Thursday, April 29, 2010

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival


The cars have been chosen ...375 of them, in fact, from a pool of over 500 seeking entry, and it is clear that this summer’s Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival will be as significant as ever in the line-up of vintage motorsport events held this year. The event takes place over the weekend of June 5-6, 2010, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, and continues the traditions that its organizer, Steve Earle of General Racing, Ltd., is credited with originating and shaping into the standard by which all other historic automobile racing is measured in this country. Known for founding the Monterey Historic Automobile Races over three decades ago, Steve Earle has moved the energy and focus of that event to Sonoma, and he is “gratified” by the quality and quantity of the entry applications. I'm excited to say that my 914/6GT was accepted as one of the entries.

Here I'm hustling the GT through turn 5 at the Monterey Historics last year. I also want to give a shout out to blog followers Jon Wactor and Hans Lapine that were likewise accepted with their GT's into Sonoma. Additionally blog follower Lance Smith got accepted in his beautiful '68 Chevelle.

Speaking about entries, they run the gamut between a 1914 Ford and a 1991 Roush Mustang and will be divided by age and engine size into 13 individual groups for competition on Infineon Raceway’s 12-turn, 2.52-mile road course. All of the groups will practice on Friday, with the seven "A" Groups taking to the Infineon racecourse on Saturday and the six "B" Groups on Sunday.

Also part of the event is the ,Charity Event at Sonoma Plaza -- Sonoma Plaza, a National Historic Landmark that is surrounded by a number of historical buildings, will be the setting for the Vintage Race Car Festival on Saturday evening, June 5. The event, which will benefit the Speedway Children’s Charities, will combine a wine and food tasting with the opportunity to view 30 vintage vehicles chosen from race cars participating in the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival. The cars will parade from the track to Sonoma Plaza where they will be on public view from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Here is a link for more info: http://generalracing.com/

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Mamie On The Road

I don't know why I like this photo...I just do. Its Mamie Van Doren in her Jaguar XK-120. The photo was taken by Loomis Dean in 1954 for Life Magazine.

Can't you just see her cruising Hollywood and the Sunset Strip top down
"back in the day" in that exotic sports car?

On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. The studio had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe, the reigning sex symbol of the era. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower.

No doubt she used some of her signing money to buy that Jag.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Carlsbad Raceway Road Course

Carlsbad Raceway a little north of San Diego was billed as the most modern "Drag Race" track in the country when it was built in 1964. What most people don't realize, it was also used as a "Road Race" track.

Starting around 1972 the Porsche Owners Club and the Porsche Club of America San Diego Region started running "Time Trial" events using the drag race track and return road as a road course. SCCA then picked up on the track and started running "Solo One" events and then changed over to running SCCA Regional races, using the same course.

The narrow course had a half mile straight with some drastic elevation changes and needless to say was rather dangerous to run with no runoff areas...one mistake and it was history. However, having run there...it was a lot of fun!



This was openning day at the track in 1964.
Track map with turns 1 through 7, a 1.16 mile track.

An aerial view of the track.

Turn 5 exiting the dragstrip pit area, with a steep drop.

Cresting the hill to turn 7 and onto the straight.

An MGB at turn 1.

L to R, crewmembers Victor Ofner, myself, Pat Scanlan, and Don Jones with the new Alan Johnson Porsche 944 Turbo GTR at an SCCA Regional race in 1985. Also note the Bozzani and Rusnak 914s in the pit area.

It's sad to say, the Raceway officially closed in August of 2004 and there have been no races there since that time. The Carlsbad Raceway Business Park now stands where we once raced.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Some Vintage Porsche Ads

Do you remember how it was possible to disappear into your own private world when you were younger? At times in my world it involved car magazines like "Rod and Custom," "Hot Rod," "Car and Driver" or "Road and Track." With the latter, I would look at the new car ads and wonder what it would be like to cruise the streets in such machinery...looking oh sooooo cool!

This video is made up with Porsche magazine ads starting in '58 with a Carrera Coupe and a '59 Convertible "D", then transcends into the iconic 911's, the 914's and ending with the 1976 introduction of the 930. It's pretty cool and it all starts some place for us...how many do you remember?



