XXII Liège-Rome-Liège, August 1952: This 1500S Cabriolet was a Spanish entry by José M. de Caralt and L. Blesa, the latter being the private 'chauffeur' of de Caralt who also did most of the driving during this event. At the Rome control, turning point of the rally, this Spanish team collected only 670 penalty points which wasn't bad compared with, for instance, Fraikin/Gendebien who at this point already had 3676 penalty points! However, the Spanish Porsche ended in a ditch near the Comagoi control, luckily without injury to driver or navigator. Photo Copyright CorsaResearch
SportErfolge (Success in Sport)
By Tony Adriaensens
CorsaResearch Bvba
Antwerp, Belgium
corsa@corsaresearch.com
Review by Graham Gauld
Scroll down to see the incredible photos from the book, and “About the Author” after that!
I first came across Tony Adriaensens when I was in Hong Kong nearly twenty years ago and he sent me a copy of his first book on Alfa Romeos for review. Since then he has broadened his scope and done what a lot of us wished we had done. He has travelled far and wide obtaining some outstanding photo collections from amateur and semi-professional race photographers and then crafted them into superbly printed and presented books.
His Weekend Heroes of color photographs taken in sport car events all over the USA in the 1950s is a classic, and now he has turned his attention to the early racing Porsches.
Called SportErfolge this latest book is another you don’t want to drop on your toes. It has an impressive 640 pages, is landscape style, and has 113 color and 263 black and white photos of some the earliest Porsches in races and rallies all over the world. This is not just a picture book with hastily scribbled, vague captions. Tony has pored over each photo and written detailed captions but has also kept up a background narrative to the period and events shown in the photos.
VI Rallye Sablé-Solesmes, May 1954: Overall winner of this event was Jacques Péron, member of the Paris-based Ecurie Noire, in his French blue OSCA MT4. Péron impressed by winning the hill-climb in the Jardin Publique of Sablé where two runs had to be executed; Péron did both in exactly the same time. Auguste Veuillet, French Porsche importer and founding member of the Ecurie des Ecureuils, entered the rally with this protoype 550 (chassis 550-07) - notice the knock-off wheels! Photo Copyright Du Suau de la Croix.
This book is fascinating because one realizes what a universal workhorse the various Porsche models were in motor sport. This is not a string of factory supplied photos but photos taken carefully by enthusiasts just like you or me, beautifully printed and presented. It’s a “dipper” and you will dip into this book time and again and find new angles and some great stories.
The book comes with a hard cover slipcase and weighs over three kilos (6 and a half pounds) and costs 183 euros (US $241) but is worth every penny.
The best way for us to show you is by presenting some of the photos graciously provided by Tony. Trust us, it was hard to select the few photos below from the hundreds of similar images in the book. Italian car owners will note the presence of many of their favorite marques as well, making this a great book for everyone interested in 50s and 60s racing history.
Ed Trego’s Porsche 356 SL as driven by Karl Brocken at Vero Beach Florida. March 8th, 1952. VeloceToday reader Dick Irish was racing a Siata 1400 GS in the 12 hour enduro. Photo Copyright Phil Trego
Walter Hampel and Horst Koblischek quickly adopted U.S. rocker fashions. They entered this Porsche coupe in the Liége-Rome-Liége rally but did not finish. Photo Copyright CorsaResearch.
