Porsche 956
The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was upgraded to the 956B in 1984, the project began in June 1981, and the first prototype chassis was completed on March 27,1982, in time for the beginning of the World Championship season. Jürgen Barth tested the first chassis at Porsches private test track, the 956 features a chassis made of an aluminium monocoque, a first for the company, helping to allow the car to meet the 800 kg weight minimum in Group C. The engine is the same as the one used in the Porsche 936/81, the very first dual clutch gearbox was designed for the 956, mated to a traditional 5-speed manual. An improved chassis with better fuel efficiency from a Bosch Motronic electric system was developed for 1984, in total, twenty-eight 956s would be built by Porsche from 1982 to 1984, with an unofficial 29th chassis built from spare parts by Richard Lloyd Racing. The 956 was the first Porsche to have ground effect aerodynamics, as a comparison, the ground effects Porsche 956 produced over three times as much downforce as the older model Porsche 917 that raced over a decade earlier.
In 1983,956 chassis #107 was used by Porsche as a testbed for their P01 Formula One engine, badged as TAG, the car was able to test some of the characteristics of a Formula One car in order to develop the engine. As of the 2012 German Grand Prix, the TAG-Porsche engine sits in 7th place on the list of F1 race winning engines, Porsche tested its Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe dual-clutch transmission in the 956 in the early 1980s. PDK would be used in the Porsche 962, and would make its way into production Porsches with the 2009997 Carrera and Carrera S. The Porsche 956 appeared with two different rear wing designs, the cars were fitted with a larger, high downforce rear wing for most events. Notably, the factory backed Rothmans Porsche team did not make use of the front wings. The 956 would be replaced by the Porsche 962 in 1985. The 956 made its debut at the Silverstone 6 Hour race, after missing the following round at the 1000 km Nürburgring for developmental reasons, the Ickx/Bell unit reappeared at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
They led the race for the entire 24 hours, eventually taking the overall win - their third win together, as they had already won in 1981 with a Porsche 936 that had used an early version of the 956 engine, their car had started number 1. The two other factory 956 followed them, so the three factory Porsches finished 1-2-3 in the order of their starting numbers.13 seconds, at an speed of 202 km/h. The race lap record is held by the same Bellof, during the 19831000 km Nürburgring, at the 19851000 km of Spa, Bellof died after colliding with Jacky Ickxs newer 962. Safety concerns over the 956 led to its end as teams upgraded to the safer 962. The 956s last win would come courtesy of Joest Racing in the last race of the 1986 WEC season, Porsche USA -1982 Porsche 956 C Coupé Porsche USA -1983 Porsche 956 C Coupé
BMW V12 LMR
The BMW V12 LMR was a Le Mans Prototype built for sports car racing from 1999 to 2000. The car was built through an alliance between BMW Motorsport and WilliamsF1, and was the successor to the failed BMW V12 LM of 1998 and it is famous for earning BMW its only overall victory to date at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The V12 LMR would retain only the structures of the V12 LM. The cooling ducts, a problem on the V12 LM, were moved to the top of the car instead of from the bottom where it had suffered from ambient track heat. Among the more radical design features was the use of a small rollhoop located only behind the drivers seat and this was done through using a loophole in the ACOs Le Mans prototype regulations. This allowed for less drag as well as less obstruction for the air to the rear wing, a total of four new chassis were built by WilliamsF1 in the United Kingdom. Internally, the V12 LMR retained the same BMW S70/35990 cc V12 as the V12 LM. Responsibility for running the cars was handed over to Schnitzer Motorsport, who would run the team not only at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, debuting at the 12 Hours of Sebring, BMW Motorsport and Schnitzer Motorsport entered a two car team.
