Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Motor Sport Magazine

IN A BID FOR A BIT OF PRE-SEASON PROMO action, the EuroNASCAR series opted to take a leaf out of the playbook of its American bigger brother and try something new – test a stock car on ice. Coming just weeks after NASCAR itself returned to dirt-track racing for the first time in 60 years in a meet at Bristol, its European counterpart headed to Val Thorens in France for its own loose-surface test. Series organiser Team FJ equipped one of its Chevrolet Camaro stock cars with slim, studded ice tyres and went for some laps around the Andros Trophy venue, driven by series boss Jerome Galpin. The 400bhp, 1225kg car reportedly fared well, setting lap times that EuroNASCAR described as “already quicker than specifically designed rear-wheel-drive cars and close…

IN A PLOT TWIST STRAIGHT OUT OF THE Downton Abbey archives, MotorSport Vision is planning to restore the historic Donington Hall into a character hotel after buying the Grade Il-listed property. MSV took over Donington Park in 2017, adding the Leicestershire venue to its current circuit portfolio of Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Cadwell Park, Snetterton, Bedford Autodrome and the forthcoming Laon-Couvron facility in northern France. This month the group announced it would buy the entire 28-acre estate adjacent to the Donington track, which includes both the Hall and the Hastings House building, formerly the home of the British Midland International airline prior to its takeover by IAG – British Airways’ owner – in 2012. The hall will be converted into a 40-bedroom luxury hotel, while Hastings House will be transformed into…

From the moment the regulation floor trim of 2021 was announced there were competing theories about how it would affect the low-rake and high-rake cars respectively. The fact that the two low-rake cars – Mercedes and its relative, the Aston Martin – appeared to have significantly lost competitiveness in the opening race at least suggests that the change has favoured the high-rake concept popularised over the years by Red Bull and subsequently followed by most of the others. As such, the small tweak designed to ease the strain on the rear Pirellis may have fundamentally changed the competitive order. A diagonal line in the outer floor, beginning 1800mm back from the front axle line to a point ahead of the rear tyre, 100mm inboard, defines the cut. In addition, the…

IT WILL NOT HAVE ESCAPED YOUR attention that fast car manufacturers are engaged in a seemingly endless, futile and entirely counterproductive power struggle. Porsche is as guilty as anyone, but not its Motorsport department, responsible for its GT series cars. The engineers who work there beg to differ. Which is why this new 911 GT3 has a grand total of 10bhp more than the last, not enough to shave so much as a tenth off its 0-60mph time. Then again, if what you want is a normally aspirated engine producing around 500bhp from a 4-litre capacity, that’s the price you pay. The reward is a motor that is internally identical to that in the Carrera Cup racing car, revs to 9000bhp and makes a noise of which a modern V8…

JACKIE STEWART DESCRIBED JAN Magnussen as “the greatest driving talent to emerge since Ayrton Senna”. The young Dane dominated the 1994 British F3 championship, winning 14 of 18 races for the Paul Stewart team. As a teenager he’d already won the ultra-competitive Formula Ford Festival, his destiny as a future Formula 1 world champion seemingly assured. He made his F1 debut for McLaren at the Pacific Grand Prix in October 1995 but the dream career was diverted across the Atlantic for 1996. Jan stood in for both Paul Tracy and Emerson Fittipaldi in Penske’s CART team after both were badly hurt in accidents. Then came the big chance to prove himself with the Stewart Grand Prix team alongside Rubens Barrichello for 1997. To this day people are still mystified why…

REGARDING MY DRIVE AT THE 1971 RACE OF CHAMPIONS [LETTERS, MAY], HERE ARE the facts. Firstly, Emerson and myself were down to drive Lotus 72s but mine was not ready in time for most of practice so I started from the back of the grid with Ronnie Peterson, who also had problems. I asked Colin Chapman for advice regarding the start and he simply put his arm round me and said, “You’re driving it, boy, not me...” I made one of the best starts ever from the inside of the rear row and while everyone else moved to the left for the approach to Paddock Bend, I stayed right and by the time I got to Druids I was in fifth place ahead of a lot of the big names.…

ON MAY 13, 1950 GIUSEPPE Farina took the chequered flag at Silverstone, and thus by definition won a world championship race at his first attempt, for this was the first such to be run. If you want to be similarly pedantic, you can say that 17 days later Johnnie Parsons did the same – unfathomably, for the first 10 years of the world championship, the Indianapolis 500 was a point-scoring round. Contrary to what some appear to believe, though, motor racing did not begin in 1950. By the time he arrived at Silverstone, Farina had already driven many a grand prix – indeed had won at Monaco – and Parsons’ victory was his third shot at the 500. Had his engine stayed healthy for six more laps of Melbourne in…

