Motorsport Legends Speak
Interviews & Words With The Heroes of Motorsports
This is where the rubber meets the road, where the smell of burnt rubber and high-octane fuel mingles with the sharp insights of those who have lived and breathed motorsports. Here, the legends of racing take the wheel, sharing their firsthand experiences, hard-won wisdom, and unique perspectives in a collection of captivating articles and exclusive interviews.
The Driver's Seat: Insights from Motorsports Legends
This is where the rubber meets the road, where the smell of burnt rubber and high-octane fuel mingles with the sharp insights of those who have lived and breathed motorsports. Here, the legends of racing take the wheel, sharing their firsthand experiences, hard-won wisdom, and unique perspectives in a collection of captivating articles and exclusive interviews. Get ready to dive deep into the minds of champions as they dissect race strategy, reflect on career-defining moments, and offer a glimpse into the intense pressure and exhilaration of life at the limit. Hear from visionary engineers, team owners, motorsport executives, and influential figures who shape the sport from behind the scenes.
Our European editor, Ed McDonough, had the great fortune to spend the better part of a week with the great all-round rally and race star, (as well as Sebring and Targa Florio winner) on the Giro de Sicilia, a place much loved by Elford, where he is revered nearly as...
When our European Editor Ed McDonough heard that Maurice Trintignant was to appear at the Monaco Historics in late May, it became Ed’s mission to catch up with one of his boyhood heroes. Not only had Trintignant driven Grand Prix cars and sports cars before and after the war, but...
Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, Military Cross and Bar, had a philosophy. After surviving the Second World War, in which he almost died several times and won two Military Crosses, one of Britain’s highest awards for bravery, he reasoned that the rest of his life would be a bonus. So,...
In August 2000, we first ran Ed McDonough’s interview with Maurice Trintignant, as tribute to this wonderful man’s life story, we reprint it here this month. When our European editor, Ed McDonough, heard that Maurice Trintignant was to appear at the Monaco Historics in late May of 2000, it became...
For the 1970 Grand Prix season, and still in my very early 20s, I was again a number two mechanic on Jochen Rindt’s car—he was now the number one driver for Gold Leaf Team Lotus. Eddie Dennis was the number one mechanic and my immediate boss. As a mechanic, I...
VR: Like so many of us, I’m sure that you were influenced by the automobile very early on in your life. How did you get started in cars? What sent you on this path? LK: Gosh, I was the only student in kindergarten who knew what a Bugatti was! My...
Richie Ginther Biography Those readers familiar with the Grand Prix History website know that central to this site is the Hall of Fame. Illustrating that section is a famous photograph by Gary Bramstedt entitled Heroes. Amongst such giants of the sport as Clark, Brabham and Hill is a small freckle-faced driver...
Frank Williams started out like so many racers, with little more than his desire to go racing. Over nearly half a century, however, he built that desire into a multiple World Championship-winning entity that employs several hundred people, and to honor those accomplishments, in 1999 he was knighted by Queen...
De Palma, his riding mechanic alongside, guides his factory Vauxhall over the 37.631-km Circuit de Lyon during the 1914 French Grand Prix, a race run barely a month before the onset of WWI. One of the greatest, and nice with it—that was Ralph De Palma. He won well over 2,500...
I first raced at Monaco in 1955, a famous year for the Grand Prix, when Ascari went into the water. I remember, because I was behind him…not very far…at one stage. I started in 6th place and I was going well, but there was this big fight at the front,...
Dr. Lou Sell I got a Brabham in 1967 and it was supplied by the Russell Racing Organisation, which was like a driving school. They bought a bunch of Brabhams, with one for me that cost like half as much, and I ran their name on the side, as long...
I spent the greater part of my Formula One career with Alfa Romeo, joining them in 1979 and leaving at the end of 1982. In 1978 I did five Grands Prix for McLaren in a third car. I don’t remember exactly how Alfa Romeo contacted me, but they wanted to...