The cars were immediately fast, taking the position in qualifying. During the race, both cars ran towards the front for the first six hours, unfortunately, V12 LMR chassis #001 suffered a large accident, damaging the car to the point that it would never race again. However, the second V12 LMR was successful in taking the overall win, from Sebring, the team went back to Europe in order to prepare for the 199924 Hours of Le Mans. In early May, at the initial test session for Le Mans, in the tradition of the famous BMW Art Cars, one of the two undamaged cars featured a paint job created by artist Jenny Holzer. Unlike at Sebring, the V12 LMRs would be facing closed cockpit prototypes which were theoretically faster over a lap yet not as fuel efficient. Even with this apparent setback, a V12 LMR was able to take the 4th fastest lap time over the practice session, for the race itself, only two cars appeared with the Art Car being dropped from the line-up. In qualifying the two LMRs again showed their speed, taking 3rd and 6th places, again only by the Toyota GT-Ones.
During the race the V12 LMRs ran strong, outlasting a large number of closed cockpit competitors who suffered woes, including Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Audi. In the second half of the race, BMWs main competitors were a pair of open-cockpit Audi R8Rs and the lone remaining Toyota GT-One. Unfortunately, in the hours of the race the #17 BMW V12 LMR driven by JJ Lehto crashed heavily in the Porsche Curves section of the track
Ferrari America
Ferrari America is a series of top-end Ferrari models built in the 1950s and 1960s. They were large grand touring cars with the largest V12 engines, all America models used a live axle in the rear, were front-engined, and had worm and sector steering. Two of the series, the 400 and the 410, were called Superamerica, the final member of the America production family was called the 500 Superfast. The series includes the 365 California, the first America cars were the 340, produced between 1950 and 1952. Using the new Lampredi V12 developed for Formula One racing, the 340 America could produce over 200 PS, only 23 copies were built,11 by Vignale, eight by Touring, and four by Ghia. Giovanni Michelotti designed Coupé and 2+2 Coupé for Ghia and Coupé, the 340 America was replaced by its larger-engined brother, the 375 America. Only 6 made, Vignale Cabriolet,2 Pinin Farina Cabriolets and 3 Pinin Farina Coupes, using same Lampredi-designed engine as in 340 America with different carburettor air filter arrangement.
Both 340/342 Americas used even chassis numbering of a race cars, while 375 America, black Pinin Farina Cabriolet was owned by King Leopold III of Belgium. Another Pinin Farina and Vignale bodied Americas, the 375 used the new 4.5 L Lampredi engine with up to 300 PS, the 375 were expensive and exclusive—only about 11 were built from late 1953 through 1954. Three Vignale Coupés were designed by Giovanni Michelotti, Ferrari produced another line of America cars, beginning with the 1955410 Superamerica. The engine was now up to 5.0 L with 340 PS available, a 1957 Superamerica III had triple Weber carburetors for even more power. Each 410 Superamerica had custom bodywork, with a few by Boano and Ghia but most by Ferrari stalwart, just 35 were built when the series ended in 1959. While most 3rd series PF coupés had 3 louvres behind side-windows, series III cars were introduced in 1958. Also known as Superfast I, made on 410 Superamerica chassis with 24-plug racing engine, prominent tailfins and it was unveiled at the 1956 Paris Auto Show.
Wheelbase was shorter at 2,600 mm, the 400 Superamerica had a smaller 4.0 L Colombo engine, but produced as much power as its predecessor. It debuted in 1959 as 410 production ended, and was available as a coupe, four-wheel disc brakes were a new addition. 47 Ferrari 400s had been built, along 2 series, when the 400 stepped aside in 1964, series I coupés aerodinamico had open hood air scoop while series II cars had covered scoop and slightly longer wheelbase. Special one-off version of 400 Superamerica built in 1959 for Gianni Agnelli and this car was the very first of 400 Superamericas
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari S. p. A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer and competes in Formula One racing. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, the team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. As a constructor, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors Championships, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have won a record 15 Drivers Championships for the team. Since Räikkönens title in 2007 the team narrowly lost out on the 2008 drivers title with Felipe Massa, Schumacher is the teams most successful driver. Joining the team in 1996 and departing in 2006 he won five titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between 2000 and 2004, including the constructors title of 1999 consecutively being won until the end of 2004, this was the teams most successful period.
