Shelby Mustang GT350 Fastback

Shelby Mustang 350GT Fastback, Rallye du Médoc 2015

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Shelby, Los Angeles, USA. Shelby made high-performance versions of the sixties icon, the Ford Mustang from 1965 until the very early seventies.  The car pictured is the fastback version of the Shelby Mustang GT350 and is the version produced from 1967 to 1968.  The engine was a high performance 300hp 4.7 litre V8 Ford.    They had a top speed of just under 130mph and a 0-60mph time of just over 7 seconds.  In the USA in 1967 one would have set you back about $4,000.  The Shelby version had more aggressive styling than the standard Mustangs and from 1967 onwards were known just as Shelby GTs rather than Mustangs.  Ford produced the basic car and then deliveredcit to Shelby for upgrading.

Riley One Point Five

Riley One Point Five, Rallye du Medoc 2015.

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Riley, BMC, Abingdon, England.  The Riley 1.5 was produced from 1957 to 1965. It used many of the parts of the Morris Minor but had a different body, larger engine and an MG gearbox. It was similar to the Wolsey 1500 but had twin SU carburettors which gave the engine 68hp. Top speed was over 80mph  The cars were often raced and rallied and can still be seen on historic events today.  Les Leston won Class B of the 1959 RAC British Saloon Car Championship in one and Pat Moss won some Ladies Cups rallying one the same year.

Audi TT Cup Car

Niclaus Nielsen, Audi Sport TT, Zandvoort 2016.

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Audi, Ingolstadt, Germany.   The first generation of the Audi TT was introduced in 1998 and the third generation made its first appearance in 2014. The Audi TT Cup Car uses the 310 hp 2 litre 4 cylinder TFSI engine from the Audi TTS.  The bodyshell of the TT Cup car is lightweight and made of aluminium and carbon fibre.  A specific one-make racing series is held for these cars with races on circuits such as Hockenheim, Zandvoort, Budapest, Norisring and Nurburgring,

2015 Oreca 05-Nissan

Bradley, Howson and Lapierre, Oreca 05-Nissan, Le Mans 24 hours 2015

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Oreca, Magny Cours, France.  Oreca is a manufacturer of racing cars since 2008 and specialises in the LM P2 class.  The 05 first run in 2015 but quickly scored its first class win at Imola in May and then in June finished 9th overall and won the LM P2 class at Le Mans.  Following that it continued the year with class wins at Nurburgring and Estoril.  In 2016 it has had class wins at Spa, Imola, Red Bull ring, Le Mans and the Nurburgring.  Various teams use this car including KCMG (pictured), Thiriet and Signatech Alpine.  The body is fully enclosed and made of Kevlar and slightly narrower than most LM P2 cars.  The one pictured has a 4.5 litre Nissan V8 engine producing nearly 450hp..

Ligier JS P2 - Nissan LM P2

Bird, Canal, Rusinov, Ligier JS P2-Nissan, Le Mans 24 hours 2015

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Onroak Automotive, Le Mans, France.   Designed and built by Onroak the name is in partnership with Guy Ligier. It is the first fully enclosed LM P2 vehicle they have built.  Its first race was the 2014 Le Mans.  In the 2015 Le Mans they finished third in class with the G-Drive entered car and on the same lap as the winner.   

Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE

Nygaard, Sorensen & Thim's Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE, Le Mans 24 hrs 2016.

Aston Martin, Banbury, England.   The road version of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage is at the core of this GTE race car.  The aluminium chassis and core of the engine are the same.  However, the race car is lighter through the use of  carbon fibre body panels and because a lot of the interior is stripped out.  There is a big rear wing at the back and the 4.5 litre V8 engine is repositioned and tuned.  In 2014 The all Danish crew won the GTE Am class at Le Mans and finished an excellent 19th overall.  Aston Martin nearly repeated this in 2015 but crashed out in the last hour.

2008 Riley Porsche Grand Am Daytona Prototype

2008 Riley Porsche Dayton, Laguna Seca 2015, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

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Riley Technologies, Mooresville, NC, USA.  Riley produced Daytona Prototype class cars for the Rolex Grand Am series.  Some such as this one were powered by Porsche engines. The sponsor, Ruby Tuesday, is an American restaurant group.  More to come....