Allen Berg Allen Berg began racing as most do, in karts, and soon progressed up the ladder to Formula Ford and Atlantic, then won the Tasman Series down under before tackling British F3 during perhaps its best season ever. A single season of F1 peaked his career, before a Mexican...
Nino Vaccarella won the Targa Florio three times, and for this alone he remains a Sicilian national hero. His name became virtually synonymous with that great road race throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as evidenced by the large painted messages appearing on the roads and walls on the eve of...
Shot by the Gestapo, executed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, killed on a death march from Sachsenhausen. All of those horrific things are said to have happened to Captain Charles Frederick William Grover-Williams, Grand Prix winner, member of the wartime ultra-secret French section of Britain’s Special Operations Executive and French...
Umberto Maglioli stands beside his Porsche 550A and looks up from the pits during a break in open practice for the 1955 Targa Florio. The car arrived in Sicily with a bare metal body that was painted white before the race. Photo: Porsche Umberto Maglioli was a man who clearly...
At the tender age of 15, John Fenning started his racing career competing in small, 500-cc racecars, like many postwar enthusiasts in the UK. Eventually, Fenning worked his way up to factory rides with Lola and Lotus before a devastating road accident topped the trajectory of his driving career. However,...
Exotic doesn’t cut it when it comes to describing this gutsy, fun-loving, vivacious show-off of a beauty who was born to a country postman and his wife on December 15, 1900 in Aunay-sous-Auneau, about 50 miles southwest of Paris. At 16, she broke loose from her provincial shackles and invaded...
Haskell Wexler is an Oscar-winning cinematographer, taking home the coveted golden trophies for his work on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Bound for Glory. Not many car enthusiasts, however, know about his racing experiences. Wexler took driving lessons from Carroll Shelby, but gave it up when he discovered just...
Mario AndrettiPhoto: Pete Austin He is, after all, Mario Andretti, one of the most accomplished racing drivers of all time, the only man to have won the Formula One World Championship, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the 12 Hours of Sebring (three times) and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. Throw...
Clive Cussler is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than seventeen times. Cussler is the founder and chairman of the real-life National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has discovered...
Karl Kling was born too late to join Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred Von Brauchitsch and Hermann Lang in their rampage through Grand Prix motor racing of the Thirties, and too early to give Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss and Hans Herrmann any real competition in the W196 of 1954 and 1955....
Prior to the early ’70s, safety issues were given little attention in Formula One and, by association motorsport in general. However, as a result of several horrific accidents and fatalities, one brave driver stepped to the fore to demand better safety measures. That driver was three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart....
On the whole, French racing drivers are quite friendly toward each other and generally there is a good rapport and camaraderie between us. I think this stems from the roots of our motor racing careers in France. Most, if not all, of us came through the motor racing school system...
Last month we presented the first half of European Editor Mike Jiggle’s interview with engine wizard John Judd, and the discussion continues in this month’s conclusion, as Judd explains how he became an engine manufacturer and talks about his interactions with motor sport luminaries such as Ken Tyrrell and Tom...
Bill Milliken has had an interesting life. As an engineer in both the aviation industry and later consultant to the automotive industry, pilot, racecar driver, road course designer, etc., he’s done much in the world of technology. Born in Old Town, Maine, in 1911, Bill was at the forefront of...
In 2001, our Ed McDonough spoke with Phil Hill about his championship year in Formula One and the oftentimes challenging politics of racing for Ferrari in the ’60s. In remembrance of Hill and his achievement, we reproduce that interview here, which first appeared in VR in our September 2001 issue....
Many motorsport enthusiasts remember the names of Bruce McLaren and Denis Hulme as part of the Bruce and Denis Show, which dominated Can-Am racing from 1967 to 1972. However, part of the success of the McLaren team stemmed from the people with whom Bruce McLaren surrounded himself; people like Phil...
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and to mark the occasion, Maserati is honoring the achievements of Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first woman to qualify for a Formula 1 Grand Prix driving a Maserati 250F. For this important day, we remember her story, one that is filled with passion and courage....
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