Wednesday, August 31, 2011

This Way Please / Zone 8 Porsche Concours

The morning was dark, clear and heavy with stars as I put fire to my ride. Making my way to Shelter Island the sun rose out of the hills behind me, warming the smooth water on the bay next to the show site. I was there early to help direct cars, and couldn't help to think, this was to be a nice day. As I saw it, every blade of grass was ready to accept the perfect Porsches directed onto the ramps.  Later on, not having a camera, and spotting Shannon Bowman with one in hand, I asked, "Will you take some photos for the blog?" Her face tightened, then her initial resistance broke way to a big smile. "Sure", was her response.

"I like to look for the beauty in the cars...
they're like art."--Shannon Bowman

The shutter in the camera clicked opened and closed with her creative blue eye looking through, carefully framing each image. So here they are, wonderful shots of Steve and Araceli Lopez's organized Zone 8 Porsche Club Concours. Enjoy.

San Diego Zone 8 Concours. Image © Shannon Bowman.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Talking About Stirling / 1959 U.S. Grand Prix at Riverside

Well, well, whaddaya' know! With a past post on Stirling Moss, fellow blog follower, Marty Goldsmith sent this photo he captured of Sir Stirling back in the day. If you let your mind run, you can hear the rhythmic growl of the engine, the three air sucking Webers, and sense the smell of Castrol taking you to the time and place...

It was the United States Grand Prix for Sports Cars held at Riverside Raceway in 1959, with drivers such as; Phil Hill, Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther, Scooter Patrick and one lone woman driver, Josie von Neuman wheeling a Ferrari Testa Rosa. The affair was a 200 mile race,  sadly Stirling when out with an engine issue after qualifying 6th on the grid.

Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel of his Aston Martin DBR2 entered by David Brown in the U.S. Grand Prix for Sports Cars at Riverside. Image © Marty Goldsmith.

The U.S. Grand Prix of Sports Cars 1959, Phil Hill won the race driving a Ferrari 250 TR.


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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Stirling, Say It's Not True / Stirling Moss

As the years would saunter by, I would usually see Stirling Moss at the Monterey Historics driving some kind of ancient machine. It was as if the world was still OK ... here's someone I never saw race, but always heard the amazing stories and there he was, out on the track.

There is little doubt that Stirling Moss was the greatest driver ever not to win the World Championship.
Where his friend, mentor and arch-rival Fangio excelled in Grand Prix racing, Moss was a brilliantly versatile all-rounder who could perform as well in grueling sportscar events such as LeMans, the Targa Florio or the Tourist Trophy as he did in Formula One. From 1948-1962 Stirling entered 527 races, races finished, 375, races won, 212.

Moss's active career in top line competition ended when his Lotus left the road at Goodwood during a Glover Trophy race in1962, and he received serious head injuries.  In 1980 he made a brief comeback in British Touring Car racing with Audi. Since then he has been active in the Motorsports arena, including Vintage Car Racing. However, 60 years after his first race, he has announced his retirement from the sport.

Looking back, some 50 years ago he was just 800 meters from a win at the Targa in a Porsche RS60 when a transmission failure put an end to his day. Last year, in his own near-identical Porsche RS60 Spyder at the Monterey Historic Reunion, the car spun without warning during a morning warm-up and was hit hard by a Lotus XI. The car has since been rebuilt, and even though testing seemed promising at a recent practice day, he called it quits.

"This afternoon I scared myself
and I have always said that if I felt I was not up to it,
or that I was getting in the way of fellow competitors,
then I would retire" --Stirling Moss.


James Garner and Stirling at the 1970 Times Grand Prix at Riverside Raceway.  Image ©  Bob Lampert.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Runway Rumble / Coronado Vintage Races

It's time for the Coronado Vintage Races, hosted by Fleetweek San Diego. Again this year San Diego Region of the Porsche Club will be hosting a Hospitality Tent at the races both Saturday, September 24th and Sunday, September 25th. If you are a member of the Porsche Club and would like to receive a free Porsche parking corral pass, or would like to read more about it, please click here.

Our Hospitality Tent at the Coronado Vintage races. Image © Greg Phillips.

If you would like to help the Vintage Race Committee, click here.

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Praying For Daylight...or...Was I?