1953 Porsche 550 Coupé

1953 Porsche 550 Coupé, Laguna Seca 2015, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V.

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  The car picture above was the very first Porsche 550 and was a pure racing prototype rather than a modified road car.  It had a 1.5 litre flat 4 engine and was capable of over 120 mph at circuits like Le Mans.  The car was initially an open roadster and won its class at the 1953 Nurburgring 1000kms.  After this it was converted to a coupé and finished second in class at Le Mans to its sister car.  In the colours it is pictured here it competed in the Carrera Pamericana but did not finish.  it finished the season by winning its class in the Buenos Aires 1000kms.  Beautiful, stunning car!   Drivers of this particular car included Hans Herrmann, Helm Glockler and Jaroslav Juhan.

2014 Porsche 918 Spyder

Porsche 918 Spyder, Porsche Rennsport Reunion, Laguna Seca 2015

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  The Porsche 918 is a hyper car of which just 918 examples will be built.   A mid-engined two seater with electrical hybrid technology linked to a 4.6 litre V8 engine, it has a top speed of over 200mph and a 0-60mph time of under 3 seconds plus handling to match. There is one electric motor on each axle as the 918 is 4 wheel drive.  It can lap the 14 mile old Nurburgring circuit in under 7 minutes.  The one above copies the 1970 psychedelic hippy livery of one the Martini 917s.

1971 Porsche 914-4

Trevor Frank, 1971 Porsche 914-4, Porsche Rennsport Reunion, Laguna Seca 2015.

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VW Karmann, Germany.   The 914-4 had a Volkswagen 4 cylinder engine and in Europe was

marketed as a VW Porsche.  Thus in Europe was never really regarded as a proper Porsche.  There appears less prejudice against it in the USA as it was marketed as a Porsche.   However, it was still a targa top mid-engined sports car and over 100,000 were sold so it wasn't that unpopular.  A collaboration between Volkswagen and Porsche, it can be looked upon as a replacement for the VW Karmann Ghia or an entry level Porsche.  In fact it was both. Their were three different VW engines used over the years, a 1.7, a 1.8 and 2.0 litre.  The fastest of these was capable of 190kph and 0-60mph in under 11 seconds.  The VW 4 cylinders were raced and one driven by Wayne Baker won the 1981 Sears Point IMSA GTU race - this actual car is shown inset right, also at Laguna Seca in 2015.  It is a 1972 car that was heavily modified in 1980 for IMSA racing.  In the Porsche Rennsport Reuion it was driven by Ronald Mistak.

  

Porsche 936 / 81

The 1981 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, a Porsche 936 at Laguna Seca for the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V in 2015.

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  The works Porsche 936 won le Mans three times, 1976, 1977 and 1981, the car effectively replacing the famous Porsche 917.  The 1981 victory was with Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell driving and they won by a large margin from the Rondeaus.  The 1981 winner had a new engine, a turbo charged 2.6 litre flat 6 which was derived from an Indianapolis project, whereas the previous 936 had run 2.1 litre turbos. Top speed was of the order of 220mph!  The car also featured slightly revised aerodynamics.

1960 Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL

1960 Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL, Laguna Seca 2015, Porsche Rennsport Reunion 5.

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  In 1959 Porsche sought help from Abarth to keep its ageing 356 GT cars competitive in GT racing.  Abarth commissioned Bertone to design a very light aluminium body that was also small and aerodynamic. Abarth outsourced the 20 production bodies to be made by Motto.  It retained the original steel chassis and the flat 4 1.6 litre engine which in this version produced 165bhp.  The car had a top speed of 144mph and a 0-60mph time of around 9 seconds.  20 of these special 356B Abarth GTLs were built.  The one above is very original and won the Swedish GT Championship in 1961 and 1962 driven by Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund.  The prototype finished 6th overall and won its class in the 1960 Targa Florio.  At Le Mans the Carrera Abarth again won its class and finish tenth overall.  A beautiful and successful car that continued to win the 1,600cc GT class at many events in 1961 and 1962.

1949 Porsche 356 SL Gmünd Coupé

1949 Porsche 356 SL, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V, Laguna Seca 2015

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Porsche, Gmünd, Austria.  After the war Porsche moved to Gmünd in Austria to design his own cars. They were rear engined roadsters and coupés built around Volkswagen components.  With an aluminium body and an air-cooled boxer 4 cylinder engine these cars started the Porsche tradition. The aluminium bodies later became steel and Porsche moved back to Germany but Porsche kept some aluminium bodies as super light works competition cars.  In 1951 they entered the Le Mans 24 hours and the car pictured won the 1,100cc class beating the French DB Panhard and also the 1,500cc class winning Jowett Jupiter.   This was Porsche's first entry into the Le Mans 24 hours, a race they would eventually win for the first time in 1970. In 1952 one of these cars won the Liege-Rome-Liege rally.

