Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i Motor Sport Magazine

The last time I saw Eddie Jordan he was running late and brusquely apologetic. The occasion was our 100th anniversary dinner at The Dorchester in London last July and he had accepted the invitation enthusiastically. On the night however he was nowhere to be seen. As guests took their seats I ventured into the lobby to usher latecomers through and just as the last of them was seated the door flew open and he hurried through it. It was a black tie event but rather than the conventional dinner jackets of other guests he was wearing a flamboyant black velvet jacket, black shirt and black tie. Very EJ. “I’m in the middle of chemo,” he said, “and I’m not sure how long I can stay.” There’s wasn’t an ounce of…

1 PORSCHE (19 wins) Jo Bonnier delivered Porsche its first Sebring 12 Hours win in 1960 with a 718 RS60 entered by the Swede for Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien. But what’s really striking about sports car racing’s most successful marque in regards to the older of Florida’s two major sports car races is the length of Porsche’s unbeaten run at the airfield track. It lasted from 1976 until 1988, first via the RSR, then emphatically the 935 and from ’85 the 962. Yet incredibly, since the Group C/IMSA GTP days, only a single victory had fallen Porsche’s way, in 2008 with the Penske-run RS Spyder LMP2 – until this past month. Once again, Penske has ended the drought as its pair of factory Porsche 963s scored a resounding 1-2. Just…

SILVERSTONE, FEBRUARY 25 A Classic Sports Car Club test day with Ben Snee and his Lotus Elan GTS 26R, coaching him ahead of the upcoming season. Ben went on to win the first round in the Classic K category at Silverstone a week later. classicsportscarclub.co.uk BARCELONA, MARCH 2-3 Running with Esprit Compétition, a Paul Ricard-based team, testing and coaching with Philippe Scemama in his Lola T70 and BMW CSL ‘Batmobile’. The BMW is a dream car, especially to me. I was at Silverstone in 1976 when Ronnie Peterson drove the turbo version. Awe-inspiring. We ended up with rain, but useful set-up work. espritcompetition.com DONINGTON PARK, MARCH 4 With Foxcraft Racing for a shakedown of a Chevron B19, a B26 and a Morgan SLR. I’ll be racing all three with John…

The future of the Jack [Doohan], I control you every millimetre.” These are the chilling words of new Formula 1: Drive to Survive star Flavio Briatore in Netflix’s just-released Season 7. The Italian’s return to F1 as Alpine’s adviser is central to the latest instalment of DtS. The wildly successful series has trodden dangerously boring waters in recent years – can the show use grizzled warhorses like Briatore, as well as ever-present Red Bull boss Christian Horner, to conjure up some fresh magic? The first episode gets off to a flying start with a couple of bombshells – Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari and Horner’s (since dismissed) workplace misconduct allegations. Cameras catch Horner perched on the pitwall at the moment WhatsApp messages related to his case are leaked to journalists.…

Non-championship Formula 1 races of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s used to be where A-listers kept themselves sharp for the points-scoring meetings, while second-string drivers had a chance to shine. However, the first edition of the most celebrated non-championship event – the Race of Champions – saw the emergence of an upcoming star. Sixty years have gone since promising Lotus driver Mike Spence announced himself at that Brands Hatch race, seeing off Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren and Jochen Rindt. Paul Fearnley remembers a promising career cut short by tragedy in a June 2005 archive piece. Following the RoC, Spence’s next triumph came at the non-championship 1966 South African GP, before he was moved aside at Lotus for Peter Arundell. As Fearnley points out, the Brit didn’t…

Martin Brundle “It’s 40 years ago but naturally I remember Ayrton Senna’s performance in the rain. I was very familiar with his talent in the wet having fought him for the British Formula 3 Championship all season long two years earlier. “I was at Estoril in the Tyrrell 012, Ken having given me my opportunity in Formula 1 the year before, and I retired after 20 laps with transmission trouble. Ayrton was also in his second season and we’d had so many great battles in Formula 3 in 1983. There was a wet race at Silverstone when I realised he was on another level of understanding where to find the grip in the rain. So, clearly, Estoril was the breakthrough we were all waiting for from Senna on a day…