Tell me, do such things happen to you? After I hit the sack following an over abundance of food and drink, along came a dream about taking the cover off my cloaked in patina and pedestrian '67, tachin' it up, and heading to the next "Cars & Coffee". Look what transpired on the way! People tell me I have quite an imagination.
Former Playboy pinup and B-movie actress of the 50's Yvette Vickers recently died at the age of 82. But it wasn't until a year later, that her mummified body was found in her Beverly Hills home.  A neighbor,  found the "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" star lying on the floor of an upstairs room, after pushing open a barricaded front gate, "scaling a hillside", climbing through a broken window and pushing through stacks of "clothes, junk mail and letters" to reach her.

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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Torrey Pines Road Races / More Lost Car RacingTracks

During the early 50's European car road racing took off here in the states with returning service men wanting to try their hand at the wheel. Also, about this time Army and Navy bases were not needed and became the prefect place to let these cars stretch.

"Camp Callan" was located at the south end of Torrey Pines and accidentally became a hot-bed of racing from 1951 to 1956. The '51 race was scheduled for the fairgrounds at Del Mar when the negotiations broke down and the suggestion was made to use the asphalt streets of the old Army base at Torrey. Torrey Pines road racing was born.

The races were first organized by the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce and the California Sports Car Club. In the early years the races were sprint contest consisting of 6 lap events around a 2.7 mile course with names such as; the Del Mar Trophy Race, the La Jolla Trophy Race, the Balboa Trophy Race, the Cabrillo Trophy Race and the Torrey Pines Trophy Race. A little known fact about those early years, 3 lap motorcycle races were also held during the race weekends.

In 1955 the Sports Car Club of America joined in by sanctioning the races under the auspices of the Los Angeles and San Diego Regions of the SCCA along with the San Diego Sports Car Club and the California Sports Car Club. To Torrey's merit, it drew the like of who's-who in U.S. racing, Paul O'Shea, Carroll Shelby, Pete Lovely, John von Neumann, Ken Miles, Phil Hill and Jack McAfee driving Ferrari's, Porsche's, Allard's, Jaguar's and more.

On the final weekend of racing at the Pines it was a swan song for the course, it certainly afforded a pleasure for the drivers and spectators alike to come watch. In spite of the usual threatening fog bank offshore, a taxing six-hour endro race was held Saturday followed by six sprint races Sunday. The underbrush had been bulldozed away eliminating the former fire hazard at previous races and a large number of flags around the course gave it a fittingly festive air, with a spectator count of 35,000 at the end.

Shortly after, the San Diego City Council voted to turn the land into two golf courses and the Torrey Pines Road races sadly came to an end.

Just a note: most of these images are from the camera of fellow blog follower Bob Lampert, thanks Bob.

Classic 50s' program art with an Allard drifting around a Torrey Pine perched on a cliff.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

356 Dana Point Concours / 356 Club of SoCal

We went for an outing last weekend...and I had camera in hand, so, naturally, I took some shots.
Another well attended Dana Point Concours with over a hundred 356 cars, early 911S Registry guys and some 912 guys converging on Lantern Bay Park at Dana Point. Image © AFTR.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Art of Bomonster

Call him, Dear Bo, or Mr. Monster...I don't know. I first meet him at a Goodguys show and later we talked again at Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend. He goes by the name Bomonster and 'Art' is the name of his game, precisely in the world of art, it's called scratchboard. I was so curious and jazzed about his style, I asked him to do something for the blog.

You can call it Lowbrow, Hot Rod, Comic or Underground, it's just bitchin' and every hand stroke comes from his heart. If you're like me, trying to draw a simple line is hard, you can appreciate his talent.

A young Bomonster picked up on art watching his hot rodding dad create pen and ink drawings of cars. Later he saw a concept pen and ink by Ed Newton where Newton had used black lines and dashes of white paint on the ends to highlight the illusion of chrome...Bomonster was hooked. Today while not scratching away, he works as a professional in the advertising world.

I often hear my artist wife use the art world terms, loose or tight, his creations are loose, fun and inviting to gaze the small details. After you see how he does it, spend some time on his website to check out finished pieces. While you're checking them out, look for a very small 1964 Kellison Astra GT somewhere in each...his dream car.

The finished art, read on to see how he does it.