FOR THOSE OF A CERTAIN AGE, THE 1990s is remembered as a halcyon period of great rivalries, epic races and dramatic deciders. The decade began with the heated relationship between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, and ended with Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen as two-time champions. Turbocharged engines had been banned after 1988, and an intense period of electronic technical development culminated in the Williams-Renault FW14B that took Nigel Mansell to a title in 1992. The FIA then sought to slow the cars and restricted ‘driver aids’, a process that was hastened by the tragedies of Imola in 1994 and that traumatic summer which came to overshadow the decade. But away from the headlines and blockbuster winners from McLaren, Williams and Benetton, there were a number of designs that showed…

IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO imagine a quintessential Formula 1 car from the 1960s, there’s a good chance you’ll picture something like this – the 1964 BRM P261 used by Graham Hill for pre-season testing and raced by him in that year’s Daily Mirror Trophy at Snetterton. Although he qualified second behind Jim Clark’s Lotus 25, Hill’s outing with the BRM in the actual, rain-soaked race came to an ignominious end when the car aquaplaned, hit a banking and ground to a halt with chassis and monocoque damage that saw it returned to BRM’s Lincolnshire headquarters where it was subsequently written off. For the next decade or so the car served as wall decoration in Birmingham’s Opposite Lock Club, a canal-side nightspot off the city’s appropriately named…

1974 DATSUN 240Z SUPER SAMURI SOLD BY SILVERSTONE AUCTIONS, £46,688 The last time this example of Datsun tuner Spike Anderson’s work appeared at auction it realised £16,100. That was 14 years ago, since when it has passed through various owners but has still covered a mere 5,821 miles. One of the original 240Z Samuris, it was tuned for Modsports racer Eddie Stephens, who bought it as a stock car from its original owner. It was upgraded to ‘Super’ specification after being acquired in a sorry state by Z-car authority James Morris in the late 1990s. The vendor had owned the car for five years, during which time it had been fully fettled and restored. 1994 LEYLAND DAF TROOP CARRIER SOLD BY BONHAMS, £3,600 This ex-Royal Artillery troop carrier must be…

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Luca Corberi has been handed a 15-year racing ban for violent conduct at the 2020 FIA Karting World Championship event in Italy. The Italian, 23 at the time, crashed out of the event after a collision with Paolo Ippolito, and then threw the bumper of his kart towards Ippolito who was still racing. Footage of the scene was widely shared on social media, as was a subsequent attack by Corberi on Ippolito in pare fermé. Parents of both karters joined the fray. In its decision published last month, an FIA tribunal said that Corberi’s actions breached multiple articles of the FIA Statutes, Code of Good Conduct and Karting World Championship sporting regulations, declaring that “he is fully and completely guilty”. The FIA had argued for a full life ban from…

WITH A MONSTROUS NEW Continental that would make even the most softened of purists spill their Earl Grey, Bentley will return to the Pikes Peak hillclimb to bid for a third speed title. Bentley is no stranger to the Colorado mountain event, having claimed an SUV record with a Bentayga in 2018, and then a production car record with a Continental GT in 2019. Keen to go one further for its hat-trick, the Crewe marque has worked with M-Sport to create this GT3 on steroids in order to take on the Time Attack 1 class – that’s class two, one behind the top-flight Unlimited section for anybody unfamiliar with Pikes Peak lingo. It’s based on a Continental GT3, but there’s no longer much ‘GT3’ about it given the 4-litre twin-turbo…

DUCATI MAY BE ITALY’S MOST hallowed motorcycle brand but the Bologna manufacturer is a Giovanni come-lately compared to more venerable Italian marques like Benelli, Gilera and Moto Guzzi. While Ducati marks its 75th anniversary as a motorcycle manufacturer this year, Moto Guzzi celebrates its centenary. These days Guzzi is a European Harley-Davidson, selling big, lusty air-cooled V-twins that hark back to simpler times. But from the 1930s to the 1950s the company led the world with some fabulous feats of engineering, most famously its V8 500cc grand prix bike. The idea of Moto Guzzi was conceived on a First World War airfield by Corpo Aeronautico Militare pilot Carlo Guzzi and mechanic Giorgio Parodi. Guzzi would be chief engineer, while Parodi and brother Angelo – sons of Genoese shipowners – would…

