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The Dick Irish Story, Part 2

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Rare color photo of the Ferrari Comp Berlinetta sn 0322 at Watkins Glen in 1954. Robert Pauley photo.

By Pete Vack

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We left Dick Irish in 1953, pushing the Excalibur for 3.5 miles at Sebring earning the Shell Sportsmanship Trophy, but the rest of the year was a wash. He managed to stay Stateside during the Korean War, and ended up teaching aviation maintenance at the Transportation Corps school at Ft. Eustis, VA. “During 1954, I got leave to race at Tampa, FL MacDill driving Gordon C. “Tippy” Lipe’s Porsche, Brooks Stevens Excalibur (at Sebring again) and best of all, Marty Christensen’s Ferrari 340/375 “Competizione” Berlinetta.”

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Phillip Island Classic, Australia, 11-13 March

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1971 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV Geoffrey Burgess, 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Corsa, Steven Byrnes

Story and Photos by Vince Johnson

After last year’s restrictions, spectators were back at the Victorian Historic Racing Register’s Phillip Island Classic, held on the sweeping circuit south of Melbourne. The perfect weather and long weekend holiday also saw over 400 entries, but shipping issues meant they were an all-Australian affair, although several overseas drivers had made the journey down to the sun.

Thursday was for free practice, the extra track time valuable to those who had missed last year’s competitor-only meeting. On Friday morning further practice and qualifying was followed by the first of the Regularity events and racing categories. [Read more…] about Phillip Island Classic, Australia, 11-13 March

Bob Temple Photography

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Charles Chayne’s Cabriolet La Royale chassis 41121 at the end of the Press on Regardless Rally on August 6, 1950.

From the VeloceToday Archives, May, 2017

VeloceToday presents photographs by Bob Temple, coming to us via the collection of Vintage Motorphoto’s Dale LaFollette.

The photos are remarkable in themselves, portraits of cars and events that shaped the sports car movement in the U.S. during the post war years which include the Bugatti La Royale convertible when owned by Chayne. But they were particularly interesting for us, for the photos brought together an equally remarkable set of VeloceToday Contributors who each had story behind some of the images.

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The Dick Irish Story

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Dick Irish in the Ferrari 340/375 coupe, sn 0322 at Chanute AFB in 1954.

By Pete Vack
Photos from the Dick Irish collection unless otherwise noted

While Carl Goodwin did superb job covering race driver Dick Irish for his book, They Started in MGs, this article adds new information about Dick and his all too brief racing career, including never before published photos of the Ferrari 340 PF coupe, sn 0322 after being ditched in Wisconsin. [Read more…] about The Dick Irish Story

Allen R. Kuhn: FIII in California

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Torrey Pines January 15, 1956, Harry Morrow JBS close up view. Photo by Allen R. Kuhn

Photos by Allen R. Kuhn
Story by Pete Vack with Jim Sitz

Following up on our Formula III series, we had not written anything on the class in America. But were there 500 cc events in the States?

Yes, they were raced throughout America but no one paid much attention. Says Jim Sitz, “Formula III never took off in California or the U.S.A. since the fans wanted to see the big, powerful and noisy cars. The most popular events for a normal weekend of racing were the Corvette and modified classes. The FIII cars were noisy but did not appear to be very fast.”

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Barn Find of the Century, Part 3

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Chassis #110109 as found in the Baillon Collection. (Artcurial Motorcars)

By Peter M. Larsen
Click on photos to enlarge

This is the third amazing Saoutchik-bodied barnfind in the Baillon collection. The chassis was delivered on November 5, 1949 to the Carrosserie Saoutchik at no. 46 rue Jacques Dulud in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Only 32 short wheelbase (265 cm) race-derived Grand Sport chassis were constructed by Talbot between 1948 and 1952. T26GS #110109 is one of these very rare and extremely desirable chassis.