Ecurie Dragon member Firmin Dauwe stops at an official mobile Shell full service petrol station during the Tour de Belgique, October, 1952. Photo Copyright Alexis Callier
Hans Hermann’s Porsche coupe goes by the wreckage of American Tom Cole’s fatal crash at Le Mans, June, 1953. Photo Copyright Prototyp museum
Outstanding Mexican beauty Jacqueline Evans lights up before the start of a leg of the 1953 Mexican Panamericana road race. She entered all five of the classic road racing events but never finished. Photo Copyright Prototyp museum
Le Mans, 1954: The Porsche team was looking totally professional. The new four-cammers witnessed a number of engine failures but still won their class. Photo Copyright The Klemantaski Collection
Zora Arkus Duntov in the specially built 1100cc Porsche Spyder. It also won its class, to the chagrin of the OSCAs. Photo Copyright Porsche Werkfoto
Another view of the super light Porsche coupes, this one equipped with the four-cam Carrera engine for the Tour de Belgique in 1954. Photo Copyright Nicol Englebert
Elkhart Lake, September 10, 1955. That’s Bob Kuhn’s Abarth 207 A that finished right behind Rees Makin’s OSCA, which can be seen at left. Porsches, however, would soon both proliferate and dominate the 1300 and 1500 cc classes. Photo Copyright Michael Cleary
That’s Hanstein’s Bolex 16 mm camera on the hood of the crunched Porsche 718 RSK. Von Hanstien was von Trips passenger, taking photos when the off occurred. Photo Copyright Max Pichler
Classic Le Mans shot of the Linge/Pon Abarth Carrera which won the 1600 GT class in 1961. Photo Copyright Brian Jocelyne
About the Author
Tony in 2006.
Tony Adriaensens was born in Antwerp on April 17, 1966. “My parents are from Antwerp as well and they had an education in graphic arts.” Graphics, photography and layout then came naturally to Tony. Cars did too. “It was my father who gave me the bug for motorsports and both my brother and I are now stuck with it – I guess for life. Father was a strong supporter of Formula One and I remember that he never missed an event.” Racing takes its toll, however, particularly during the 1970s. “My favorite driver was Ronnie Peterson and I felt pretty bad when he fatally crashed his black & gold JPS Lotus.” But the hobby stayed with him.
Tony’s brother inherited the mechanical genes and today restores his own cars, while Tony is into more creative things probably due to his education. “Instead of working on the machinery I bought books. From the beginning it was obvious that my main interest went to Italian cars.”
His first real interest was the Alfa Romeo GTA and the lack of good detailed info made him decide to do a book on the car. “Having worked as an assistant graphic designer I learned how to make a book and it was obvious from the start that I would do it all myself.” As soon as Alleggerita (1994) was published Tony started with the Fiat 8V project which was almost automatically linked to SIATA.
Tony’s interest in the Otto Vu took flight in the mid-eighties when an 8V Zagato caught his attention, along with an Italian version of Automobile Quarterly which had the famous article on SIATA by Griff Borgeson. “I was hooked on those gorgeous 208CS Coupes!”
Unfortunately, Tony’s father, who had provided the inspiration, never had the chance to see the 8V-project as a finished book, having died a sudden death at the age of 59. “That’s why I dedicated these eleven years of research to him.”
Even though Tony has now acquired a Siata Daina, he feels that it is more important for him to collect old negatives and slides on motorsport. “During my research for Otto Vu, I was offered the chance to buy a collection of glass plate negatives all on racing, taken at Spa-Francorchamps from the late ’20s, and the Liege Rome Liege rallye. With my photography background on hand and the knowledge of (sometimes) high copyright fees I knew that this was a one-time chance and I bought it. (The Fiat 8V book-cover shot is one from that collection).
Tony has purchased other collections, mostly from California. Three of these American collections are the basis for the next book he published…a 600 page, massive work on the early road races in California, published in original color entitled Weekend Heroes.
Then it was on to Porsches. “The original idea for SportErfolge dates back to 2009 when I wanted to do something with the many special Porsche photos I had in my archive, maybe put together a 150 page walk through Porsche competition history. But it turned out to be 640 pages and took me longer than expected.”
From Tony then, we have Alleggerita, The Otto Vu, Weekend Heroes and now SportErfolge, each one a book destined to be a classic of its genre. What next?
Another great book by Tony A..!
His ” Weekend Heros” in my opinion the grandest publication n sports car racing in 1950s America..I found him to be a quick learner on the scene we lived through.
my own 1st race was Palm Springs 1951,, with 1st Ferrari to be raced Out West , the Jim Kimberly 166 barchetta and Phil Hill in 2.9 Alfa,,some Introduction !
another great book by Tony A.
His ” Weekend Heros” was fabulous!
Jim Sitz
Oregon
Magnificent books. I also appreciate very much “Ten Days in Sicily” by the same author.