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Davison’s Le Mans: Privileged in France

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Mary Davison with sons at the start of the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hours.

By Eric Davison
Be sure to listen to the Matra V-12, below!

The month of May is regarded by American racing fans as “Indy” month. In France and in most of Europe June belongs to Le Mans.

In January of 1972 we (me, my wife and two sons) were sent to France where I took up residence in the Paris office of McCann-Erickson Advertising as the resident guru on the General Motors/Opel business. It was a dream assignment. My wife, the lovely Mary, was ecstatic and our two sons ages 14 and 11were anxious to leave Michigan where we had returned after spending a couple of years in Mexico. They were up for another adventure. Plus, beyond all the joys of Paris, there was the sunshine of Saint Tropez, skiing in Chamonix, and to top it all off, there was Le Mans. And we were going!

It was easy to work my way into the good graces of my new GM associates. To most Europeans racing is a very important activity and when they found out that I was a rabid enthusiast, I was welcomed by Jean-Louis Maesen, the Opel Marketing Director and included in their Le Mans activity.

Jean-Louis Maesen and the new (at the time) Opel Commodore in Brittany. The occasion was the press introduction of what was the first competitive Opel.

[Read more…] about Davison’s Le Mans: Privileged in France

Ferrari at Indy, Part 2

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ferrari indy

In the lead photo, Freddy Agabashian takes the Marion Chinetti Ferrari out for a test drive during the 1954 time trials. It failed to qualify.Credit: IMS Museum

1953

Ferrari was undeterred by the results of the 1952 Indy, for plans were made to compete in the 1953 Indy 500, and an initial entry for Ascari was given the number of 97. In addition, two of the 375s sold to American customers planned a comeback; Howard Keck’s car was entered as number 45, with no driver listed, and Johnny Mauro entered with his 375 and given the number 47.
[Read more…] about Ferrari at Indy, Part 2

Graham Gauld’s Monaco

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A photo of the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix showing the old Gasworks hairpin with Frenchman Robert Manzon (who is 95 this year!) in his 2.3 liter Gordini leading Piero Carini’s 340 America Ferrari. Manzon had won the under 2 liter event the day before.

By Graham Gauld
Color images by Graham Gauld

The Monaco Historic Races are always full of surprises.

It’s been sixty years since the Monaco Grand Prix was held strictly for sports cars…the only occasion when the title “Grand Prix” was given to a sports car race rather than a Formula One event. At that 1952 meeting there were actually two races, one for up to 2 liter cars, the Monaco Cup, and one for over 2 liters for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Tony Crook, a pretty smart looking 92 year-old, was brought together with the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica he raced to third place in the Monaco Cup sixty years ago. Driver John Ure gave him second place in the race for sports cars.

Tony Crook
There were at least three cars at the Monaco Historics last weekend that took part in that race, which is not unusual. But also attending was one of the drivers who raced at the event, Tony Crook now 92 years of age! His presence was a truly delightful surprise. [Read more…] about Graham Gauld’s Monaco

Giovanni Savonuzzi’s Detroit Odyssey

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giovanni Savonuzzi
1964: Giovanni Savonuzzi with the only Chrysler Turbine Car not painted bronze. The car was prepared for use in the movie “The Lively Set” starring James Darren and Pamela Tiffin. The photo was taken at his home in Franklin, Michigan. Photo courtesy Alberta Savonuzzi.

A Memoir by Robert F. Pauley

For over 25 years I worked in Chrysler’s Research Design Department and spent many years on the gas turbine program. I started at Chrysler in June 1953 as a chassis-engine designer and later was promoted to Design Supervisor for powerplant research. What follows are some remembrances of the time I spent on the Chrysler turbine program with the Italian engineer and designer Giovanni Savonuzzi. Initially we worked on the third floor of the Engineering Building in Chrysler’s Headquarters in Highland Park, a suburb of Detroit In June 1956 the entire turbine engineering group was transferred to a leased building on Greenfield Road in Detroit about eight miles from Highland Park. The building was devoted to the gas turbine program. It was there that my short but memorable relationship with Savonuzzi took place.

Author Robert F. Pauley and the Chryler Turbine Car at the Greenfield Road Plant, circa 1964.

Meeting Savonuzzi

I first met Savonuzzi under rather unusual circumstances. It was in the summer of 1958 and at the time I was working in the Greenfield Road Plant. One day my boss called me into his office and said that he had an assignment for me but that I was not to tell anyone about it. He said that there was an Italian engineer named Savonuzzi in Highland Park who needed some drafting/design work done and that I should go there and see what he wanted. “Wow,” I said, “…you mean THE Giovanni Savonuzzi?” John was taken aback and asked “How do you know about him – they told me it was a secret?” John was not a “car guy” so I had to explain to him that I had read all about Mr. Savonuzzi’s car designs and accomplishments in Road & Track magazine and other car publications. John said “I never heard of him.” And that ended the conversation.

Savonuzzi in the D46 Cisitalia circa 1946.