MERCEDES OVERCAME A faster Red Bull on race day in Bahrain through a bold early stopping strategy which vaulted Lewis Hamilton ahead of early leader and pole-sitter Max Verstappen. Making the first of two stops from 1.8sec behind Verstappen on the 13th lap of 56 gave Hamilton track position. The high degradation rate of the tyres around the notoriously tough track meant Hamilton could go much faster on his out-lap than Verstappen on his old tyres could have gone on his in-lap if Red Bull had even tried to respond by pitting a lap later. But it defined Hamilton’s remaining stints as long ones. The best way for Red Bull to counter that was to leave Verstappen out for more ideally spaced stints, which would put him on much newer…

THIS IS A MORE THAN USUALLY comprehensive mid-life refresh for the best and most likeable ultra-high-performance estate – which is available with saloon bodywork, too. Outside there are minor visual changes, designed as much to improve aero efficiency as the car’s look. Inside comes the latest MBUK operating system where rotary dials and buttons largely give way to touch-sensitive haptic pads. It may be I’m an incompetent operator but the cabin controls are now more difficult to use. And the big central wheel from which almost all systems could be governed has now been replaced by a touchpad and I didn’t like that either. I can see such measures make for a more glossy cabin and I’ll bet it’s cheaper to make, but form should follow function in any Benz…

IndyCar, 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana, May 30 ONE OF THE TOP SPECTACLES of the motor racing season, the Indy 500 is set to return to its traditional calendar slot in May, and there’s even the prospect of the race being allowed to have of fans in attendance. The premier IndyCar event is aiming to have as close to its 250,000-capacity crowd in the grandstands as possible, according to circuit owner Roger Penske. Last year’s 500 was delayed until August because of Covid-19 restrictions and safety concerns, but so far preparations for the 2021 race have gone ahead without a hitch... fingers crossed! There are plenty of attractions to keep up with this year as familiar faces mix it with the up-and-coming IndyCar talent…

The Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’ interrupted the British Formula 1 revolution led by Lotus and Cooper-BRM in the first year of the 1.5-litre engine regulations in 1961 and gave Maranello a potent, if brief, performance edge that my father Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips, Richie Ginther, Giancarlo Baghetti and others took full advantage of in that season 60 years ago. While the British teams gnashed their teeth over the regulation change, Ferrari made hay with Carlo Chiti’s V6 that had evolved out of Formula 2 since 1957. Its spaceframe chassis was conventional, but that striking twin-nostril nose, the neat mid-engine layout and Enzo Ferrari’s unfortunate insistence that all 156s should be broken up once they became obsolete has guaranteed the Sharknose a special place in the illustrious halls of Ferrari F1…

• No stranger to a jape, south-coast Volkswagen dealer PETER COOPER announced on April 1 a new range of air fresheners – TECHNICIAN (serviced car fragrance), NEW CAR and CURRY. “We have been working tirelessly for three months to produce these scents,” the social media campaign revealed. • As well as owning an impressive herd of hippos, notorious drug lord PABLO ESCOBAR was an avid racer and car enthusiast. A 1974 PORSCHE 911 RSR once owned by the bon vivant and also driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in competition is on sale with Florida’s ATLANTIS MOTOR GROUP for £1.6m. • With space for 30 cars, HR OWEN BENTLEY SURREY’s new 2800sqm showroom, left, in Ripley is now welcoming visitors. “We want the local community of automotive enthusiasts and families to enjoy…

CAN-AM ENJOYED MANY COLOURFUL descriptions. Terms like ‘brutal’ and ‘fire-breathing’ were thrown around, but the one you may not remember was ‘The Bruce and Denny Show’. It didn’t have the dramatic ring, but it was apt, as the combination of Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme conspired to hoist the New Zealand flag over America’s premier sports car series four times in succession, largely due to the McLaren M8. During its formative days, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing inhabited a makeshift workshop on the premises of an earthmoving company in New Malden. There McLaren ran Tasman and Formula 2 Coopers before the decision was taken to chase success, and the prize money that went with it, in Can-Am. New premises were sought in Feltham and the first true McLaren, the M1, was…

The addition of a Miami Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar from 2022 represents an important milestone – and a significant degree of face saving – for commercial rights holder Liberty Media. The US corporation has finally clinched a deal with a host city it targeted as a priority following its succession from the Bernie Ecclestone era in 2017, only to lose the Florida location after an initial project hit resistance from politicians and residents. Now, instead of a track based in the city’s bay area, a 19-corner, 3.36-mile layout has been created around the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. A date has yet to be confirmed, but the race is likely to run in spring rather than as a double-header with the autumn US…

