Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Motor Sport Magazine

The first Le Mans 24 Hours took place 100 years ago this month on 26-27 May 1923. It had been dreamt up by Emile Coquille, a French importer of Rudge-Whitworth bicycles and wheels, George Durand of the ACO and Charles Faroux, the editor of a weekly motoring magazine. Initially it was envisaged to be an eight-hour race – four in daylight, four at night, but Durand suggested a full 24 hours. What could be a better proof of reliability and endurance? That first event drew 33 starters from 17 manufacturers, all hoping to make their mark on history, yet now vanished – Delage, Montier, Chenard et Walcker, Brasier, Georges Irat, La Lorraine, Berliet… Only one name carried through to us uninterrupted: Bentley. All the cars were French apart from the…

Whatever happens to Ferrari at Le Mans, no one will be able to accuse it of lacking bottle: the team has announced a tie-up with a British company that provides team kit and merchandise made from recycled plastics and other sustainable materials. It is hoped the deal will move the debate around sustainability in motor sport away from just fuel. The company behind the initiative, 8six400, already worked with the Jota LMP2 team, plus Andretti Autosport and Lewis Hamilton’s X44 in the Extreme E series. Under the deal with Ferrari virtually all team kit and fan merchandise will be sustainable with caps made from ocean plastic and jackets made from recycled oyster shell. “Sustainability in team kit and merchandise in motor sport has been overlooked,” says company founder Peter Hall.…

The question of whether the red flags for the accidents of Alex Albon (on lap seven) and Kevin Magnussen (on lap 54) were necessary was raised by several drivers. Max Verstappen was understandably highly aggrieved by the second one, as it wiped out his 10sec lead with just two scheduled laps left from another standing start. As it happened, his start was good and the victory secured. But both incidents could have been covered by a safety car (or even a VSC). It led to questions about whether red flags are being used excessively, possibly in a drive to create some drama in a season which looks likely to be dominated by one team. “Restarts are a great entertainment factor,” said Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, “but we need to understand going…

The time will come when we look back at cars like this Lamborghini Urus Performante and simply goggle that it even ever existed. “What were they thinking of?” our descendants will say. “How could they possibly think that such a car ever constituted a good idea for anyone?” ‘Such a car’ is an enormous SUV with even more power than the car upon which it is based, with even more performance provided for even more money. And the fact that it also weighs a little less is really neither here nor there in the context of a car that already weighs so much. And yet not only does it exist, it exists in a class with a competitor set, including cars from Porsche, from Aston Martin, and Bentley. Even Ferrari…

Germany’s largest watchmaker? That’ll be Junghans, which churns out 60,000 watches per year from its facility in the Black Forest. Junghans actually began as a wall-clock maker in 1861 and grew to become the biggest producer of timepieces in the entire world. After adopting industrialisation methods pioneered in America, its 3000 employees were assembling a staggering three million clocks and watches annually by 1903. World War II brought a shift to the manufacture of bomb timers and, in 1956, Junghans was taken over by munitions firm Diehl, which made it into the third most important chronometer producer in the world behind Rolex and Omega – as well as a pioneer in the field of radio-controlled timepieces such as the now-celebrated Mega 1 of 1990. But while Switzerland set about saving…

It’s clear from the outset who this book is aimed at: those fans of F1 who came to the sport via the smash-hit Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. The clue is in the name, but also in the author. Guenther Steiner has been the unlikely breakout star of the show and this book aims to cement his celebrity via a diarystyle romp through the 2022 season. To a large extent it succeeds. Steiner is an engaging and at times hilarious guide through his high-pressure world and his woeis-me honesty about running an at times beleaguered Haas F1 team rings true. His frustration with Mick Schumacher’s underperformance is clear, McLaren’s Andreas Seidl gets both barrels for questioning Haas’s relationship with Ferrari while many a postrace entry opens with the with words,…

