The Greatest Racecars & Their Stories
The Most Iconic Racecars Ever Made
So, buckle up and prepare to be transported to the golden age of motorsports, where legendary machines and fearless drivers pushed the limits of speed and redefined the boundaries of automotive performance. Let these iconic race cars tell their tales, in their own words. These aren't your typical posts; these are a collection of firsthand accounts, as if narrated by the very cars that dominated the track and etched their names into racing legend.
Legends of the Track
Hear the roar of the legendary Ford GT40 as it recounts its epic battles with Ferrari at Le Mans in the 1960s, told through the voices of the drivers and engineers who pushed it to victory. Feel the raw power of the McLaren MP4/4, as Ayrton Senna's spirit guides you through its undefeated 1988 Formula 1 season. Experience the technological marvel of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, as it describes its hybrid dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 2010s. From the ground-breaking Lancia Stratos rally car to the awe-inspiring Porsche 917, we delve into the history of these iconic machines, exploring their design innovations, their triumphs and tribulations, and the legendary drivers who tamed their power. Each article is a tribute to a specific car, a celebration of its unique character and its contribution to the rich tapestry of motorsport history.
Photo: Pete Austin I’m always torn by this, and it rather dates me in a way, but I did start watching motor racing as a very small boy. I was around in the 1950s as a spectator primarily, although I had started commentating by the end of that decade. I...
I drove the Birdcage Maserati for Lucky Casner’s Camoradi Team on three occasions in 1960, beginning with the 1,000 kilometers of Buenos Aires where Masten Gregory and I led until the gearbox failed. At Sebring I was teamed with Stirling Moss and we had built up a substantial lead, but...
Pedro Rodriguez in the N.A.R.T. Ferrari 250 GTO Where: Daytona / Date: February 17, 1963 The Daytona Continental (3 Hours) Race; Daytona, February 17, 1963. Pedro Rodriguez in the N.A.R.T.-entered Ferrari 250 GTO leads Skip Hudson’s Shelby American Cobra out of the infield loop. Rodriguez won by a wide margin while Hudson retired....
By Stephen Mitchell A friend once asked me what was the fastest I’d ever driven a car. My answer was 7500 rpm in fifth gear. Race cars don’t have speedometers and the car in question was my Ferrari 250 GTO. I was on the way to Las Vegas and my...
1964 Ferrari 250 LM Artwork The Maranello Concessionaires 250 LM driven by Graham Hill and Joachim Bonnier won the 1964 12 Hours of Reims. A North American Racing Team (NART) Ferrari 250 LM would win at Le Mans in 1965 – the last overall victory for Ferrari at Le Mans....
Part II We concluded last month’s opening segment of John Wright’s interview with Bruce Kessler as he was preparing to start what would come to be recognized as the defining race of his life. Bruce Kessler Can you describe the main race at Lime Rock in 1957, where you were...
Bruce McLaren and his M8B Artwork John Rice captured the 1969 Can-Am champ’s image for a show at the Watkins Glen Research Center. John Rice produced a series of a dozen watercolor paintings for a show celebrating memorable moments at Watkins Glen, with this particular example depicting Bruce McLaren winning...
Mercedes W 25 Car: Mercedes W25 / Engine: 8-Cylinder In-line / Maker: Daimler-Benz / Bore X Stroke: 78 mm X 80 mm / Year: 1934 / Capacity: 3,360 cc / Class: Grand Prix / Power: 354 bhp at 5,800 rpm / Wheelbase: 107.2 inches / Track: 58.0 inches front, 56.0...
Celebrating 55 years of the 1969 European Hill Climb Championship crown, where the Ferrari 212E Montagna finally gave Scuderia Ferrari its first title in this motorsport discipline, Sports Car Digest presents its readers with an in-deep story of this mythical vehicle, in a form of a detailed summary of its...
In June of 2014, Porsche will return to Le Mans with a newly designed LMP1 racing machine. With 16 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle of endurance motor racing, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the race’s history. Their last win, though, was back...
