger world of classic motorsport, and car collecting and sales are only one small part of the sport. Furthermore, I always try to extend the time between posts about a particular make for sale and it was only 2 days ago that we featured a lovely Ferrari 500 TRC. Although I know I tend to prattle on about vintage Porsches, we really do try to represent many different makes and models of racing cars. It is, after all, the variety of cars that makes vintage racing so interesting. But when Jan Lühn contacted me about this one-off, Vignale designed, 212/225 Ferrari that just arrived in his showroom how could I not share it with you?
I’m a sucker for the European interpretation of the tailfin, which has become the hallmark of American automotive design of the late 1950s. It’s been made as big and as aircraft-inspired and rocket taillight adorned as possible stateside on businessman’s chariots and weekend cruisers. The european take on it though, has always appealed to me more—looking as functional and necessary as on this 212 as the solo tailfin of a D-Type.
Often the Ferrari coupes of the era are a little too much like a miniature luxury car to me. They look like lovely little cars, but lack the exotic good looks and racy stance of the spiders. Not so with this 212. The huge headlamps inset into the grille opening, the sloping roofline, and the great big competition fuel cap put this car’s appearance firmly in the utilitarian racer camp. The silhouette brings to mind the Ferrari effort at the 1952 Carrera Panamericana and the 340 Mexico, but this car predates them by almost a year, and—to my eye—looks like a more lithesome, subtle machine; simpler and more precise.
Ferrari 0179 EL was originally built early in the lifecycle of the 212 engine. The V12 was still a bit persnickety and after cylinder failure very shortly after she was built, the engine was swapped at the factory with the 225 before it was ever delivered to her first purchaser. After changing hands in Italy several times, Luigi Chinetti imported the car to the States and delivered her to a sports writer in Texas, Loren McMullen. These bits of automotive history always get under my skin. I know more than a few journalists, some of them have been quite successful. I don’t know any that drive Ferraris. This guy McMullen wasn’t the owner of a printing group or the city paper’s publisher or even the editor in chief—he was on the sports desk and imported a Ferrari.
Naturally, McMullen raced the car a bit in Texas. In one race meeting in 1961, he raced against one of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals, one of which crashed out of the race. McMullen negotiated the purchase of the car’s big V8 and it was somehow shoehorned into the 212. The power of the American V8 was such that some modifications were required. An air scoop added to feed the huge volume of air needed, and a new rear windscreen—reportedly necessary after the acceleration force of the new engine caused air to push the rear window out!
Some time later the car was imported to Holland and restored—apparently immaculately—by Piet Roelofs. Today, the car looks absolutely majestic. Everything from the paint to the interior to the engine bay looks ready for a weekend drive up the coast or the next Concours. There’s no information on Jan Lühn’s site on the car yet, but I’m sure details will be arriving on their inventory page.
Flickr user Malcolm Mitchell has uploaded a translated version of the 1997 French language comic book commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ferrari’s first race. The comic book, illustrated by Patrick Leseur and written by Dominique Pascal, follows Enzo’s journey from disinterested schoolboy to racing pioneer to businessman and icon. Although the storytelling can be a bit dry as we enter the years where each panel is just a new road car’s debut, there’s still a lot of information here about the Commendatore.
