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junek

A Car Life, by Larry Crane

February 25, 2009 By pete

crane bugatti
Legend has it that Mrs. Bugatti would pass through the race shop periodically and hold her pack of Gaulois cigarettes next to the latest group of team cars to verify they had not drifted too far from the official racing color.

Bugatti Type 51 in Gaulois Bleue

Bugatti’s famous snarl grows quickly. The tiny clutch pedal snaps up and we are underway. Every metal component that is in motion makes noise and it is all in the cockpit with you. There is no firewall and the gearbox is pressed against my left leg. It doesn’t take long before there is heat everywhere. The rev counter has inexplicably failed and we are running on sound. [Read more…] about A Car Life, by Larry Crane

Tagged With: bugatti, bugatti t51, junek, Larry Crane

A Car Life by Larry Crane

February 18, 2009 By pete

ferrari 250tr
Crane enjoying the echo of that famous song at the exit of Laguna Seca’s famous Turn Eleven in 1978. Notice “vintage” Italian flag helmet with “disappearing” bottom half.

Ferrari’s “Song of the Twelve”
reverberated off the concrete wall at the exit of turn eleven and filled the little canyon that contains Laguna Seca Raceway near the California coast. The legendary Italian aria filled my helmet too as the 250 Testa Rossa sang a 6000-rev crescendo. I pushed in the clutch and slid the heavy steel gearlever through its gate to select the next chorus.
[Read more…] about A Car Life by Larry Crane

Tagged With: ferrari 250TR, junek, Larry Crane, pete lovely, red head, testa rossa

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