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Cobra MK I Chassis History, Vol. 1 Reviewed

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Review by Pete Vack

Shelby Cobras: CSX 2001 – CSX 2125
The Definitive Chassis-by-Chassis History of the Mark I Production Cars
by Robert D. Walker

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In 1963, 23-year-old jazz musician Herbie Hancock, flushed with money from his hit, “Watermelon Man” walked into Kriesler’s auto showroom in Manhattan, eyed the white and red sports car on the floor, and said, “I’d like to buy the Cobra.” It was Hancock’s first car. “I had only driven an old Dodge my father had bought me for college.” The price was $5,825 plus taxes and license. [Read more…] about Cobra MK I Chassis History, Vol. 1 Reviewed

The Teo Zeccoli Story

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Zeccoli flat out at Spa in the Alfa Romeo GTA (Photo credit Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo, Arese, Zeccoli Archives)

Teo Zeccoli interview with Graham Gauld was first published in VeloceToday.com in January, 2013.

Story by Graham Gauld

In the alphabet of the world’s racing drivers, Teodoro Zeccoli comes somewhere near the end. He is a driver we have all heard about, due to his particular exploits with Alfa Romeo, but he is more than just a young Italian who grew up wanting to be a racing driver; Zeccoli was one of the favored test drivers of Carlo Chiti. Apart from being one of Chiti’s principals at Autodelta he was also the test driver for Chiti’s Formula 1 bad-egg, the ATS.

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A Photographer’s Life: Resurgence

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After a generation had passed, Allen and Carole were suddenly selling the old prints from 1955 to 1965. Photo by Lisa K. Kuhn

Read Part 1 Though my shooting days of sports car racing were over I would keep the negatives; no photographer would ever get rid of his work. I secured an empty Kodak 250 sheet 8×10 Polycontrast III RC F Glossy Paper Box to store the negatives in. I hermetically sealed the box and put it in a secure dry-walled cabinet in my garage for storage. They did not see the glare of an enlarger bulb for the next 35 years.

Story by Allen R. Kuhn

It was on September 20, 1998, that Carole and I went to a vintage sports car race in Tustin, California. This was the first time we had seen sports cars turn their wheels in earnest. I took some 8×10 prints along just in case we saw some of the same cars again. Sure enough, we saw some. I actually (cough, cough) gave a few guys prints. (I always get choked up when I use the “G” word, GAVE). Gave is a NO, NO, Dan Gurney once told me. Carole saw someone who had a booth about a sports car magazine, Vintage Race Car Journal . She wanted me to go and show him my photos. That’s where I met Casey Annis.

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Warbirds at Goodwood

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Powered by Rolls-Royce

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

The pandemic must have made the curation of the 2021 Freddy March Spirit of Aviation Trophy (held as part of the Goodwood Revival Meeting September 17–19, 2021) much harder, but as usual, the mix of aircraft on display was as eclectic as usual, from bi-planes to bombers, trainers to fighters, from wood and canvas to polished alloy fuselages. [Read more…] about Warbirds at Goodwood

Alfa Romeo 33/2 Coupé Special Pininfarina

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Roeberto Motta photo

From the VeloceToday Archives, March, 2018

Story by Roberto Motta

Alfa Romeo 33/2 Coupé special by Pininfarina

Looking at the 33/2 Coupé Special, take the time to savor the moment, and let your eyes explore the details of a very special car that has the flavor of an artistic creation, enhanced by the yellow color of the sensual lines of the body.

In the late sixties, Ferrari commissioned Pininfarina to do a study of new car with advanced aerodynamics. To design the car, Pininfarina chose Ing. Leonardo Fioravanti, because he was young, had ideas, and even more, had a mechanical engineering education at the Politecnico di Milano where his studies were focused on aerodynamics and car body design.

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A Photographer’s Life: Cars and Dolls

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Allen Kuhn with his trusty Canon 35 mm with a 135mm telephoto lens. He also used a 2 ¼ Rolleicord that was mostly for Ektachrome color film. “Color film made up just 5 % of my total images (about 300 images). I used it mostly for pit shots. The Canon was the work horse.”

West Coast photographer Allen R. Kuhn spent his youth photographing models, buzzing around Southern California in an Abarth Zagato, became a noted race photographer, found a career at Hughes Aircraft, married the girl of his dreams…and that was just the beginning.

Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn

Unlike many car enthusiasts, my interest in sports cars was not influenced by my parents. Their style in cars was a 1928 Ford that they drove to Yosemite National Park for their honeymoon. They did, however, support my photo interests by naming me the ‘Official Family Photographer.’ In 1954, when I was 16, I found a copy of Argosy magazine (a men’s magazine of the day) with an article about Sebring. It had a fantastic two-page spread on Juan Manuel Fangio driving a Lancia D24, taken at dusk. It was an extreme pan shot. You could almost feel the sensation of speed with the blurred background and sharp looking car. That’s the style I wanted to achieve. [Read more…] about A Photographer’s Life: Cars and Dolls

An Aston Martin on the Gran Premio Nuvolari

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Not Monterey. Joe Hurwich and Sterling Pratz in the Aston Martin on the shores of Lake Trasimeno, a lake in the province of Perugia, in the Umbria region of Italy on the border with Tuscany. GallucciPhoto

Story by Joe Hurwich
Photos by GallucciPhoto

In the November 8 edition of

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Greatest American Grand Prix Drivers: Best of the Rest

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Allen Kuhn captures a rare moment in the career of Jim Hall; driving a F1 Lotus 18 at the U.S. Grand Prix on November 20, 1960.

On December 20, Clyde Berryman listed the top ten U.S. Grand Prix drivers, based on his statical QPRS. But there was more. In this article, he lists the Best of the rest, in order. Argue on…

11. Jim HALL – QPRS: 233.2 Competitiveness Index of Years Raced: 60.0 All-Time Rating: 293.2
(1960-61, 1963)
GP Starts: 11
GP Points: 3
Jim Hall is a motorsport legend as the constructor of the Chaparral marque of racing cars which competed in the World Manufacturers Cup, the CAN-AM Challenge and Indianapolis series. Less known is that he had a brief career as a Grand Prix driver. He entered a few races between 1960-62 driving a Lotus but had more success in 1963 driving a BRP Lotus 24 with which he scored 3 points and finished 12th in the championship.

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Those Marvelous Merit Models

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The whole range of the Merit 1:24-scale plastic kit assembled and painted in period: mid-Fifties. Front line: British F1 and the Jaguar D-Type. Mid row: Italian F1 and Grand Prix racers and the Lotus 11. Rear row: French racers, Mercedes W196, Cooper 500 MkIX and Aston Martin DB3S.

Text, photos and models by Aldo Zana

From the VeloceToday Archives, March, 2019

It was hard times in the second half of the Fifties for European kids in love with Formula One and longing to become part of its world by collecting and playing with model racers.

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Graham Gauld: The Tourist Trophy at Ards

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Ards, 1932. Freddie DIxon’s big off.

Story by Graham Gauld
Photos from the collection of Robert McCann

The RAC Tourist Trophy Race is one of the few races that has been in existence for over 100 years and in fact it is the longest running series, having started in 1905.

It was first held on the Isle of Man and the first winner was not only a Scot, John Napier, but he was even driving a Scottish car, an Arrol Johnston built in Glasgow.

One of the great periods in TT history came in the 1930s. As everyone appears to enjoy older photos, I thought that I would come up with a picture story covering some of those events held on the Ards circuit outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, where racing on the public roads was allowed, unlike on the U.K. mainland were open road racing was banned.

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Get Your Calendar NOW and Here’s Why

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Cover photo from the most recent edition of Vintage Sports Car, the VSCCA magazine. Type 39 Bugatti, chassis 4810 in 1952. For more Bugatti photos, get the latest calendar.

Thanks to the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, (yes, we are members), we have a few of those most useful calendars to give away. Not exactly give away but we’ve opened the doors a bit to whom may receive a free copy including shipping:
To anyone who subscribes to VeloceToday for the $5 recurring charge via PayPal
To anyone who subscribes to VeloceToday via $60 per year via check or PayPal
To anyone who is already subscribed but would like to make a $60 donation to VeloceToday

Click here to see three ways to subscribe.

Yes, please, we do need the subscriptions in order to keep publishing VeloceToday. So far we have not had to raise the subscription rates, but the only way not to do that is to try to persuade the many folks out there who read VT every week but don’t support our efforts financially.

Now, here is why we like the VSCCA calendar, and we bet you will too… [Read more…] about Get Your Calendar NOW and Here’s Why

Velocity Invitational Inaugural at Laguna Seca

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Porsche 917/30-003, one of two Porsches that Mark Donohue used to dominate the Can-Am in 1973. 003 also set the closed course world speed record at Talladega.

Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos by Larry Chen / Velocity Invitational
Captions by John Sexton

From November 12-14, 2021, a new event debuted at Laguna Seca racetrack (now called WeatherTech Raceway). It was a success. About ten thousand people attended in person, and even more startling, I am told that over 600,000 viewers watched it on YouTube and other streaming platforms! More than 175 vintage racing cars participated daily on the track, with two days to practice and two days to race, and another 75 cars were on display in the paddock. The previous event by this organizer was the 2019 Sonoma Speed Festival, covered here at VeloceToday at the time. That event has essentially been moved from Sonoma to Monterey going forward.

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