1.
Stirling Moss
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Sir Stirling Moss, OBE is a British former Formula One racing driver. In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and third the other three, Moss was born in London, son of Alfred Moss, a dentist of Bray, Berkshire, and Aileen. He was brought up at Long White Cloud house on the bank of the River Thames. His father was a racing driver who had placed 16th at the 1924 Indianapolis 500. Stirling was a horse rider as was his younger sister, Pat Moss. Moss raced from 1948 to 1962, winning 212 of the 529 races he entered, like many drivers of the era, he competed in several formulae, often on the same day. He preferred to race British cars, stating, Better to lose honourably in a British car than win in a foreign one, at Vanwall, he was instrumental in breaking the German/Italian stranglehold on F1 racing. He remained the English driver with the most Formula One victories until 1991 when Nigel Mansell overtook him after competing in more races. Moss was one of the Cooper Car Companys first customers, using winnings from competing in horse-riding events to pay the deposit on a Cooper 500 racing car in 1948. He then persuaded his father, who opposed his racing and wanted him to be a dentist, to let him buy it. His first major race victory came on the eve of his 21st birthday at the wheel of a borrowed Jaguar XK120 in the 1950 RAC Tourist Trophy on the Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland. He went on to win the six more times, in 1951,1955,1958 and 1959. Also a competent rally driver, he is one of three people to have won a Coupe dOr for three consecutive penalty-free runs on the Alpine Rally. He finished second in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally driving a Sunbeam-Talbot 90 with Desmond Scannell, in 1954, he became the first non-American to win the 12 Hours of Sebring, sharing the Cunningham teams 1. 5-liter O. S. C. A. In 1953 Mercedes-Benz racing boss Alfred Neubauer had spoken to Mosss manager, Ken Gregory, having seen him do well in a relatively uncompetitive car, and wanting to see how he would perform in a better one, Neubauer suggested Moss buy a Maserati for the 1954 season. In the Italian Grand Prix at Monza he passed both drivers who were regarded as the best in Formula One at the time—Juan Manuel Fangio in a Mercedes, Ascari retired with engine problems, and Moss led until lap 68 when his engine also failed. Fangio took the victory, and Moss pushed his Maserati to the finish line, Neubauer, already impressed when Moss had tested a Mercedes-Benz W196 at Hockenheim, promptly signed him for 1955. Mosss first Formula One victory was in the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree, leading a 1–2–3–4 finish for Mercedes, it was the first time he beat Fangio, his teammate and arch rival, who was also his friend and mentor
2.
Scuderia Ferrari
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Scuderia Ferrari S. p. A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, 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 also 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 later 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
3.
Porsche
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F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, and is owned by Volkswagen AG, Porsches current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman,911, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called Dr. Ing. h. c, F. Porsche GmbH in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a Volkswagen. This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time, the Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen,52,000 produced. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that ultimately led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche also developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the stages of the war. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British, Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, during his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsches son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his fathers release in August 1947, the first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry, many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the fathers Dr. Ing. h. c. In 1952, Porsche constructed a plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie, the main road in front of Werk 1. The 356 was road certified in 1948, Porsches company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free Peoples State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital. The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, on 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. The 356, however, had several stages, A, B, and C, while in production
4.
Sports car racing
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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, reliability, 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, reliability 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 also 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
5.
1953 World Sportscar Championship
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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, sometimes, 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
6.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
7.
Jacky Ickx
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Jacky Ickx was introduced to the sport when he was taken by his father, motoring journalist Jacques Ickx, to races which he covered. Despite this family background, Jacky had limited interest in the sport until his father bought him a 50 cc Zündapp motorcycle, soon afterwards, Ickx won 8 of 13 races at the first season and the European 50 cc trials title. He also competed in car races where he had already significant experience from taking part in the 1000 km races at the Nürburgring. Ickx entered his first Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1966, driving a Matra MS5-Cosworth one-litre Formula Two car, however, a first lap collision with John Taylor caused both cars to retire and Taylor later died as a result of burns received in the accident. In 1967, Ickx again drove at the Nurburgring, with an F2 Matra MS7-Cosworth 1. 6-litre, despite the greater power of the Formula One cars, only two F1 drivers qualified with a faster time than Ickx, Denny Hulme and Jim Clark. As Ickx was racing in the separate F2 class, he started the race all of the F1 cars. He was forced to retire after 12 laps with broken front suspension, at Monza in 1967, he made his F1 debut in a Cooper T81B-Maserati, finishing sixth, despite suffering a puncture on the last lap. He also drove for Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, in 1968 Ickx drove in Formula 1 for Ferrari. He retired from his first two races, but at his race at Spa-Francorchamps he started from the front row. At the French Grand Prix at Rouen he took his first win, in heavy rain, Ickx also finished third at Brands Hatch and fourth at the Nürburgring after driving almost the entire race in heavy rain without his helmet visor. At Monza he finished the race in third position, in Canada he crashed and broke his left leg during practice, thus did not start and also missed the subsequent United States Grand Prix. He returned in time for the race of the season in Mexico. Ickx scored 27 points in the 1968 Formula One season finishing in place behind Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart. In 1969, Ickx moved to Brabham, partly at the instigation of the John Wyer team for whom hed had considerable success in sports cars. Wyers main sponsor, Gulf Oil were keen to ensure that they retained his services rather than lose him to Ferraris sports car team. In the 1969 Mexican Grand Prix Ickx finished second and ended the year as runner-up in the world championship. He returned to the Ferrari team for the 1970 season, a move he had been considering since the Italian Grand Prix, as in 1969, Ickx had a disappointing start to the 1970 season. On the first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix he collided with the BRM of Jackie Oliver and it took at least 20 seconds for him to leave the burning car and he was hospitalized with severe burns
8.