The key moment of decision in the Australian Grand Prix came on lap 44 with the sudden heavy shower just a few laps after everyone had switched to slicks from the original intermediates. As recounted in the main report, the closely spaced McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the first to hit the wall of rain at Turn 12 and both had major moments, Piastri becoming stuck for a time on the wet grass, Norris catching the slide and heading immediately to the pits for intermediates. The following Max Verstappen looked like he would have passed Norris had the McLaren continued, such was its loss of momentum. So the decision to pit in that moment, inset, probably won Norris the race. Red Bull kept Verstappen out for an…

Chip Ganassi has a one-word answer when asked what keeps him coming back to motor racing year after year… “Winning.” Now entering his 37th season as a team owner, Ganassi’s multifaceted organisation has a new look for 2025. The five-car attack on the IndyCar Series has been downsized to three, still anchored by multiple champions Scott Dixon and Álex Palou. There’s a new technical alliance in IndyCar that will supply car set-ups, dampers and engineering support to Meyer Shank Racing, and for the first time in nearly 20 years Chip Ganassi Racing will field two cars in the junior Indy NXT championship. Gone from the slate this year is Ganassi’s presence with Cadillac in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship, but that can be viewed more…

Were this car a battlehardened soldier, it would have been the type on which fortune inexplicably smiled, the type who could zig-zag through a minefield without setting anything off, or whose tin helmet would be just lightly grazed by a bullet. Why? Because, despite having spent most of its 56 years on track, it has emerged unscathed to present as possibly the most genuine, original and storied of the 16 T70 Mk3Bs to leave Lola’s Slough factory at the close of the ’60s. Its survival is all the more remarkable given the fact that it was driven, in its early years, by some of the most hard-charging racers on the grid, including Gerry Marshall, Richard Bond, Ray Mallock, David Piper and Richard Attwood. That said, it was a case of…

EDDIE JORDAN, RACING DRIVER AND TEAM OWNER (1948-2025) One of F1’s most charismatic characters, Eddie Jordan, who died in March, was one of the last of the freewheeling privateers who challenged the sport’s established teams. He is pictured here at his team’s first win at Spa in 1998. In heavy rain and after a 13-car first-lap pile-up, Jordan’s Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher found themselves up front, and recorded a famous 1-2. It was Jordan’s first win after 126 starts. The team owner skipped down the pitlane in celebration. “The euphoria, the excitement, it just took over,” he said. “It was a day I shall never, ever forget.” Neither shall we. Thanks for the memories, EJ.…

Well, this looks nice… Doesn’t it just. In a world where restomod Porsches just seem to grow fatter, heavier, costlier and more electric, this is super clean. And definitely not electric. It’s the work of Budapest-based KAMM Manufaktur, a classic Porsche specialist dedicated to giving the Stuttgart firm’s finest a modern makeover without losing its classic appeal. We’ve heard of 911, but 912? That’s because the 912 spent its life in period in the 911’s shadow. When Porsche retired the 356 and began building the flagship 911, it needed a car that filled the price gap between the two. That was the 912, launched in 1965 and designed as a budget alternative to the 911, with a four-cylinder motor, less power, less weight and less luxuries. Porsche made 32,000 before…

email: editorial@motorsportmagazine.com Reading your review of Pete Lyons’ new book My Travels on Racer Road [Bohemian rhapsody, April] I remembered this photo with Pete and Jenks, above, from the Silverstone paddock in 1974 or ’75. I think Bubbles Horsley of Hesketh is behind them. Pete and DSJ were my favourite journalists throughout the 1970s replaced eventually in the 1980s by Nigel Roebuck. Pete’s book looks like a wonderful read but at £70 it’s a bit too expensive. Here’s hoping for a cheaper paperback version soon. The Motor Sport issues so far in 2025 have been exceptional. Congratulations to all and please keep them coming. PHIL DARBY, VIA EMAIL I read with interest the article about the oldest F1 winners [Matters of Moment: Top 5, March]. Is it really correct that…