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT How did we decide which moments should make the list? The brief was never about statistics, we wanted instead to focus on key moments that came to define Le Mans and helped the race transcend the usual motor racing histories. As such we include seminal moments and forgotten footnotes; tragedies as well as triumphs. Our panel of experts comprised of Damien Smith, Gary Watkins, Paul Fearnley, Andrew Frankel, Robert Ladbrook, Gordon Cruikshank, James Elson, Rob Widdows 100 1976 NASCAR rumbles to La Sarthe Spurred by a new accord with Daytona (sound familiar?), two of NASCAR’s lesser teams were encouraged to race at Le Mans, despite a clash with the stock car race at Riverside. Hershel McGriff’s Dodge Charger, above, from California and a Ford Torino from ‘Junie’…

● Think of PEUGEOT’s rally heritage and the 205 T16 will power-slide into your mind, but the slightly older 504 was no slouch: in the 1978 Safari Rally, JEAN-PIERRE NICOLAS came first in one, 40min ahead of the next car. This 1977 COUPÉ, right, in Group 4 spec, has been raced by Nicolas in classic events. Its on sale at RALLY PREPARATION SERVICES in Oxfordshire for £80,000. ● On its debut in 1952, at Goodwood, COOPER-BRISTOL chassis CB/2/52, inset right, was driven (as a single-seater) by JUAN FANGIO, and weeks later the car gave Cooper its first world championship points at the F2 Swiss GP. In 1954 it was rebuilt as a sports car – as it is today. It’s on sale (£POA) with PENDINE at Bicester Heritage, which reveals,…

We all love a good model, but we often love a bad one too. Some brands are guilty of getting it wrong in a big way, while others raise their game to produce something extra special. Let’s start with the ones that got it really right. Hotwheels (wait, don’t turn the page!) yes, it’s a toy brand, but it and parent firm Mattel do occasionally produce a gem. About 10 years ago it released a 1:18-scale version of Stirling Moss’ Ferrari 250GT SWB, and it was incredible value. For £100 you got a beautiful model in a lovely box that was 99% accurate. Now they’ve become very scarce, often changing hands for around £300… even more if they’ve been signed. Then there’s the Minichamps’ ‘Taxi for Senna’ featuring Nigel Mansell’s…

SEND US YOUR IMAGES If you have any images that might be suitable for You Were There, send them to: Motor Sport, 18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE, or email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.com. Hi-res digital images preferred. Original images sent at owner’s own risk. We can’t return.…

As sure as daffodils mark that spring has sprung, Goodwood’s Members’ Meeting trumpets the start of the historic motor racing season. This year’s running featured a plethora of celebrations, unveilings and stars alongside the on-track action. Enjoying its ninth consecutive appearance since returning to the calendar in 2014, the Members’ Meeting is always a special event, twinning the nostalgia and action of the Revival with the boutique feel of a more private event. The crowds are smaller due to the event being reserved, as the name suggests, for members of Goodwood’s Road Racing Club, but with live coverage via both stream and free-to-air TV, the excitement is far from diminished. Kick-starting Goodwood’s 75th anniversary year, the Members’ Meeting featured packed grids and some classic slip- streamer racing, perhaps best epitomised…

While this year’s Formula 1 season continues to underwhelm, IndyCar is delivering drama in spades, and has begun building up to its showpiece event by launching a new docuseries titled 100 Days to Indy. The new, unscripted, six-part series aims to tell the stories of several of IndyCar’s star drivers as they prepare for the 107th Indianapolis 500 on May 28, including those of young stars Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden, defending champion Marcus Ericsson and even the returning Hélio Castroneves, who will be making his final 500 start as he aims for a record fifth win before hanging up his helmet. The launch has, of course, drawn some parallels with F1’s successful, Drive to Survive series on Netflix, which has also been accused of embellishing rivalries, something several IndyCar…