FAMED HILLCLIMB SHELSLEY WALSH IN Worcestershire will reverberate to Jaguar’s legendary six-cylinder XK snarl as hundreds of E-types assemble on the weekend of June 12/13 to celebrate 60 years of a motoring legend and the groovy era it symbolised. There’s a very special link with Motor Sport magazine too. Revealed to a gaping public in June 1961, the E-type instantly outperformed, underpriced and out-styled everything else in the market, becoming the cool car everyone wanted. And six decades on, they still do. Combining 1960s fashion, music and dancing the weekend harks back to Swinging London, but it’s the cars which star. Oldest of all present is 9600 HP, the original press car, plus the E-type from The Italian Job and examples of every model up to the last V12, but…

GOOD ▲ F1’S CLASSIC TRACKS The swoop of Aqua Minarale, the dive into Rivazza, the thrill of Piratella: Imola is the closest that bitumen gets to poetry. Surely the drama of ‘classic’ circuits beats that of the ‘Tilke Drome Tour’ in more recent years? More please. ▲ DRIVE TO SURVIVE 3 Purists should stop complaining: if you want a more ‘objective’ view, watch the season review DVD instead. ▲ THE NEW AERO REGS Downforce was trimmed by 10% this year in a bid to stop Pirelli tyres bursting with sheer pride at F1’s recordbreaking speeds. Hang on though, what’s this? The new rules seemed to have had the convenient side-effect of... slowing Merc down. Title battle here we come. ▲ LESS PRACTICE TIME F1 teams now have one hour less…

THERE IS NO UNHAPPIER CHILD in the Land Rover family than the Discovery. Teased for its awkward appearance from birth, lambasted for its inability to capture the charm of its predecessor and uncomfortable in its position as a car that calls itself a Land Rover but drives more like a Range Rover – even that is not the end to its indignities. Now there is also the Defender to add to its woes, with people like me endlessly pointing out it is the true replacement for the old, beloved Disco. When you discard sentiment and look at it as a car, the Discovery is one of the best-value premium full-size SUVs out there. And never more so than now, thanks to a suite of revisions. There are new hybridised engines,…

YOU PROBABLY APPRECIATE ALL things mechanical, in which case you’ll love the view through the sapphire crystal case back of Montblanc’s limited edition 1858 Split Second Chronograph in Lime Gold as much as the way it looks from the front. This decidedly distinctive watch was a parting shot from Morgan-driving car enthusiast Davide Cerrato, who proved himself to be one of the most imaginative designers in the business during five years as the boss of Montblanc’s horological division before he stepped down from the job in January. The unusual hue of the case is the result of combining 18-carat gold with small but specific quantities of silver and iron to produce that distinctive greenish tinge. Cerrato has perfectly matched the colour with a golden dial featuring outer telemetric markings and…

FOUR-WHEELED RALLY CARS FROM THE early 21st century don’t come much more covetable than this Subaru Impreza S10, because it’s the actual car in which Petter Solberg won the 2004 Rally Japan, having dominated the event from start to finish with 11 stage wins. It was the eighth chassis to be built by Prodrive for the ’04 season. Its first outing with Solberg was at June’s Rally Turkey where it took third. After victory in Japan, the car went back to Prodrive for a full rebuild in advance of November’s Rally Australia – from which Solberg was forced to retire. The S10 was subsequently driven by Colin McRae in the Bettega Memorial Rallysprint, and again rebuilt by Prodrive before being sold at the end of 2004 to a private team.…

YOU KNOW HOW YOU CAN NEVER find a petrol pump when you really need one? There’s a place in Derbyshire where you’ll find as many as you want. And since they don’t have any fuel in them you can take them away. Automobilia-UK does a steady trade in restored forecourt petrol pumps among much other automobilia, and proprietor Rob Arnold says that it’s not just for private collections. They’re a regular source of colourful accessories for Goodwood, the London and NEC classic car shows and even motoring wedding receptions. The website is vibrant with advertising signs, oil cans, tins and pourers, and counter sales material. “We do a lot of work supplying props to TV and film companies,” Rob tells me. “We worked with Disney on Dumbo – they had…

MENTION MORGAN CARS TO YOUR mates and I guarantee that you’ll be met with that most predictable of retorts: “Aren’t they all made of wood? Watch out for termites…” No matter how stylishly retro or affordable Morgans were, approaching the 21st century its manufacturing technique had come to define the brand as stuck in the past. Morgan used to hold its own on road and track. At Le Mans in 1962 a factory-run Plus 4 Super Sports driven by Chris Lawrence and Richard Shepherd-Barron topped the 2-litre GT class, and that success could have come a year earlier if the ACO had not rejected the car for “looking too old-fashioned”. Morgans divided opinion even then. In the mid-1990s, and approaching its centenary year, company head Charles Morgan decided it was…