1970 Porsche 914/6

Ranson Webster, 1970 Porsche 914/6, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V, Laguna Seca 2015.

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Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany.  The Porsche 914/6 was a 2 litre 6 cylinder version of the Porsche 914 and was produced from 1970 to 1972.  The 914 was a collaborative effort between Porsche and Volkswagen which in 4 cylinder form had a VW engine.  The 6 cylinder version featured a Porsche flat 6 engine and in road going form could top 120mph and do 0-60mph in just over 8 seconds.  It was mid-engined and rear wheel drive. A car that suffered from being tainted with the Volkswagen brand but perhaps becoming appreciated now.  In 1970 one finished sixth overall at Le Mans and won its class.  Peter Gregg, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and others won in them in US SCCA races.

1951 Ferrari 212 Export Touring Berlinetta

Martin Halusa, 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Touring Berlinetta, Tour Auto 2015, start of the first special stage.

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Ferreri, Maranello, Italy.  This car was introduced in 1951 and followed on from Ferrari's first production car, the 166MM and its evolution into the 195S.  It had a V12 2.6 litre engine and the body of this example was by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan whilst others were by Vignale of Turin.   The Chassis is generally referred to as the 212 Export, as Ferrari was eyeing the American export market.  The sporty coupé body style is known as a Berlinetta.  Although production cars, most of these were destined for racing by privateers.   The car with its 150bhp engine was good for 120mph and a0-60mph time of under 10 seconds.  One was entered in the 1952 Mille Miglia but didn't finish.   A Vignale bodied car won the 1951 Tour de France Automobile.   Another, bodied by Touring came sixth and won its class in the 1951 Tourist Trophy driven by Bobby Baird.

1950 Simca-Gordini T15S Compresseur

1950 Le Mans Simca-Gordini T15S, Autodrome Linas-Montlhery 2015.

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Gordini, Paris, France.  This car was apparently raced in the 1950 Le Mans 24 hours by the two great Argetine drivers Jean-Manuel Fangio and Froilan Gonzalez.  Unfortunately it retired after 13 hours and 95 laps with ignition problems.  The other works Gordinis also retired.  It had a supercharged 1.5 litre 4 cylinder engine.  During the 1950 Le Mans it was bodied as a coupé and had the number 33 but like many racing cars was modified over the years.

1936 Riley Sprite

1936 Riley Sprite, Autodrome Linas-Montlhery 2015

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Riley, Coventry, England.   The Sprite was a 1.5 litre four cylinder sports car and some racing versions were built for F.R. Gerard and others.  Mike Hawthorn drove his fathers Sprite in the early fifties before becoming famous.

1976 Marcadier Barquette Can Am

Tony Gomis, Marcadier Can Am, Course de Cote d'Etretat-Benouville 2015.

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Marcadier, Lyon, France.  This French kit car maker made a number of Renaut or Simca powered cars that looked like Can-Am cars in the early to mid seventies.  Most had Renault 8 Gordini engines. This one has a 1,598cc Renault R12 engine, unusually a Hewland rather than a Renault gearbox and a non-standard rear wing.  It is mainly raced by Londoner Tony Gomis in English hillclimbs and sprints and who has had the car since 2000.

Read about another beautiful Marcadier car, the Barzoi, by clicking on this link. 

Alpine Renault A110

Alpine Renault A110, Tour Auto 2015.

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Alpine Renault, Dieppe, France.   The Alpine Renault is undoubtedly the classic French sports car of the sixties and seventies.  It was first produced in 1961 and continued to be produced until 1977.  Over its life it was powered by a variety of Renault engines ranging from 1.0 litres to 1.6 litres.  The A110 was a very successful rally car in the early seventies winning the Monte Carlo Rally in both 1971 and 1973 and the World Rally Championship in 1973. 

1961 Lotus Elite Type 14

Lotus Elite, Tour Auto, 2015

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Lotus, Cheshunt, England. Lotus produced the Elite from 1957 to 1963 when it was replaced by the Elan.  It was a car with a revolutionary glass fibre monocoque chassis and a 1.2 litre Coventry Climax engine. For the road car performance was very good for its class and the time with a top speed of over 110mph and a o-60mph time of under 12 seconds.  The Elite had a successful racing history with drivers such as Jim Clark, Les Leston, David Hobbs, John Whitmore, Graham Warner, Trevor Taylor and Colin Chapman himself.  The Lotus Elite won its class at the Le Mans 24 hours many times and a number of national championships.  Although a fast race car the road versions were plagued by quality issues, although those still existing tend to have most issues resolved.  Nevertheless a landmark car for Lotus Cars.