Kenneth McAlpine, the oldest surviving grand prix driver, who first competed in Formula 1 in 1952, has died at the age of 102. As well as making seven world championship grand prix starts between 1952-55, McAlpine was a familiar entry into non-championship races and was the man who largely funded the Connaught grand prix team, thanks to his extensive family interests in civil engineering. Born in Cobham, Surrey in 1920, Kenneth – grandson of Robert McAlpine aka ‘Concrete Bob’, founder of the major construction business – soon had an interest in cars and motor racing. He went to America in World War II where he was trained by the US Navy to be a pilot. He returned in 1944 and became an RAF flight instructor. Once the war was over…

Fifty years ago Jarno Saarinen was on his way to winning the 500cc (later MotoGP) world championship for the first time and few people in the know doubted he would go on to become one of motorcycle racing’s all-time greats. In fact, by then the Finnish genius had already transformed the sport, by teaching ‘King’ Kenny Roberts to hang off his motorcycle to improve his lap times. Roberts won a hat-trick of 500cc titles using this technique, which soon became universal. If Saarinen had lived longer, grand prix racing might have been very different for the rest of the 1970s. Yamaha most likely wouldn’t have signed Giacomo Agostini, who made history by becoming the first two-stroke premier-class world champion, and Barry Sheene would’ve had a much harder time winning the…

36 Race report Max wins in Melbourne but is he starting to worry about his teammate? 40 Word on the beat Rumours of Mattia Binotto’s next job, Andretti’s F1 plans and moves at McLaren 42 Tactical analysis Alex Albon’s early departure at Albert Park gave the strategists a tyre conundrum 43 News in brief McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda on the up, and a farewell to Alpine’s aquatic livery 45 Johnny Herbert Our columnist asks if Red Bull’s punishment for its overspend went far enough…

GOOD RUSSELL-ING UP 0.25sec off VER in qualifying, then leading before PU blowout. Is Russell giving the title fight hope? SASSY TED No holding back from Sky’s Ted Kravitz in Australia on various matters, like a pleasant koala bear turned ominously sincere. DRIVE THROUGH THE PARK The recent changes to Albert Park didn’t do much for the 2022 race, but this year’s instalment saw action right through the field. MACCA ON THE RISE Sixth and eighth at Albert Park meant McLaren leapt spectacularly up from last to fifth in the constructors’ championship. POCKET ROCKET After three 11ths in a row, Yuki finally scored a point. Attaboy! BAD ALPINE BLOBFISH LIVERY That absolute horror show of an Oz finish from Alpine an appropriate farewell for its ‘Sad BWT Blobfish’ livery. OFFICIAL’S…

Now in the swansong of its life, the Audi R8 is still posing questions for those who seek to better its blend of everyday usability and outrageous point to point pace. And this ‘entry level’ rear-drive model is a case in point. True, some aspects raise an eyebrow – the price, scruffy interior and anaemia-inducing fuel consumption – but otherwise it has aged well. The V10 remains one of the most viscerally thrilling motors to be found in any car, and anyone who says they’d want more performance on the public road is not seeing straight. It steers beautifully and has such a benign chassis balance up to and beyond its limits, which means at speeds you’ll almost certainly never manage on said public road, I can see little argument…

WORDS: ED HARDY. Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, USA, May 26-28 The arrival of May always signals the run up to one of motor racing’s most hotly anticipated events, the Indy 500. Across the last 112 years, the race has featured more than its fair share of stories, and the 107th running is shaping up to be just as dramatic. Last year it was Swede Marcus Ericsson who grabbed the glory, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, after a late Jimmie Johnson crash led to a dramatic two-lap sprint to the end, where Ericsson crossed the line 1.8sec ahead of Pato O’Ward. Given Ericsson’s disappointing Formula 1 career, the result was perhaps vindication of his talents. But coming into this season’s showpiece, it’s almost impossible to call the favourites due to the topsy…