Currently, World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are the two race drivers. The team is known for its passionate support base known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the home race. The Scuderia Ferrari team was founded by Enzo Ferrari on 16 November 1929 and became the team of Alfa Romeo. In 1938, Alfa Romeo management made the decision to enter racing under its own name, establishing the Alfa Corse organisation, Enzo Ferrari disagreed with this change in policy and was finally dismissed by Alfa in 1939. The terms of his leaving forbade him from motorsport under his own name, in 1939 Ferrari started work on a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815. The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first Ferrari cars, World War II put a temporary end to racing, and Ferrari concentrated on an alternative use for his factory during the war years, doing machine tool work. After the war, Ferrari recruited several of his former Alfa colleagues and established a new Scuderia Ferrari, the team owns and operates a test track on the same site, the Fiorano Circuit built in 1972, which is used for testing road and race cars.
The team is named after its founder, Enzo Ferrari, Scuderia is Italian for a stable reserved for racing horses and is commonly applied to Italian motor racing teams. In 1947 Ferrari constructed the 12-cylinder,1.5 L Tipo 125, a Formula One version of the Tipo 125, the Ferrari 125 F1 was developed in 1948 and entered in several Grand Prix, at the time a World Championship had not yet been established. In 1950, the Formula One World Championship was established, and it is the only team to have competed in every season of the World Championship, from its inception to the current day. The company switched to the large-displacement naturally aspirated formula for the 275,340, after the 1951 Formula One season the Alfa team withdrew from F1, causing the authorities to adopt the Formula Two regulations due to the lack of suitable F1 cars
Sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going models, a type of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this style is often associated with the annual Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. First run in 1923, Le Mans is one of the oldest motor races still in existence, other classic but now defunct sports car races include the Italian classics, the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia, and the Mexican Carrera Panamericana. Most top class sports car races emphasize endurance and strategy, longer races usually involve complex pit strategy and regular driver changes. These makers top road cars have often very similar both in engineering and styling to those raced. This close association with the nature of the cars serves as a useful distinction between sports car racing and touring cars. The 12 Hours of Sebring,24 Hours of Daytona, and 24 Hours of Le Mans were once considered the trifecta of sports car racing.
In the 1920s, the used in endurance racing and Grand Prix were still basically identical, with fenders. Cars such as the Bugatti Type 35 were almost equally at home in Grands Prix and endurance events, but specialisation gradually started to differentiate the sports-racer from the Grand Prix car. As mainly Italian cars and races defined the genre, the category was called Gran Turismo, as long distances had to be travelled and some basic comfort were necessary in order to endure the task. After the Second World War, sports car racing emerged as a form of racing with its own classic races. Top Grand Prix drivers competed regularly in sports car racing, from 1962 sports cars temporarily took a back seat to GT cars with the FIA replacing the World Championship for Sports Cars with the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. The US scene tended to feature small MG and Porsche cars in the smaller classes, the combination of mostly British chassis and American V8 engines gave rise to the popular and spectacular Can-Am series in the 1960s and 1970s.
Clubmans provided much entertainment at club-racing level from the 1960s into the 1990s, after a relative period of decline in the 1980s a British GT Championship emerged in the mid-90s. Road races such as the Mille Miglia included everything from stock touring cars to World Championship contenders, the Mille Miglia was the largest sporting event in Italy until a fatal accident caused its demise in 1957. The Targa Florio, another road race, remained part of the world championship until the 1970s. Between the late 1960s and late 1970s, Matra and Renault made significant, the competition at Le Mans even made it to the movie screens, with Steve McQueens film Le Mans. This era was seen by many as the highpoint of sports car racing, with the technology, a peculiarly American form of sports car racing was the Can-Am series, in which virtually unlimited sports prototypes competed in relatively short races
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established.
The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity.