Stirling Moss’s first experience of Italy’s tremendous classic road race came in 1951, upon his debut as a works Jaguar driver. He was only 21. He still had a head of hair. He was to drive a Jaguar XK120, a sister to the car in which he had sensationally dominated the RAC Tourist Trophy at Dundrod seven months before – on the drive which had earned him his new factory contract. He was accompanied in the car by Jaguar mechanic Frank Rainbow and would write in his diary for race day – April 29, 1951: “Today is Mille Miglia day so up at 3am. Cold and wet. Went to start. Tremendous set-up, with thousands of bods organising things. Pouring rain when I left at 4.32am, 3 minutes after Leslie Johnson”…

Can it really have been 50 years ago? I remember the events of April 25-27, 1975 almost as if they happened yesterday. They are scarcely believable, especially when judged against the professionalism in Formula 1 in 2025. My first recollection is making a hurried ascent of a steep street, a mile or so south of the Barcelona city centre, towards Montjuich Park. Alongside me was my friend and colleague, Nigel Roebuck. I didn’t know that I was walking into the worst weekend of my motor racing life – into an unremittingly scandalous and distressing experience. Parts of the street circuit in the park, running up hill and down dale over 2.36 miles, were lined with baroque architecture that made it almost as picturesque as Monaco, but it was far more…

● The 140,000 spectators at the 1934 Indy 500 would have spotted this 1932 LUCENTI GRAHAM INDY SPECIAL, inset right, in the midfield. It finished 10th with HERB ARDINGER mainly at the wheel, before a sedate period beckoned at an orphanage. Rescued in 1950, it’s now restored to its ’34 race configuration and is on sale at THE GALLERY AALDERING in Brummen, Holland, £620k. ● It was once Mayfair’s go-to place if you needed a camel. Now HARRODS is stocking supercars for the first time thanks to a tie-up with Derbyshire dealer TOM HARTLEY. For now, this is only a short-term agreement lasting until the end of April but Hartley is having discussions to keep the pact going “forever and a day”. The most expensive item you can buy in…

1964 CITROËN 2CV SAHARA SOLD BY ARTCURIAL, £52,180 Citroën’s solution to making a four-wheel-drive 2CV was simply to put one engine in the front and a second one in the back. Originally developed to explore for oil in the Sahara Desert, it was soon adopted by privateers who needed to negotiate tricky terrain and public agencies that needed a practical off-road vehicle. Just 693 were built during a six-year run from 1961, with this one rolling off the production line in Vigo, Spain. One of 80 Saharas ordered for the Guardia Civil, it ended up in the UK and was restored by a British Citroën employee before being sold to a 2CV collector. 1964 FERRARI 250 LM SOLD BY RM SOTHEBY’S, £28.7M The only privateer-entered Ferrari to win Le Mans…

Unbelievably, the possibility is being discussed of scrapping the planned Formula 1 2026 power unit and its associated chassis. The suggestion is that the current formula be extended for a couple of years to be then replaced by a more traditional (non-hybrid) racing engine formula (possibly a V10) running on fully sustainable fuels. Some months ago F1 boss Stefano Domenicali voiced the idea that sustainable fuels could possibly make a return to non-hybrids acceptable. Recently FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said, “While we look forward to the introduction of the 2026 regulations on chassis and power unit, we must also lead the way on future technological motor sport trends. We should consider a range of directions including the roaring sound of the V10 running on sustainable fuel.” There are clearly…

ROCKINGHAM SPEEDWAY FIRST CAR RACE 2001 LAST CAR RACE 2018 LAP RECORD 24.908sec, Jimmy Vasser, Lola B02/00, 2002 Rockingham, the first banked oval circuit to be built in Britain since the closure of Brooklands, was an ambitious project. Ten years in the planning, the circuit was opened by the Queen in 2001 on a British Steel brownfield site near Corby in Northamptonshire. Many millions had been invested. The plan was to attract the Americans to come and race on a British oval, and there would be different circuits on the infield for other types of racing, testing and track days. The ambitious dream of Rockingham becoming a European base for American oval racing was never realised in full, just two Champ Car races, and most of the events were for other…