If Toyota wasn’t already favourite to make it six Le Mans 24 Hours victories in a row in June, it was after the first two rounds of the 2023 World Endurance Championship. The Japanese manufacturer may be up against a level of opposition far beyond what it faced on the way to wins number one to five, but on the evidence of Sebring and Algarve it’s way out ahead. It trounced its rivals both times. The two-lap margin of victory over eight hours at Sebring and the one lap over six at Portimão suggested that its factory rivals, Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot and Cadillac, have a mountain to climb to get on terms before the centenary running of the double-points Le Mans WEC round on June 10-11. While there could be…

There’s a lot of work that goes into owning a piece of motoring history. But then that’s part of what makes it so rewarding: a feeling of keeping something special alive, safeguarding it for a future generation. So, it’s a good thing that Goodwood has set out to make life just that bit easier for owners by launching its own bespoke insurance service, Goodwood Classic Solutions. Brand new for 2023, Goodwood Classic Solutions aims to take care of the timeconsuming hunt for specialist insurance, giving owners more time to simply enjoy their cars. The new service provides 24/7 access to tailored insurance policies, with customers able to receive personalised cover quotations quickly and easily. And driven by Goodwood’s passion and knowledge of the classic car scene, and a new partnership…

An original 1970s press book produced by the Heuer watch company and distributed in Japan to coincide with the launch of Le Mans. Its 24 pages are adorned with stills and artwork, plus a superb centre fold-out. It’s all in Japanese, but Google translate can work wonders. £95 ABOUT THE MOTOR SPORT SHOP With hundreds of special and unique racing-themed products, and many new items regularly added, the Motor Sport shop is aimed at both serious and casual collectors with a wide range of prices to suit your budget. Visit motorsportmagazine.com/shop…

Motorsport UK, the UK’s governing body for all things four-wheeled, has broken new ground by launching its own central TV hub, giving users access to a host of informative videos, training guides and live streams from the UK’s biggest championships. MotorsportUK TV aims to bring a host of content to the user in a central place, with easy navigation between its libraries of how-to videos, discipline explainers, driving tutorials (many produced by Scott Mansell’s Driver 61 concern) and both live race coverage and highlights packages from club level championships in racing, rallying and karting up to the BTCC and British GT. Hugh Chambers, CEO of Motorsport UK, said: “Motorsport UK TV is an exciting new internet platform that will bring our community even closer to every aspect of the sport.…

If this TVR looks like one of the wildest cars you’ve ever seen, imagine how far-out it must have seemed when it was first offered for sale through a classified ad in Auto Trader way back in August 2003. At the time, no such thing as a Cerbera Speed 12 actually existed. But TVR’s longterm owner Peter Wheeler had determined to create the one-off after pinning down a wealthy buyer through the advertisement. But it was going to take more than the wherewithal to part with almost £190,000 to own the Speed 12 – because Wheeler, who died in 2009, insisted on vetting any potential owner to ensure he or she would be a suitable custodian for what, at the time, was possibly the most powerful road car in existence.…

TEAM TACTICS The strategic Y-point of this race was Alex Albon’s lap seven accident. It was always set to be a one-stop race, ideally with a medium-hard sequence. The C4 soft didn’t have the range to comfortably make a one-stop feasible and wasn’t sufficiently faster to buy the extra 20-odd seconds needed for a two-stop. But Albon’s safety car-inducing accident was rather inconveniently early – with 51 laps still to go – to make it obvious whether you should pit or not. There was no question that the hard C2 tyre was fully capable of going to the end, even if fitted so early. But compared to a conventional stop at around lap 20 (roughly what most teams were planning) would it mean backing off so much that you’d lose…

Here is an instructive fact. This sleek new Hyundai Ioniq 6 saloon sits on the same platform as the already launched Ioniq 5 crossover SUV. They use the same electric motors, the same battery packs. Beneath the skin they really are the same car. And yet, the Ioniq 5 in the same rear-drive ‘Ultimate’ specification has an official range of 295 miles, the Ioniq 6 some 338 miles. Why? It’s simple: the Ioniq 5 has a highly commendable drag co-efficient (CD) of just 0.29, the Ioniq 6, a freakish 0.21. But that slippery shape does something else too: it gives the car real character. There are some elements of its lines that remind me of those extraordinary 1930s Silver Arrows autobahn record breakers from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, others that…