1909 Benz Type RE 200 PS “Blitzen Benz” It may seem somewhat incongruous that the story of one of Mercedes-Benz’s most significant and iconic racecars, the “Blitzen Benz” should revolve around an incendiary Belgian and two grandstanding American showmen. However, racing truth is oftentimes, stranger than fiction. The author comes...
On 9 May 1937, the Mercedes-Benz W125 racing car celebrated its racing debut with a victory at the Tripoli Grand Prix. Following this opening triumph, it went on to dominate the entire season — yet it would prove to be its one and only season. This was because 1937 was...
2003 Mercedes Benz CLK DTM Factory Race Car For Sale Details: Seller Oakfields is asking £245,000 for the DTM racer. Car is located in the U.K. strong>Seller Comments: “Full factory specification car. Carbon body weighing only 980 kg (2160 lbs) with ballast. V8 5 litre engine production 475 bhp. 6...
Gracing the cover of Griot’s Garage Handbook #276 is a very mean Kremer Brothers-modified Porsche 935. Porsche 935’s in their heyday were some of the most spectacular cars to watch. With twin turbo-charged flat six Porsche engines, they produced 600 hp at 7500 rpm. The cars threw out massive flames...
With the 917, Porsche for the first time entered the league of immensely powerful, large-capacity racing cars. The 580 hp from the twelve-cylinder 4.5-litre engine of the 917 set new standards, to the extent that even decades later, independent experts rate this Porsche as one of the most impressive sports...
Accused of sandbagging at Daytona, two WSC-95 spyders were in storage until called to duty by Team Joest. Porsches by adoption, they took two straight victories at Le Mans in 1996 and ’97 in some of the company’s most improbable successes. “Buoyed by our success at the 1994 Le Mans,”...
I am often asked what is the greatest racing car or what is my favorite racing car and, of course, it is impossible to answer that question because some cars are good for certain circuits and conditions and others are better in other places. I have some personal favorites because...
Gary Pearson stretches his and the D-type Jaguar’s legs during a Goodwood Revival. Photo: Roger Dixon My first open-wheeled car was a Lotus 22, in fact it was one of the cars used in the filming of Grand Prix. When I first got the car it still had the Jordan...
Can-Am McLaren M8B – The Perfect Race Car Story and Photos by Pete Lyons Arguably McLaren\’s best-ever car, certainly its most successful Can-Am car, the M8B carried Bruce to 6 victories in 1969, including here at Road America. Some race cars come off the shop floor ready to win their...
Ferrari 312P & 312PB By Ed McDonough and Peter Collins Billed as “the story of a great car and a great time in motorsport history,” this is the first book devoted solely to Ferrari’s 312P and 312PB models, and it features many rare and previously unpublished photos. The 312PB utterly...
Automobile manufacturers have long used racing as a tool for both exploring new technologies and advancing marketing agendas, and one of the richest of these competition records belongs to Jaguar. In North America, much of that history has been written by Bob Tullius’ Group 44 Inc. Commencing with an SCCA...
Porsche 917 – The Heroes, TheVictories, The Myth By Jörg Thomas Födisch, Jost Neßhöver, Rainer Roßbach and Harold Schwarz Without doubt one of the most evocative, iconic…sexy, racecars of the postwar era, the Porsche 917, marked not only a quantum leap in racing speed and technology, but also the true...
During my mid-teens a particular photograph in Motor Sport caught my eye. It was of an old Aston Martin racing at Silverstone, and there was something about it that somehow encapsulated the excitement of motor racing and what it could be about. Peter SutcliffePhoto: Mike Jiggle Upon leaving school I...
The late 1960s and early 1970s formed a significant epoch in the world of international sports car racing. As the motor racing rule-making body moved back and forth between cars that less and less resembled road-going vehicles, prototype sports car racing captured the imagination of manufacturers, teams and fans alike....
I woke up the next morning feeling like I’d been in a fight. My arms and sides were bruised and muscles I didn’t even know I had ached – but hell, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. When you get the chance to ride in a true...