1949 TALBOT-LAGO T26 GRAND SPORT SAOUTCHIK #110109

On the Talbot production card, which is reproduced in the book Talbot-Lago Grand Sport – The Car from Paris by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson, “Saoutchik” is written into both the carrosserie and the client fields. This indicates that Saoutchik ordered chassis #110109 directly from the Talbot-Lago factory to be bodied at his own expense for show purposes. Saoutchik fitted chassis #110109 with an exquisite fastback coupé design which had first been shown at the 1948 Paris Salon.

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Allen R. Kuhn: Of Gauld and Ferrari

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Carroll Shelby in John Edgar’s Ferrari 410S leads Dan Gurney in Frank Arciero’s Ferrari 375 Plus at Palm Springs on April 13, 1958. One of the many photos I shared with the Ferrari Archivist.

Story and Photos by Allen R. Kuhn

I would like to start this series of short stories – they are not Galleries as before – by telling a true story about Graham Gauld, and how he saved our skin when we were in Italy/France in 2006 for our seven-week tour of the Continent. The story really began in Maranello, so bear with me…. [Read more…] about Allen R. Kuhn: Of Gauld and Ferrari

Tim Considine

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Photo of Tim Considine by Bruce Benedict

On Thursday March 3, Tim Considine, 81, passed away. Actor, author, photographer and historian, Considine dedicated many years to making sure that American drivers were recognized for their achievements on the international racing scene. First, with American Grand Prix Racing Considine devoted a chapter to each one of the Americans who tried their hand at Formula One racing. Second was his masterpiece, Twice Around the Clock, Yanks at Le Mans the book that won him international acclaim. He was working on his second set of Yanks at Le Mans when he passed away at home. Our condolances to his wife Willie and his family.

Many of our readers were close friends of Considine. We begin with Jodi Ellis, who worked with him on his last book and became a good friend: [Read more…] about Tim Considine

Spitfire: Symbol of the Defense of a Nation

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Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

It is by chance that I am composing this on Saturday the 5th March 2022, 86 years to the day of the first flight of the Supermarine Spitfire. More importantly it is also incredibly sad that I am writing about the Symbol of a Nation that in 1940 was standing alone and fighting an evil regime whilst at this very moment, Ukraine also fights for its freedom.

The Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, a place I used to know well, announced late in 2021 that it was opening an exhibition, on the 27th December, titled the “evolution of an icon”, and in Britain, other than our beloved Queen, there is no greater icon than a Spitfire.

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Barn Find of the Century, Part 2

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Chassis #100272 as found. Even in a state of decay, it has lost none of its intensity or beauty. (Artcurial Motorcars)

By Peter M. Larsen

From the VeloceToday Archives, 2015

Read Part 1

TALBOT-LAGO T26 RECORD SAOUTCHIK #100272

Talbot-Lago T26 Record chassis #100272 is the second of the three momentous Saoutchik barnfinds in the collection of the late Jacques Baillon. The emergence of this extremely rare car is all the more remarkable, as it was believed lost.

It shares the chassis as well as its powerful engine and mechanicals with Talbot-Lago T26 #100239 which was featured last week and is one of 208 T26 Records manufactured in 1948. The vast majority of these cars were given one of a number of factory body styles manufactured in-house by Talbot. #100272 is one of the rare instances where a Record chassis was sent to a prominent Carrosserie to receive a one-off body. The price of the Record chassis alone was an astronomical 1,165,000 francs in 1948. Saoutchik charged 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 francs for a full-size convertible body. When delivered, the price of admission for #100272 would have approached 4,000,000 francs, more than enough to buy ten complete Citroën Traction Avants!

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Photo Gallery 6: Allen R. Kuhn, 1965

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A vision of two warriors, each with his own method of preparation for battle.

Story and Photos by Allen R. Kuhn

Since I only covered the single race at Riverside in 1965, all references for the pictures will be for the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix on October 31, 1965, at Riverside.

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