Grands Prix

Featured Grands Prix Sports Car Racing

120 Years of Caracciola: 1926 Grosser Preis von Deutschland (Part II)

“No!” Porsche tosses the spark plug back towards the car. He catches the next “hot chestnut” in his handkerchief. Raises the magnifying glass to it. “No!” Rudi fumbles to remove the eighth plug – as the Mercédès creaks & cools – as cars stream past the pits – as the rain continues to fall. Was […]

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Grands Prix Sports Car Racing

120 Years of Caracciola: 1926 Grosser Preis von Deutschland (Part I)

One hundred & twenty years ago, on the 17th February 1901, a Mercédès car first entered a motor race – at Pau, France. 18 days prior – in Remagen, Germany – was born the man most synonymous with the racing Mercedes-Benz. One of the truly great drivers of the 20th century. Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola. […]

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F1 @ 40 - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Grands Prix

F1 @ 40

2021 sees the 40th anniversary of the ‘FIA Formula One World Championship’. To explain, here’s something I put together for the 2020 “70th Anniversary Grand Prix”. So it’s time for the “70th Anniversary Grand Prix”… but 70 years of what? Not Formula One, not the F1 World Championship… It’s 70 years since the thing that […]

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Deal with Austrian Businessman Secures Daimler’s Racing Future - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Grands Prix Myths & Curios Sports Car Racing

Deal with Austrian Businessman Secures Daimler’s Racing Future

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 purpose-made long & wide steel chassis. A powerful 5.9 litre 4-cylinder engine, […]

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Simon Says… Change Drivers! - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Grands Prix

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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Spats in The Sand Pit – The Lost Tripoli Streamliner - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Featured Grands Prix Myths & Curios

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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Featured Grands Prix Myths & Curios

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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When Mercedes-Benz Comes Out to Play - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Grands Prix Myths & Curios

When Mercedes-Benz Comes Out to Play

The Mercedes-Benz Formula One demo at Goodwood Speedweek made me think of the day in June 1958 when Mercedes brought a W125 and a W154 to Oulton Park. Peter Collins & Tony Brooks got to play with them, and ‘Riverside Records’ was there to capture the moment. This is special.

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Porsche, Stuck and an odd Auto Union – Lasarte, 1934 - Racing Daydreams by Colin Johnston
Featured Grands Prix Myths & Curios

Porsche, Stuck and an odd Auto Union – Lasarte, 1934

What do we have here? A cool old photo of Stuck on an Auto Union in the pits. What do we actually have here? Ferdinand Porsche and Hans Stuck look concerned as the front of a rather unique Auto Union A is checked over. It’s September 1934 and we are at Circuito Lasarte – the 11 mile […]

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