I drove to Highland Park with great anticipation and went up to the sixth floor of the Engineering Building as instructed. At that time the sixth floor was not being used and the corridors were empty. I found the unmarked door and entered into what appeared to have been the waiting room for some big-shot executive many years ago before World War II. The receptionist appeared to have no other job except to guard the door behind her, but when I told her who I was she stepped aside and announced that “Mr. Pauley is here.” The inner room was quite large with dark mahogany walls. There was a small desk, a couple of chairs and a drawing board covered with drawings and styling sketches but not much else. In the middle of the room was a work platform with a large clay model of an exciting-looking car on top of the pedestal.

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Concorso Pasadena

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Photos by Brian Winer and Richard Bartholomew

Sometimes concours d’elegance promoters try too hard, taking years to work up a mini-Pebble Beach when a successful show satisfying to all concerned can be established for far less work and money.

The Concorso Pasadena seems to be a model of how to do such a show at very low cost and yet offer maximum entertainment for the public and the participants. This yearly event is run by the Southwest branch of the Ferrari Club of America and it’s an all-volunteer effort.

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Carroll Shelby/Features This Week

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___________________

Carroll Shelby

As we remember Carroll Shelby, we offer two short vignettes. The first is written by Eric Davison, who wrote about the trials and tribulations of the Shelby Series 1 in his book “Snake Bit”. It is below in full.

The second remembrance, Carroll Shelby and the OSCA was written by Carl Goodwin, author of “They Started in MGs” includes rare shots of Shelby. [Ed.]
___________________

I was fortunate. Carroll Shelby called me his friend.

I really didn’t get to know him personally until the late 90’s when I became involved in the project that became known as the Shelby Series 1. It was a tough program and there was a lot that could go wrong and did. I hung in there and I guess that he appreciated that fact.

That program ended and I retired to Florida in 2002. Every so often the phone would ring. My wife, Mary, would answer the phone and a raspy old voice would croak “Hi ya, honey, is Eric around?”

I would pick up the phone in awe of the fact that he would call. The message was always a short one. “Just checkin’ up on ya and letting you know that I love ya.”

I love you too, Carroll and I will miss you.

Eric Davison
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F1 “Grand Prix of America” Exclusive Preview

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Image Courtesy Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial

By Phillipe Defechereux

East Coast F1 circuit all set to “Come Alive” in June 2013

Stories, rumors and gossip are all put to bed. It is real and here is the up-to-date story straight from those making it happen.

First we can confirm that developments for the “Grand Prix of America,” to be staged on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan, are already well along. All the federal, state and local authorities involved approved the plans and logistics on October 15, 2011, with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie beaming in acquiescence during the televised press announcement. This feat was made possible by a triumvirate of top-level American promoters and investors highlighted below. All were pleased with the ten-year contract they secured from Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management (FOM), backed by the FIA.
[Read more…] about F1 “Grand Prix of America” Exclusive Preview

Carroll Shelby and the OSCA

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carroll shelby portrait

A Shelby portrait taken in about 1956 by racing photographer Alix Lafontant. It is inscribed “The very best to my good friend Alix. – Carroll Shelby.”

By Carl Goodwin

Photos by Alix Lafontant copyright Carl Goodwin.

1956 was a great year for Carroll Shelby driving the Italian cars he loved. Up until a late-season off-course excursion in the sand at Thompson Raceway, he had notched 19 wins at road courses from coast to coast, driving a Ferrari 4.4, Ferrari Monza, Maserati 300S, and a Maserati 450S.

We were accustomed to seeing Shelby toss around the big Ferraris and Maseratis owned by John Edgar and Tony Parravano, but he was also a great driver in under two liter Italian cars such as the OSCA. One such race was at Road America.

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Moretti 750 Gran Sport Times Three

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Above: Posing with the Harry Jones Moretti are (left-to-right) Viola Jones, Pat McAfee (then wife of Jack McAfee), and Vi’s husband Harry Jones. Santa Barbara paddock, September 1954. Photo: John Edgar, Edgar Motorsport Archive
______________________________________________________________

By Pete Vack

Thanks to Peter Vanlaw, William Edgar, Alex Vazeos, Rex McAfee, Cliff Reuter, John de Boer, Karl Ludvigsen and Cindy Meitle.

Road & Track, August 1954. The color photo is by photographer and journalist Bob Rolofson; the car, a Moretti Gran Sport—the archetypical “Baby Ferrari”. No doubt many more people saw this photo than would ever lay eyes on the actual car itself; few subjected to the cover photo or the reality would likely soon forget the sight. Even today, the car stirs the imagination.

There might be ten or twenty of these 748cc Michelotti-designed “Gran Sport” Morettis around. John de Boer lists ten known berlinettas (Gran Sport) but emphatically states that the list is far from complete and is constantly updated and there may well be only eight in existence today. Two are very well known and have clear provenances… chassis 1293s (ex-Ludvigsen) and 1294s (now owned by Alex Vazeos), and a third the Road & Track cover car, is featured here for the first time in competition.

While doing last minute research for this article and with the help of William Edgar and Peter Vanlaw, we found some new insights about the Moretti Gran Sports that went though the hands of West Coast importer Ernie McAfee. The competition record of the GS is quite good, but hard to research. Next week in Part II we’ll provide what we know and hopefully readers can add to the list of events.

Saving the Gran Sports

Moretti-GS-750-Ludvigsen

Karl Ludvigsen at the Mille Miglia in 1998 with Moretti GS#1293s. He found, restored and cared for the car for twenty years before selling it to Larry Auriana in 1998.

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