In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
1953 World Sportscar Championship
The 1953 World Sportscar Championship was the first FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a seven race international motor racing series for sports cars contested from 8 March to 23 November 1953, the championship was won by Ferrari. The 1953 World Sports Car Championship was contested over a seven race series, even the Drivers World Champion joined in. Classes were split between closed cars and open cars, with further divisions due to engine displacement, scuderia Ferrari were a dominant force in 1953, winning three races, a result of Enzo Ferrari’s determination to bring prestige to his marque. Championship points were awarded for the first six places in race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars, only the best 4 results out of the 7 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table, the following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective manufacturers. classicscars.
com 1953 World Sports Car Championship points table at www. classicscars. com
Giuseppe Farina
Dottore Giuseppe Antonio “Nino” Farina, was an Italian racing driver and was the first official Formula One World Champion, gaining the title in 1950. He was the Italian Champion in 1937,1938 and 1939, during his thirty-year racing career he suffered a series of accidents. Born in Turin, Farina was the son of Giovanni Carlo Farina who founded the Stabilimenti Farina coachbuilder, Giuseppe began driving a two-cylinder Temperino, at the age of just nine. He became a Doctor of Political Science, he excelled at skiing, football. He cut short a career as an officer with the Italian army to fulfil a different ambition. While still at university Farina purchased his first car, a second-hand Alfa Romeo, while trying to beat his father, he crashed, breaking his shoulder and receiving facial cuts, establishing a trend that continued throughout his crash-prone career. It was Nuvolari who to some extent, guided Farina’s early career, in 1935, he raced for the factory Maserati team, showing enough promise to impress Enzo Ferrari, who recruited him to drive for Scuderia Ferrari, the team that ran the works-supported Alfa Romeos.
It was in an Alfa Romeo 8C that he finished second in the Mille Miglia and he made mistakes aplenty, but kept coming back for more and became a Grand Prix winner, when he won the 1937 Grand Prix of Naples. Although he was noted for his style and intelligence, he had a petulant streak. He was involved in two fatal accidents, the first was during the 1936 Grand Prix de Deauville, when he tried to pass Marcel Lehoux for second. Farina’s Alfa Romeo 8C collided with Lehoux’s ERA, causing the ERA to overturn, Lehoux was thrown out, received a fractured skull and died in hospital, while Farina escaped with minor injuries. Two seasons later, during the 1938 Gran Premio di Tripoli, the cars to collided and overturned. Farina survived without injuries, but Hartmann died the following day. In 1938, the official Alfa Romeo team, Alfa Corse, returned to motor sport and Farina was a member. Driving the new Alfa Romeo 158 Voiturette in 1939, he won the Grand Prix d’Anvers, Coppa Ciano, the following year, he won the Tripoli Grand Prix and finished second in the Mille Miglia for the third time.
After World War II, Farina returned to Alfa Corse to drive their 158 and he won the 1946 Grand Prix des Nations. However, he left Alfa Corse after a disagreement over team leadership and he came back to the sport in 1948 with a privately entered Maserati and a works Ferrari. During this period, he got married to Elsa Giaretto, in her opinion motor sport was a silly and dangerous activity, and she tried to persuade Farina to stop
Jan Magnussen
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen is a Danish professional racing driver and a factory driver for General Motors. He has competed in several of the most prestigious events in motor sport including CART, NASCAR, the FIA Formula One World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Born in Roskilde, Magnussen dominated the 1994 British Formula 3 championship with Paul Stewart Racing, winning 14 of the 18 events, Magnussen scored his first British F3 win that April at Donington Park, taking pole for the race. He won at Brands Hatch, twice at Silverstone, and he won six of the first eight races. He won again at Donington Park, and both season-ending rounds at Silverstone and he made his Formula One debut at the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix in Aida, sitting in for Mika Häkkinen, who was unwell. In 1996 Magnussen drove in the CART series and International Touring Car Championship, for 1997–1998 he had a seat in Formula One with the newly founded Stewart Grand Prix team, owned in part by his old F3 boss Paul Stewart.