Is there a tougher legacy in motor sport to live up to than Dale Earnhardt? The man known as ‘The Intimidator’ won seven NASCAR Cup Series titles by creating an aura of invincibility, backing up his brimming self-confidence with blatant bullying tactics on the racetrack. Earnhardt’s legacy was cemented by his fatal last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500, a seismic event that shook NASCAR to the core and finally forced the venerable organisation to take a hard look at its safety practices. By 2001, Dale Earnhardt Jr was a major Cup Series star in his own right, driving for his father’s Dale Earnhardt Inc team in an iconic No8 Chevrolet sponsored by Budweiser. When Dale Sr died, the weight of NASCAR was placed on Dale Jr’s shoulders. He was…

There’s a debate about who created the first wristwatch, with opinions varying between Breguet’s effort for the Queen of Naples (1810) to the one Cartier made for pioneer Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont almost a century later in 1904. But it’s widely accepted that the first men’s wrist-worn watches to be made in significant numbers were commissioned in 1879 when Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany placed an order with Girard-Perregaux at a Berlin trade show. The Emperor wanted a batch of watches on which his naval officers could tell the time ‘at a glance’ by dint of being strapped to their wrists instead of stuffed in their pockets. The Kaiser chose Girard-Perregaux because it was (and is) one of the oldest and most celebrated watch companies in existence, having been founded…

Hurtling across a mountainside at some unmentionable speed in the new Aston Martin Vanquish, I was moved to wonder whether it is possible actually to have too much of a good thing. I mean what could be better than a mighty V12 howling away in front of you, spinning obscene power down a carbon-fibre shaft to a gearbox between the rear axle driving the rear wheels alone? Well, yes, that gearbox could have manually selectable ratios, but that particular horse bolted many moons ago. Other than that, not much. Ignore the 0-62mph time because, rapid as it is, it says everything about the traction limitations of its design and nothing whatsoever about the true level of performance. The reality is this car is as fast as you want it to…

Murray Walker is peering at the small screen in the BBC TV commentary box, bracing himself for what is likely to be an eventful 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. At the end of a sunny morning, heavy clouds have rolled in from the Atlantic and show no sign of dispersing. All 26 starters have chosen wet weather tyres; an easy decision to make since the narrow Estoril track is already glistening, run-off areas are few and the crash barriers menacingly close in many parts of the 2.7-mile lap. On pole position sits a stylish Lotus 97T, its purposeful appearance accentuated by a black and gold livery in deference to the title sponsor’s John Player Special brand. This is the first pole position for Ayrton Senna, who is seen as the possible…

“Some years ago there was a popular ballad entitled Trees and the last line ran, ‘…but only God can make a tree,’” wrote our man to begin his report of Moss and Jenks, the sequel. “By the grace of God and one of his trees I am able to write the story of my 1956 Mille Miglia.” Moss had asked DSJ to resume their partnership upon joining Maserati in the wake of the withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from all motor sport at the end of 1955. But they’d find the Modena manufacturer a “complete opposite” in approach to the finance and organisation of Daimler-Benz. They only sat in their new 350S for the first time the day before the race and noted a “funny smell” at speeds over 120mph. Starting at 5.54am,…

Any racing season isn’t complete without a visit to the daddy of all circuits: the Nürburgring Nordschleife. But whether you’re a newcomer or an old hand, and whenever you pick your moment, RSR Nürburg is the go-to organisation to be your guide. In operation for more than 20 years, RSR stands for Ron Simons Racing. Tired of soulless office work and congested city life, founder Ron ‘escaped’ from the Netherlands and headed south to explore the real Nürburgring – the one hidden behind the grandstands of the modern grand prix circuit. He was inspired to set up RSR to allow others to revel in the famous 13-mile track that’s open to the public, but in a safe and controlled environment. Now staffed by a large and passionate team, RSR boasts…

This very early Porsche 911 2-litre might appear relatively ordinary at first glance. And it was, until 30 years into its life when the then-owner had it converted to race specification by top Porsche engineers Oliver Bienert and Manfred Rugen – under the watchful gaze of none other than rallying legend and erstwhile Porsche test driver Walter Röhrl. Built to perform with an eye on rallying, the car was extensively lightened and its air-cooled flat-six engine duly uprated to produce some 195bhp (which is around the same as the original 3-litre units used in the far heavier Porsche 911 SC). With Recaro seats and a rollcage fitted, the car was issued with FIA historic competition papers in 1996 – and Röhrl promptly put them to good use with a drive…