Enjoy! Here is the link if you did not get it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oWiIYzMy4U

Monday, April 19, 2010

Door Art

One of the coolest weekends of the year was the recent "Goodguys Show." Just seeing all the creativity is a mind expanding experience.

Here are some shots of "Door Art" from the show..."Flames!" The flaming of hot rods started about 1948 with cars running at places such as the dry lakes with the names; Rosamond, El Mirage, Muroc and to the salt of Bonneville. At first they were rather crudely hand painted with brushes and now have turned into exotic works of art with pinstripes, air brushes and paint guns.







If you would like to check out more on how to paint flames, check this site out: http://www.hotrodscustomstuff.com/PaintFlames01.html

Friday, April 16, 2010

A Look At The Carrera GT

The Carrera GT is powered by a 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower, whereas the original concept car featured a 5.5 litre version rated at 558 hp. Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0-62.1 mph in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 205 mph, although road tests indicated that in reality the car can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds and 0-100 mph in 6.8 seconds, while 0-125 mph in 9.9 seconds.

The Carrera GT came in a basic five color paint scheme which includes Guards Red, Fayence Yellow, Basalt Black, GT Silver and Seal Grey. Custom colors were also available from the factory. A traditional six-speed manual transmission is the only available transmission. Attached to this gearbox is a beechwood shift-knob which pays homage to the wooden shift-knobs used in the Porsche 917 Le Mans racers. Ah...yes, the 917 racers...what awesome cars!

Enjoy!



This is a link if you didn't get it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb6jAi1A0yg

Via: Youtube

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Paramount Ranch Road Races

The Paramount Ranch Road Races were held on a 2 mile course that operated for two years, 1956 and 1957. This was an old movie set located near Agoura in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was a narrow and twisting course with ups and downs...perfect for Porsche!

Some of the cars running "back in the day" were; Porsche Speedsters, 550's, Triumphs, Corvettes, Mercedes Gullwings, Alfas, Jaguars, MG's, and of course Ferrari's...they all raced there. Some of the drivers that saw action there were; Ken Miles, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther, John Von Neuman and Bob Bondurant.


These photos were taken at turn 5 by Marty Goldsmith. Marty is one of our blog followers and worked all 5 of the events held at Paramount as a scrutineer. Marty reports that he still has the Canon eye-level 35mm camera and that it's great for race photography, owing to the interchangeable Albada finders and the trigger advance mechanism.


Jack Nethercutt #102, Harry Handford #227 in a OSCA and Bill Scott #97 in a MG. The Mobilegas marker was still standing at this point.
Frank Monise #44 in a Lotus, Ken Miles #50 in the Von Neuman 550 Spyder, and Jack McAfee #57 in the Sugarman 550 Spyder. Notice Miles and McAfee with the perfect line.
Cliff Hensley, has catapulted his car into the spectator area on top of the hill. Notice the turn 5 marker on the pole.
John Lyon, rolled the MG up the hill and then settled back down on the wheels.
A "cardboard" helmet belonging to John Lyon, typical of the time. Also note that most of the cars did not have roll bars.

A Fun Event Planned
Grand Prix and Orange Coast Regions are planning a "Paramount Ranch Picnic Tour" on April 25. Marty, who organized this tour will give those attending a walking tour around the course, trying to identify some of its outstanding features including an underpass/tunnel as well as a history lesson about the track and sports car racing as it was at that time. If you have questions about the event or would like to RSVP to participate, please contact, Marty Goldsmith at: Captmarty@verizon.net

You can also call him at: (562)494-6350 (H), or (562)537-6793 (C)

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Peking To Paris 2010

Our friend Ahmet is getting his new car ready for the "Peking To Paris Rally". He sent some photos from Istanbul where the car is being readied.

He is using a 1967 Anadol; the first volume produced Turkish car. It has Ford Cortina mechanicals. The chassis, all suspension, engine, gearbox, back axle, etc. are brand new.

Here are some details of this event.

