Birdcage and Lister and Corvette, oh my!

Most of the prewar footage of Grands Prix that I come across are very short; a minute or two. The days of endlessly long recording time were still quite a ways off, particularly for cameras small enough to report trackside. As a result, we have precious little footage of Nuvolari or Caracciola. By these standards this wonderful clip is an epic film at 2 minutes and change.

It’s in clips like that that the legend of Monaco really shines. If this were any other track (except maybe Indianapolis) it would be so marred by change that this footage would be unrecognizable. Thankfully, the shots of the tunnel or Station Hairpin have meaning to us today. These aren’t simply clips of brave men careening through city streets, they’re the pioneers that allowed Jenson and Hamilton to round these same corners today. If not for these early GP giants, Monaco would have long since been replaced.

A marvelous clip of a different car than the ex-Grignard example coming up for auction that we saw earlier, complete with wonderful Talbot history from Richard Pilkington. He highlights another aspect of this era that is so appealing. Take this grand prix car, add motorcycle fenders and a pair of headlights and—presto!—sportscar racing eligible car. Imagine throwing a set of fenders on a modern F1 car and entering it in LeMans. Magnifique!

The swan song of the great Italian race bike makers, 1976 was in the middle of the transition to Japanese maker dominance. But let’s raise our glasses for the Guzzis, Agustas, and Gileras.

You could have done worse things with your summer of 1966 than perch yourself around the bends of Charade. There’s footage from the May MotoGP meeting, and a July 1966 saloon and sportscar race that set the stage for the filming of Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix. Which makes this film not only a great series of clips from the storied track, but a prop in the camera operator’s position among the 3,000 extras that served as the crowd for the faux French GP. Lucky for us, our cameraman was close to the action too, there’s clear shots of Françoise Hardy in the pits, as well as Frankenheimer himself (I think that’s him in the camel sportcoat). Marvelous!

Top Gear Magazine’s Piers Ward in the 1969 Targa Florio winning Porsche 908/2.

Richard Attwood in his 1970 LeMans winning 917K.

Damn that wall looks close.

Andrew Frankel drives, let’s all ride shotgun!

Slightly off topic, I know; but bear with me.

A while back when discussing the origins of Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, I was struck by the notion that it was developed with the ‘road enthusiast’ in mind. The twists, changes in elevation, and surrounding nature all lent to the beauty of the experience of driving. Now it seems, the notion of consideration of the road enthusiast is dead. This CBS news report shows the dangers in America’s roads and the efforts to rid us of them. What are the dangers? Exactly the same features that makes a great road: Curves, trees, lack of cement walls around it.

It’s difficult. I suppose if we remove all of these things, American roads might be safer. But they’ll also be boring as Hell.

via

Dear Speed Channel,
A humble request: more Victory by Design, less Pinks.

Sincerely,
The Chicane.