It was a bold adventure – resurrecting a defunct marque with a huge story behind it, and for a while it seemed to have succeeded. Then everything went wrong for the reborn Bugatti… Today around Monte Carlo or Kensington you can see plenty of evidence that Bugatti continues, but only because in 1998 the Volkswagen Group bought out the bankrupt firm. This book tells the story of the 10 years before that, years of excitement, squabbling, drama and high hopes that saw the revered name reborn as an Italian firm instead of a French one – only to be liquidated as the result of recession, disastrous sales and cashflow problems. Guatam Sen has been associated with many of the key players and gained access to the company’s archives, making this…

My family car as a boy was... Well, my favourites were always the Aston Martins, the DB2 especially, and I’m still restoring my own DB2/4 Mark I. My father had a big car dealership so lots of different cars would come and go. He let me steer his car from an early age and I learnt to drive, on a farm, when I was 10. My first ever road car was... A Standard Ten, inset. It was my pride and joy. I loved that car and we souped it up a bit with twin carburettors and a noisy exhaust. I used to drive it like it was a racing car on the road which was pretty stupid. I was first hooked on racing when... It was my father’s influence. He…

I write in praise of Lady Susie Moss, a very special friend. I was so saddened to learn of her passing. Devoted to Sir Stirling, she always had time to talk and laugh. I met them both many years ago at Goodwood events and shared many precious times at Sir Stirling’s book signings – Ihave all his books signed over the years – or after dinner at the Goodwood hotel or the prize giving at the Revival, when Sir Stirling and Lady Susie arrived at Goodwood House for the Gala Dinner. So often a hug from Susie before they went in, to the very biggest cheer for them both. Wonderful memories. I recently enjoyed a lovely lunch with Lady Susie in London and we didn’t stop talking for hours. I…

When is a car more than the sum of its parts? Possibly in the case of this remarkable replica of the Audi Quattro driven to third place by Hannu Mikkola on the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally. Owner and Sport Quattro guru Jamie Small, who creates scratch-built replicas of the legendary Group B cars for a living, devoted a dozen years of his life to building this example for himself – and it’s so good that former Audi works driver and rally legend Walter Röhrl summed it up in one word: ‘Perfect.’ Small travelled the world from the Czech Republic to South Africa and from Poland to America in his quest for genuine Audi Sport ex-factory parts, with the sole aim of making his Quattro the best and most accurate replica…

2016 PORSCHE 911 R SOLD BY RM SOTHEBY’S, £380,000 The old adage about losing money the moment you drive out of the showroom doesn’t apply to limitededition Porsche 911s – as evinced by the sale of this rare R that fetched almost double what it originally cost in 2016. The 4-litre 500bhp six-speed manual car was created for ‘purist’ drivers who demanded a more involving gearbox than the lightning-quick PDK paddle-operated transmission. With only 742 miles on the clock and finished in desirable Grand Prix White with retro door logos, it was loaded with sensible options including a long-range fuel tank, reinforced clutch and front axle lift. 1932 ALFA ROMEO 6C SOLD BY BROAD ARROW, £975,000 This gorgeous 6C 1750 Series V with Figoni Gran Sport bodywork had been restored…

Before the Herefordshire Trial we had some maintenance to do on Bess, including fixing that broken window mentioned last month, plus assessing the fuel starvation issue. Luckily a fellow VSCC member had a Model A window in stock, then with carburettor filter cleared we were ready to go. I set off on Friday evening for the 85-mile trip, which is an adventure in itself as with the standard 6V battery the Model A’s lights tend to have a mind of their own, but she didn’t miss a beat. In the morning we completed scrutineering and were off to our first hill, Pelham’s Penyard 2, where we didn’t make the best of starts. It was a tricky one with a steep decline before a sharp left turn around a tree stump…