Myths & Curios
Avenues & Alleyways – The 1903 Mercédès Limousine
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what value a location? To stand on a street corner and watch the world scurry past. To stop and smile at the thought of the excitement, innovation, history that once filled a space, so mundane today. The Mercedes-Benz entry for the 1952 Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo […]
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Friderich, Père et Fille – Bugatti, Nice
It’s 24 February 1932 – the event is the Rally Paris-St Raphaël Féminin – the woman is Renée Friderich. She is 20 years-old, and today – as her friend & mentor Hellé Nice sets fastest time – she will lose her life at the wheel of this Delage D8-S. It was a bad accident, perhaps […]
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Chasing the Ghosts – Gordon Bennett
I’ve always considered ‘Racing Daydreams’ to be an attitude. The willingness to look beyond presented information, armed with some knowledge and an empathy for times & people past. How better to explore and take joy from our sport? Similarly approached, locations too can rattle the senses. Standing in silence at the top of Dundrod. Inhale […]
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Video: ‘The Mercedes-Benz Story 1886 – 1992’
It’s no secret that I think many things were better in the nineties – not least your humble correspondent! But surely you would agree that documentaries were better when they had time & space to breathe? To make the best of the available footage – to inform through a simple intelligent script, calmly delivered. If […]
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The Buck Stopped Here – Original BRM Body Jig Found After 70 Years
I’m sure anyone who reads ‘Racing Daydreams’ will be aware that ‘British Racing Motors’ are producing new V16 BRM Grand Prix cars. Quite the thing they are too… perhaps more effective as glorious nostalgia than they were as Formula One cars. All the same, it’s a hell of a project that has just received a […]
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Caracciola’s Over-Blown 1930
H.M.S. Catherwood’s central works, Donegall Road, Belfast. Friday, 22 August 1930 The driver retrieved a half Woodbine from his top pocket. “You still here, cub?” “Aye… til the death. Told me to stand here til I got somethin’.” “Wha? Like pleurisy?.. don’t think that would make the morning paper.” The Bo Peep flared on first […]
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‘Driving to the Future’ – Mario Felice Tecce
Although it is not always understood, competition is something very different from any kind of fight: racing certainly implies to beat other contestants, but this is not the main goal. The main goal of true and real competition is seeking to do the best possible. This can only be done using as reference other participants, […]
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“Energy Conquers the Elements”? – Mercédès and the 1905 ‘Coupe de la Méditerranée’
“I have in my garden a bronze statue the patina of which has the soft shade of light emerald and which readily catches the eye of the passer-by… The pedestal of the trophy has in embossed letters two inscriptions. The front one is a little compromising: ALGIERS-TOULON RACE FOR MOTOR BOATS – ORGANISED BY LE […]
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Genevieve Shows Her Teeth – The 1904 ‘Sharknose’
There’s nothing new under the sun, so they say. Still, I imagine that Carlo Chiti and Medardo Fantuzzi must have gazed upon their new Ferrari 156 and thought it rather unique. It was certainly striking and effective in 1961, and it has proven iconic – the ‘Sharknose’. However that wind cheating snout is not without […]
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Keeping a Nose Ahead – Mercedes’ Push to the Line in ’55
Hasta el rabo, todo es toro UNTIL THE TAIL, EVERYTHING IS BULL To regular readers it is no surprise that I love a mystery to solve. A car that never raced. An avenue partially explored, that perhaps was ahead of its time. I have spoken before of possibly my favourite Mercedes-Benz – certainly my favourite […]
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