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And How!

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A few years ago we established a mini-feature entitled “And How” as a page to drop in short items, newsbits, addendums, etcetera. It worked fairly well. But after a while, I forgot to make further use of it. Then last week Graham Gauld, Rich Minor and Kendall Merritt had a few things they would like to impart, but shorts, y’know, things that would fit into a mini-feature. How do we do that within the VT format? Oh ya, I remember now. And How. Ed.

Mike Anthony gives Tony Brooks a push at the 1956 British GP. (Photo Gauld)

Graham Gauld and Tony Brooks

I am afraid I was unable to add anything to the comments about Tony Brooks as I had just left France after 27 years and getting adjusted to being back in the UK. [Read more…] about And How!

Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

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By Jeff Allison

This article first appeared in Prancing Horse, the quarterly magazine of the Ferrari Club of America.

Before his passing in 2014, Glen Glendenning sent David Rex a box full of loose photo scrapbook pages—you know the kind with the black mounts that you’d slip over the corners of a photo, lick the glue on the back of the mount and position the photo on a page. Remember, they tasted terrible! Rex provided the photos to editor Pete Vack for possible use in VeloceToday.com. Luckily, Glendenning had written brief descriptions under some of the photos, and the pages were in chronological order. Taken with a 35MM single-lens reflex camera, Glendenning obviously had access to the pits, the track, and the people. He owned a public relations firm with a film lab, producing twenty-six films for the Schlitz brewery, so photography probably was natural for him. [Read more…] about Jeff Allison Captions Ferraris by Glendenning

The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 6

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Le Mans, June 1963. Aston Martin’s project cars during practice, headed by the DP 215 of Phil Hill/Lucien Bianchi. Bill Kimberly is seen next to his #7 DB4GT, internally known as DP 214. (Ed Matsuishi)

By Willem Oosthoek

After a disappointing finish with the Cunningham Jaguar E-type at Sebring in March 1963, Bill Kimberly picked up his corporate job in London again and did not expect to do much racing for the rest of the season, with -perhaps- Le Mans and the Cunningham team being the exception. An unexpected call changed things completely, thanks to one of Bill’s occasional boarders in the London apartment. [Read more…] about The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 6

The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 5

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Le Mans, June 1962. The Kimberly/Thompson Tipo 151, chassis 006, being pushed to its start position. On the left Maserati suspension designer Gianpaolo Dallara and chief mechanic Guerrino Bertocchi, on the right Cunningham team manager John Baus. (Flip Schulke)

By Willem Oosthoek

The 1962 season would turn out to be a low point in term of the number of race appearances for Bill Kimberly. Occupied with his corporate job at Kimberly-Clark in London, and with his Ferrari 500TR sold, he appeared trackside only twice. But they were memorable rides, both again with the Briggs Cunningham team.

Although Briggs showed up in force at Sebring in March, Bill was unable to make it. But in Europe competition would be easier to arrange based on his vacation days. Across the English Channel, Le Mans was only a short distance away. [Read more…] about The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 5

The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 4

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Road America 500, Wisconsin, September 1961. Bill Kimberly in the brand-new, but badly running chassis 63.002. Note the redundant full width FIA windshield and the air hoses for cockpit cooling. (Willem Oosthoek Collection)

By Willem Oosthoek

With a busy corporate schedule at Kimberly-Clark in Connecticut, Bill Kimberly had fewer opportunities to race during the 1961 season. As a regular “working stiff” his number of vacation days were limited, so invitations by Briggs Cunningham for Sebring, Le Mans and Road America were welcome. Briggs’ mechanics would do the preparations on the cars that Bill would race, another time and money saver for the amateur race driver.

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The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly, Part 3

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Le Mans, June 1959. Bill Kimberly and E.D. Martin taking E.D.’s Ferrari 250TR through the scrutineering process. (Henri Beroul)

Story by Willem Oosthoek

Expecting an early sprint contest between the Ferrari and Aston Martin works entries at the 1959 Le Mans 24 hours, E.D. and Bill decided to drive at a conservative pace early on and see what would happen. After seven hours they had reached 10th place, climbing to 9th overall in the next hour. Bill: “We were very careful not to overdo it and we stayed very close to our set lap times. Then transmission trouble struck, and we had to retire. We were running 8th overall when it happened.” They completed 108 laps in nine hours.