Team founder Jackie Stewart once described him as, the most talented young driver to emerge since Ayrton Senna and he scored his only championship point in his last race in F1, the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix, for the rest of the season he was replaced by Jos Verstappen. Magnussen started 24 GPs, one less than he entered, because his car was damaged in an accident during the start of the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix causing him to retire before the restart, in 1999 he participated in 7 CART races. In 1999 and 2000 he raced in the American Le Mans Series with Panoz,2001 he drove a Peugeot in Danish Touring Car series and raced in 8 ALMS races. 2002 he raced for Peugeot in DTC and in 10 ALMS races, Jan Magnussen won the 2008 GT1 and 2013 GT Drivers championships, both with Corvette Racing. Magnussen has participated in classes in the 24 hours of Le Mans every year since 1999. Also, Magnussen has participated in the 12 Hours of Sebring every year since 1999, winning the GT1 class in 2006,2008, in 2005, Magnussen drove a Toyota Corolla in the Danish Touring Car Championship.
In the Danish Touring Car series he drives a Chevrolet Lacetti for Perfection Racing and he has won the DTC on two occasions in 2003 and 2008. On 11 June 2010, it was announced that Magnussen would make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut driving the No.09 HendrickCars. com Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing at Infineon Raceway, after starting 32nd on the grid, he finished in 12th position. Magnussen drove the No.57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro with Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis in the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season opener, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Following the Rolex 24, he moved to the teams No.97 car, Magnussen finished 24th in GT points and his best finish was second with four top-10s. Magnussens eldest son, Kevin Magnussen is a racing driver, Kevin mentioned that his father was his first hero when he was a child. † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he had completed over 90% of the race distance, † – Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance
David Brabham
David Brabham is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians to have won the Le Mans 24 Hour sports car race, Brabham won the American Le Mans Series in 2009 and 2010. He competed in Formula One, racing for the Brabham, Brabham is the youngest son of three-time Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham. Brabham, who was born in Wimbledon, spent his childhood in Australia, despite his fathers motor racing fame he took little interest in motor racing until after he left school. As a child he played the more accessible sport of football up until the age of twelve, Brabhams professional racing career began in Australia in 1983, racing karts for two years, after which he moved into the Ford Laser one make series for 1985. In 1986 he switched to Formula Ford 1600 and subsequently to Australian Formula 2, winning the 1987 Australian Drivers Championship in that category.
The 1987 ADC was, unlike previous years, only held as a race rather than a series of rounds and was run as a support category to the 1987 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.7 second victory. He competed in the New Zealand Formula Atlantic series, the American Formula Atlantic series, a move from Australia to Europe under sponsorship from Camel in 1989 saw him joining the Bowman team and winning the British Formula Three Championship. Brabhams break into Formula One in 1990 with the Brabham team met with little success and he had raised a considerable amount of sponsorship to join the team bearing his family name but financial constraints hindered the team all season. While David had been hired to drive ahead of the season he requested to skip the first two races to prepare himself, Gregor Foitek taking the seat instead and his first outing with the team was the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix where he failed to qualify. His first Formula One start came at the race in Monaco where his father Jack had won in 1959.
In 14 races he only managed to qualify the uncompetitive Judd-engined car six times and this, and David being unable to raise the reported $3m needed to keep his place in the team, led to him being replaced at the end of the season. Brabham joined the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar team in 1991 and in that year won the Spa 24 Hours driving a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R alongside Naoki Hattori, Brabham returned to Formula One in 1994 with the under-funded Simtek team after his father brought shares in the team. The second seat was to be filled by paying drivers, with Roland Ratzenberger taking the first five races before Jean-Marc Gounon took over. The S941 chassis was overweight, used a manual gearbox as opposed to the semi-automatic types used by most teams. Despite this Brabham qualified for round of the series. The team suffered the blow of the death of Roland Ratzenberger during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix. Traditionally the other team driver would withdraw in such a situation, in Ratzenbergers memory the team made a collective decision to see out the season, with Brabhams strong leadership often cited as a key factor
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