In 1907 the first-ever trans-Continental motorcar Rally between Peking and Paris became an epic challenge. Five cars set out from Peking, four made it to Paris to a tumultuous welcome and world-wide fame...they had set out to confirm that man and car could now go anywhere, they hoped it would make borders between countries redundant. They had left Peking with no passports – these had been confiscated by Chinese authorities who suspected they were spies, and had no interest in seeing the success of the motorcar having just invested in shares in the trans-Siberian railway.

Now to the relative current time.

The second Peking to Paris was not held until the summer of 1997, with the first-ever rally for classic and vintage cars to cross China, and the first-ever rally to cross Tibet...and camping at the foot of Mount Everest. They also cracked open the border between Tibet and Nepal. The border at Friendship Bridge between Tibet and Nepal had been closed for 40 years since it was slammed shut by Chairman Mao. However, in 1997 the Peking to Paris organizers negotiated the re-opening, and it remains open today. They drove on into India and Pakistan, and were the first rally to cross Iran since the 1977 London to Sydney Marathon. Of 96 cars that set out, all but nine made it to the celebrations in Place de la Concorde.

The 2010 event will go through places such as; the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Greece and Italy. The event dates are Sepember 10 to October 6.
Check out the Anadol





A body off rebuild.



I look forward to getting updates during the Rally to share.

Here is a link to more info about the event:
http://www.pekingparis.com/

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

L.A. Lit Meet...a Money Handoff with Seinfeld

Everyone needs to take this outing at least once in there lives...What am I talking about? It's the L.A. Literature and Memorabilia Meet. It's held at the L.A. Hilton around the first of March. It has soooo much of everything and more to ogle. Now let's take a road trip!
And, where better to start a road trip?...Randy's Donuts in L.A.
A room filled with goodies!
How about some Rally Clocks?
Let there be some illumination!
The money hand off with Seinfeld...he bought a bunch of my old magazines. You can see, Randy's donuts had taken an effect on me by this time.

Don't miss it next year, I'll post dates on it as soon as I get them.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Janis's Cab.

In 1968, the great blues singer Janis Joplin purchased a 1965 Porsche 356 Cabriolet in Beverly Hills.

However, Janis was not thrilled with the white Porsche, so she had a friend of one of her band's roadies come up with something a bit more appropriate for a successful, outspoken rock star. Dave Richards created a psychedelic paint job that even featured the likeness of Janis on the driver's side front fender. If you look close at the photo you can see it with her band members.

When anyone in Los Angeles or San Fransisco saw the custom painted Porsche 356 C, they knew it was Janis at the wheel. During one of Joplin's gigs, the car was stolen and painted grey, but fortunately a custom paint shop was able to restore it to its psychedelic splendor.

I can just see her cruising, top down with the stars out along PCH in Malibu...hair blowing in the wind with an eight track tape player piercing the night.

Janis famously lamented in her last song recorded, "Mercedes Benz",.... "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz, my friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends." 

It begs the question, which friends of hers drove Porsches?...The word on the street says, that both David Crosby and Steven Stills had 911s back in the day, was it them?

It's sad, but Janis had just completed that song "Mercedes Benz" and a birthday song for John Lennon when she died from an apparent heroin overdose early in October of 1970.

The Joplin Porsche will be on display at the Marin Sonoma Concours d' Elegance May 16th.
Here is a link for that event: http://www.marinsonomaconcours.org/

Friday, April 2, 2010

Goodguys Del Mar Nationals

It's that time of year...this is such a KOOL event! Held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on April 9 to the 11th.

It's the biggest, loudest car show of the year featuring more than 2,000 street rods, rat rods, customs, classics, muscle cars and sports cars dating from 1972. There are indoor and outdoor exhibit areas, a small swap meet area and a cars-for-sale corral. Also there are commercial and aftermarket vendors with everything you can think of for you're "Hot Rod", garage or body.

Monique and I love to grab a couple cups of  "Joe" plant butts on the midway early and watch all the cars cruise by to their spots...it's sooo much fun!

Heres a link for more info: http://www.good-guys.com/