Photos by Jonathan Sharp
It’s nice to see that Retromobile is back (March 16-20). As usual, it is so big, so fascinating, and with so many cars of interest for VeloceToday readers, we offer three or more stories from the event.
gordini transporters
Gordini Transporters
By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance
From the VeloceToday Archives, April, 2012
Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.
We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s.
Inside the Paddock: Racing Car Transporters
October, 1951, Winfield Scotland. Scuderia Ambrosiana’s F2 Ferrari being rolled out of the 1936 Leyland Tiger modified bus belonging to Merchiston Motors. Most teams had to convert busses and trucks to fit their needs.
Inside the Paddock, Racing Car Transporters at Work by David Cross and Bjorn Kjer
ISBN 978-1-85443-254-4
Dalton Watson Fine Books, Deerfield IL 2012
229mm by 290 mm, 392 pages, Hard cover with dust jacket, 550 mainly B&W photos
US $89 Order Here or at 1-847-945-0568
Review by Pete Vack
Ah hold off a bit…this book is about trucks in the paddock-not cars! Lorries, those wonderful, huge, largely ignored devices that somehow managed to get their payload to the grids across Europe just in time for practice. Well, perhaps just in time to make the grid was more like it.
This book is just in time too. Very little, if anything has been published or written on those magnificent elephants that would hide in plain sight in paddocks. At races, all eyes and cameras focused on the valuable awe inspiring race cars that were carefully unloaded from their bays. Usually parked side by side and hidden by other vehicles front and rear, the racing lorries were simply not all that photogenic. In spite of this, David Cross has come up with over 550 mainly black and white photographs to illustrate this very worthwhile labor of love.
Cross created over 150 individual chapters covering just about any European team, Ecurie, Scuderia, drivers, private entries and all major manufacturer such as Alfa, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.
Transporters weren’t always ignored of course. When Mercedes-Benz decided to make a 100 mph single car transporter in the mid fifties, they got their PR’s worth with the “Blue Wonder”. When Ecurie Ecosse (See Gauld’s story in this edition) created a new transporter with twin fins, it got a lot of attention. The Ferrari Bartoletti’s got a fair bit of press, ink and pixels over the years of the 1950s.
A great overall view of the paddock area at the Nurburgring in 1956, with transporters from Ferrari, Maserati, Gordini, and many others. Hard to see the forest for the trees while on the ground, resolved by shots like this. Credit Anthony Carter.
Gordini Transporter
By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance
Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.
We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s. [Read more…] about Gordini Transporter