Audi R8 (LMP)
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The Audi R8 is a Le Mans Prototype sports-prototype race car introduced in 2000 for sports car racing as a redevelopment of their Audi R8R and Audi R8C used in 1999. In its class it is one of the most successful racing sports cars having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2000,2001,2002,2004 and its streak of Le Mans victories between 2000 and 2005 was broken only in 2003 by the Bentley Speed 8. In 1997, sports car racing and especially the Le Mans 24 Hours was popular among factories like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Toyota, at that time, Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich started to evaluate the options of joining. With the upcoming American Le Mans Series also providing a stage for the US-market, Audi announced plans in 1998 to compete in 1999, with the R8R and powered by a 550 hp V8 turbo. As it was considered the choice for a whole race due to less weight and wider tires, Audi ordered an open top roadster from Dallara, to be developed. The ACO rules for closed-top prototypes allowed cars to run with larger air restrictors, resulting in more power, to compensate this advantage over the duration of a race, the LMGTPs were limited to smaller tyres and smaller fuel tanks. Following a period of testing, two R8Rs debut at the 199912 Hours of Sebring, the BMW V12 LMR won, which was a strong sign towards the race in France. The already tested open-top Audi R8R, entered by Joest Racing was not fast enough to challenge for a win, after further tests and modifications, the Audis returned for Le Mans. The new debuting R8Cs lacked pace and unfortunately suffered mechanical gearbox woes, lap times were 10 seconds down from the leading LMP and LMGTP competitors. Joests R8Rs ran steady, yet still was too slow to run for pole position, based on the experiences, Audi decided to regroup for 2000, and built a new R8 spyder together with Joest and Dallara. After the 1999 Le Mans shame, Mercedes retired from GTs to focus on the return of the DTM touring cars in 2000, despite the BMW V12 LMR not receiving further development, the German team Schnitzer Motorsport was almost as effective as Joest. Still the BMW V12 LMR could not match the Audi R8s might in the championship, BMW returned to race the BMW M3 in the GT class since, dominating in the ALMS and in WTCC as well as at the 24 Hours Nürburgring. This left only Porsche as a possible challenger for 2000 — however the Porsche LMP project was scrapped before it had a chance to race. The Porsche V10 racer was turned into the Porsche Carrera GT instead, the Audi R8 is a sports-racing car prepared for the LMP900 class at Le Mans and in the American Le Mans Series. The car was developed by Audi Motorsport and Joest Racing and debuted in 2000, the R8 won Le Mans five times and the overall season championship in the American Le Mans Series six times in a row. The R8 won a hat trick at Le Mans in 2000-2002, campaigned by Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest and driven by Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro, first time out in 2000, the team won a 1-2-3 finish. Since then, the Audi R8 has won championships and races. The R8 is powered by a 3.6 L Audi FSI V8, FSI stands for Fuel-Stratified Injection, which is a variation on the concept of gasoline direct injection developed by VW which maximizes both power and fuel economy at the same time
9.
Porsche 911 GT3
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The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car primarily intended for racing. It is a line of models, which began with the 1973911 Carrera RS. The GT3 is named after the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile Group GT3 class in which it was designed to compete, a number of variations, designed for road and track duty, have been introduced since its launch in 1999. More than 14,000911 GT3 cars have been produced, the GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national Porsche Carrera Cup series, and the international Porsche Supercup. The GT3 nameplate was introduced in 1999 as part of the first generation of the Porsche 996 model range, as with Porsches previous 911 RS models, the 996 GT3 was focused on racing, and so was devoid of items that added unnecessary weight to the car. The engine of the 996 GT3 set it apart from most of the other Porsche 996 models, the engine is naturally aspirated and based on the unit used in the Porsche 962 and Porsche 911 GT1 race cars. That engine was known as the Mezger engine, after its designer Hans Mezger, the engine uses the original air-cooled 911s versatile dry-sump crankcase, with an external oil reservoir. The 996 GT3 has 360 PS, compared to the 300 PS of the regular Porsche 996, thus, the GT3 engine is very similar to the completely water-cooled Porsche 962 racing cars engine, which is based on the same crankcase. The 962 differs, however, by using six individual cylinder heads while the GT1/GT3, like the air and water-cooled Porsche 959, the GT3 engine could thus also be thought of as similar to a 959 engine, but with water-cooled cylinders. Up to early model year 2004996 GT3 production, the casting used for the crankcase of the GT3 was the same as the air-cooled engine. The 964 casting number was visible on the bottom of the crankcase, and on areas normally machined in air-cooled applications, the crankcase casting was changed in mid-2004 to a 996 casting number crankcase to eliminate these external air-cooled remnants, but internally it was the same. Because the 911 air-cooled crankcase uses the Porsche 356 engine to transmission mounting flange configuration and this gearbox has interchangeable gear ratios and is more durable making it more suitable for racing than the standard 911 type 996 gearbox. Porsche offered a no-cost option for the GT3 called the Clubsport package, the Clubsport option was never offered to US customers, ostensibly due to the additional DOT crash testing that would have been required to allow US sales. Porsche made significant updates to the GT3 for 2004, using the 2002996 facelift including headlights that were differentiated from the Porsche Boxster, the 2004 version is commonly known as the 996.2 GT3. Horsepower was raised to 381 PS and torque to 284 lb·ft, the braking setup was upgraded, now featuring 6-piston calipers on the front, and the Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake system was offered as an option. In track testing by American automotive journals, the GT3 managed a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds, during skidpad testing the vehicle posted 1. 03g. Porsches official test-driver Walter Röhrl completed the Nürburgring Nordschleife with the 996 GT3 in 7 minutes 56 seconds, in 2003, Porsche introduced the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, an even more track-focused version of the 996 GT3. RS is short for the German RennSport, literally racing sport in English
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