William Lyons was a great stylist, and is possibly the only CEO of a major manufacturer to have personally penned the majority of his company’s products. The exceptions were the C, D. and E-Types, which were the work of Malcolm Sayer, an aerodynamist from aviation. Sayer was the godfather of...
1964 Porsche Bergspyder In the current era of Grand Prix and sports car racing, there is virtually no such thing as a new model racing car from a team or manufacturer and, at least on the surface, the 2003 F1 Ferrari looks like the 2002, which looks like the 2001,...
Pete Lyons How do you stop a racing runaway? Well, you might try throwing more races in its way. Ending McLaren Can-Am domination—that may have been one goal of series officials when they scheduled their fourth season, 1969, with nearly twice as many rounds as before. No Subscription? You’re missing...
1953 German Grand Prix Where: Monaco / Date: May 23, 1971 The Maestro, Juan Manuel Fangio, bends his Maserati A6GCM into the South Curve at the Nürburgring during the German Grand Prix on August 2, 1953. Fangio finished 2nd that day to Nino Farina’s Ferrari 500/F2. Details: Photo courtesy of: THE KLEMANTASKI...
The Ferrari 330 P4 may be regarded as the greatest endurance race car of all time by many Ferrari aficionados. It was developed as a weapon to counterattack the rising success of the Ford GT40 programme. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign...
Heavy Duty Lightweights 1961 Jaguar XKE “Coombs Lightweight” & 1963 Jaguar XKE “Qvale Lightweight” Photo: Pete Austin The year 2011 marks 50 years of the E-Type Jaguar or, as some of you know it better, the XKE. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in...
“A great hammer struck my spine, slamming my head back. I forced it down, and stared at the long black roadway between the orange wheel bulges. It was rushing like some demonic torrent frantic to enter the gates of hell… Pete Lyons No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here...
Porsche 908-3 At The Green Hell Artwork Englishman Vic Elford, along with teammate Frenchman Gérard Larrousse, on their famous win of the 1971 ADAC Nürburgring 1000 km race driving the MARTINI Racing Team Porsche 908-3. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in...
1949 Belgium Grand Prix Where: Spa-Francorchamps / Date: July 10–11, 1949 The 14th Grand Prix of 24 Hours of Belgium; Spa-Francorchamps, July 10–11, 1949. Just two weeks after Le Mans, Luigi Chinetti teamed up with Jean Lucas and won his second 24-hour race of the season. Again they used a Ferrari 166MM Barchetta. This photo...
David’s repeated defeats of Goliath this summer—American Le Mans Series victories by Porsche’s RS Spyder over Audi’s much bigger and stronger R10—takes us right back to the early days of Porsche, when it made its name as an upstart giant-killer. Pete Lyons No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here...
Tazio Nuvolari Artwork Artist Thom Montanari paints a picture of Tazio Nuvolari toward the end of his brilliant career. Tazio Nuvolari was truly a pure racer. Although he initially raced motorcycles, he eventually migrated over to four-wheeled machinery. Nuvolari was well known for his uncanny ability to beat his competition...
Story and photos by Stephen Mitchell The 250GTO #3987 was the third car I’d ever owned. No Subscription? You’re missing out Any Text Here Get Started Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Ferrari 250 LM Artwork Artist Jamie Hankin creates a unique vision of the fable Ferrari 250 LM. Introduced at the 1963 Paris Auto Show as the replacement for the front-engined 250 GTO, the 250 LM was a direct evolution of the sport prototype 250 P spyder, which had won the...
During the ’50s, I raced XK120s. The first one was a ’52, the second a ’54. Albeit, I’m not mechanically inclined. I don’t know the difference between a Whitworth Wench and a Lucas Hug. In those days, Jaguars were so good, you could race them with virtually no preparation other...
Porsche 911 Racing Artwork Uli Ehret depicts the 911 driven by Gordon Spice, Larry Perkins, and John Rulon-Miller in the French classic. This original water color painting by Uli Ehret shows the IMSA GTX class Porsche 911 RSR driven by Larry Perkins, Gordon Spice and John Rulon-Miller, braking into Mulsanne...
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