Year: 2020
La Vie En – Route Vers Lac – Rose
Motorsport barely has an ‘off season’ these days. The FIA Prizegiving seems to run straight into the Monte, Formula e and Grand Prix car launches. In years – decades – past the off season was punctuated, post-Christmas by the most magical of races – the Dakar Rally. I will really miss it this year. “But […]
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Notte Blu, Montagne Blu del Passato
A car horn blast in the early morning. A tight shot of a ‘Blu Notte’ Giulietta Sprint Veloce as it pulls out to pass our camera car. Cut to the Alfa’s interior. The navigator checks his map – a snatch of conversation in Italian – the car screeches to a halt. Driver & navigator dash […]
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Deal with Austrian Businessman Secures Daimler’s Racing Future
Oh… no… sorry… wrong photo. Hang on a minute… There we go! December 22nd 2020 will be the 120th anniversary of the first car, as we know it. Commissioned by the gentleman in the photo – Austrian businessman & diplomat, Emil Jellinek – the 35HP model was designed by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler. A […]
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“…and the road goes on forever”
Perhaps it’s the promise of 2021? The hope that some normality will return. That the world will open to us again. Maybe it’s following Rally the Globe‘s social media? Whatever it is – an excuse is what it is! – I am easily distracted from research by maps, route guides and travelogues. One such caught my […]
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Simon Says… Change Drivers!
Sehr geehrter Herr Kollege! There has been some last-minute drama. ‘Mercedes-Benz-Team’ cannot field their driver. A substitute has been chosen, and he is already revelling in the ‘Mercedes-Benz-Formel-rennwagen’. The drive has gone to… André Simon. Who?! What?! Monaco and Mercedes have history. The race began in 1929 – as Caracciola and the SSK were creating […]
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The Man From Conti – He Says, Hmmm…
“And these tyres are called slicks, because they’re very slick!” Murray Walker – legend What constitutes a ‘slick’ racing tyre? Most have some allowance for tread expansion or initial deformation – the odd cross cut in the past, or tiny incisions at the edge today. So what about four shallow circumference grooves? Not at all […]
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Spats in The Sand Pit – The Lost Tripoli Streamliner
The 2020 Formula One titles have been decided and the teams are preparing to leave for Bahrain. This season – this mad year – we will see two races at the Bahrain International Circuit, the second of these being held on the high-speed outer circuit. Described variously as an oval(!), or like Thruxton – according […]
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A Last Day in the Sun? – ’55 Targa Florio
Sicily – 16th of October, 1955. Snap! The tail of the silver machine snaps-out from under him… just like at Padova. No time to catch it at 100mph. Spin! Crunch! Falling… “Christ!” The Mercedes hits the rock-strewn ground, fully ten feet below the road. A sickening belly-flop. Landing with the full force of its 900 kilogrammes… and the […]
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Michèle Mouton, Dragon Slayer – Belfast 1985
Here’s Michèle Mouton with her fire-breathing Audi quattro in Belfast, 1985. That’s it… that’s the blog. More?.. Oh, OK… The 1985 British Midland Ulster Rally – round 4 of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and round 5 of the Shell Oils British Open Rally Championship – was a two day blast around Northern Ireland. As […]
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Neubauer, The Kilo & The Strippers – ’34 Eifelrennen
I love a ‘Ripping Yarn’ – a ‘Tall Tale’ – a ‘Shaggy Dog Story’… and a myth or legend is a nice angle for marketing. Just ask the folks at Loch Ness. So let’s talk about ‘Grand Prix Nessie’ – the myth (?) that Alfred Neubauer of Mercedes-Benz ordered all the paint be stripped off […]
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