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The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly Part 2

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Gulf Coast Region’s SCCA executive Bill Kimberly posing with his 2-liter Ferrari 500TR (chassis 0642) at Pensacola’s Corry Field Naval Air Station in April 1959. (Willem Oosthoek Collection)

By Willem Oosthoek

With his purchase of the Ferrari 500TR previously raced by Chick Butscher and Lucky Casner, Bill Kimberly finally had an opportunity to contest feature victories in SCCA Regionals. It would prove difficult, though, as competition in the Southeast was stiff for a more than two-year old, mid-sized bolide.

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Inspired by Uncle Jim: The Racing Career of Bill Kimberly

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Pensacola, Florida, April 1959. Bill Kimberly, Executive of the SCCA’s Gulf Region, in his 2-liter Ferrari 500TR, chassis 0642. (Willem Oosthoek Collection)


By Willem Oosthoek Part 1

It all started way back in 1872, when four men partnered up to establish a paper mill in Neenah, Wisconsin. By 1880 the fast-growing business was incorporated under the name Kimberly-Clark, with one of the partners, John Kimberly, serving as its CEO. One of John’s grandsons, James “Jim” Kimberly eventually ran the business until 1950, when he retired to concentrate on a new full-time hobby: sports car racing. Jim’s job as Chairman and CEO was taken over by his brother Jack Kimberly, who happened to have a young son, soon to be fascinated with Uncle Jimmy’s new hobby. That son was Bill Kimberly, and in spite of their age difference, Jim and Bill are often confused when it comes to motor racing history.

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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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The Winningest OSCA

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October 31st, 2007
Story by Pete Vack

Oh, what you will be missing. This is just one of hundreds of articles from our archives, which are available only if you subscribe to our premium service. This week, it’s updated and free. For a while.

Jim Kimberly at Watkins Glen in 1114. He placed second in class. Photo by Alix Lafontant.

From 1948 to 1955, OSCAs won hundreds of class victories in Europe and the United States. But one OSCA in particular was responsible for more than its share of wins. Built as a an early spider, OSCA number 1114 was completed just in time for the 1951 Mille Miglia. It was designated a factory team car, and was one of the first OSCA MT4s with the dual overhead cam head, but the displacement was still just under 1100 cc. In the 1000 mile race, 1114 placed second in class driven by Franco Bordoni.

Otto Linton's trophies--4 places out of 5 races, Harewood Acres, Canada. Otto Linton photo.

In June a young man from Verona by the name of Giulio Cabianca bought the car and registered it on tags VR 28745, and had it painted red over blue. Cabianca immediately embarked upon a six month campaign with his new race car. Almost every weekend Cabianca entered an event, and small as they were, the competition was fierce in the extremely popular 1100cc class, but the OSCA won almost every time out. From June to the end of October, Cabianca and 1114 achieved a remarkable 14 class victories along with nine 1st overalls.

For the 1952 season Cabianca had the old body modified by Coriasco to equip it with outboard headlights and additional lights in the oval grille. It’s looks were unique and the car can be instantly recognized as being the Cabianca OSCA. Otto Linton, who later owned 1114, told John Wright…”The work on my MT4 was done for Cabianca, the OSCA factory driver. Because it had run the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio and had been set up for LeMans, it had big headlights in the grille.”

OSCA, La Rivincita Dei Maserati, by Luigi Orsini and Franco Zagari was produced as the definitive OSCA book and remains so to this day. For a very good reason, OSCA 1114 was pictured on the cover.

By June, Cabianca had also purchased a 1350 cc OSCA engine, and during the ‘52 season swapped the engines to race in either the 1100 cc class or under 1500cc classes with the new 1350. Again, he was successful, totaling up another 8 wins. Before he sold it to a Philadelphia tire company executive by the name of Al Garthwaite in August of 1952, Cabianca had driven 1114 to a total of twenty two wins in less than two years.

Garthwaite lost no time in getting the OSCA back on the track. He entered it in the Watkins Glen Grand Prix to be held on September 21. Literally fresh off the dock and driven by Jim Kimberly, the OSCA placed second in class, beaten only by Bill Spear in the very latest OSCA 1350 MT4 (the build date on the Spear car was August 19th 1952). In October, Garthwaite, a good driver in anyone’s book, took the car to second place at Albany NY. The next summer, before selling 1114 to Otto Linton, Garthwaite, who would also head Algar (AL GARthwaite) Motors in Philadelphia, drove the aging OSCA to a first in class at the tough Bryfan Tyddyn course.

Linton at the unique Bryn Fan Tyddyn track garnering another first in class. Linton Collection.

Linton told VeloceToday correspondent John Wright that “.. In Pennsylvania, we had a good track called Bryn Fan Tyddyn. Now that course was just wonderful; it ran around a senator’s estate. It was a perfect track for my OSCA, and (if I remember correctly) I won there three years in a row until the last year it was in operation. That was when John Edgar came out from California with his great big trailer with Jack McAfee’s 550 Porsche and a Ferrari. So, the 2 liter Ferrari and the Porsche were slightly faster than my 1342cc OSCA.”

Linton also trailered 1114 to Sebring in 1954, where he took a third in class behind Stirling Moss, who won the event overall in another OSCA. For the next three years, Linton campaigned his OSCA up and down the east coast, entering the old warrior in ten more events. The last competitive appearance of 1114 was on July 25th 1956, when Linton took a second in class at Brynfan Tyddyn.

Cabianca’s Record
1951 1100 cc class
June 2 1951 Coppa Della Toscana Cabina Zanelli, 1c
June 26 1951 Coppa Del Pasubio 1c 1o
June 29 1951 Corsa Sulle Torricelle Cabianca 1c 1o
July 1 1951 Lecco-Ballabio Cabianca 1c 1o
July 8 1951 Bozano-Mendola Cabianca 1c 1o
July 15 1951 Coppa D oro Delle Domiti Cabianca 1c 1o
August 12th 1951 Circuito De Senegallia Cabianca 1c
September 2 1951 Vittorio-Veneto Cansiglio Cabianca 1c
September 9 1951 Bologna-Raticosa Cabianca 1c 1o
September 16 1951 G. P. Vetturette, Monza Cabianca 1o
September 23 1951 Tieste-Opicina Cabianca 1c 2o
September 29 1951 Coppa Gallenga Cabianca 1c
October 10 1951 Treponti-Castelnuovo Cabianca 1c 1o
October 28 1951 Messina-Colle Sand Rizzo Cabianca 1c

1952 1100 cc class
March 23 1952 Corsa Sulle Torricelle Cabianca 1c 1o
May 4 1952 Mille Miglia Cabianca-Roghi 1c
June 12 1952 Giro Dell’Umbria Cabianca-Roghi 1c 1o
June 22 1952 Circuito de Caserta Cabianca 1o
July 13 1952 Coppa D oro Delle Dolomiti Cabianco, 1c
August 10 1952 Circuito di Senegallia Cabianca 1c

1952 1350 class
June 29 1952 Targa Florio Cabianca retired
July 6 1952 Bolzano-Mendola Cabianca, 1c
August 3 1952 Giro Delle Calabrie Cabianco-Roghi 1c

OSCA 1114 in America
September 21 1952 Watkins Glen, John Kimberly, 2c #57
October 12 1952 Albany, NY, Garthwaite, 2c
July 24-25 1953 Brynfan Tyddyn Garthwaite, 1c
March 8 1954 Sebring, Linton/Beck 3c, #61
May 2 1954 Andrews AFB, Linton, 3c, #61
July 24 1954 Wilkes Barre, Linton, 1c, 1o, #23
August 8 1954 Lockbourne AFB, Linton, 2c, #23
September 18 1954 Watkins Glen Linton, 4c, #23
March 13 1955 Sebring Linton/Stetson, R #73
September 9 1955 Thompson, Linton R #13
June 24 1956, Road America Linton, 5c #196
July 7 1956 Beverly Linton R #196
July 25 1956 Brynfan Tyddyn Linton, 2c

Next from the Archives, a Talk with Otto Linton.

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