Mike Parkes
Michael Johnson Parkes was a British racing driver, from England. Parkes was born into an automotive background as his father John, was Chairman of the Alvis Group, he participated in seven Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 July 1959. He achieved two podiums, scored a total of 14 championship points, he secured one pole position. When not racing cars, Parkes worked as an automotive engineer, whilst working for the Rootes Group was involved in the project which led to production of the Hillman Imp. Parkes began his racing career in the mid 1950s with an MG before moving on to a Frazer Nash. In 1957 he raced a Lotus and came to the attention of Colin Chapman who invited him to act as reserve driver for the works team at Le Mans, he became involved with the Fry Formula Two project in 1958 and 1959, before returning to sportscars in 1960. In 1960 Parkes drove a Lotus Elite for Sir Gawaine Baillie before moving to Tommy Sopwith's Equipe Endeavour in 1961, where he drove in sportscars and Formula Junior.
He drove a Ferrari GT for UK Ferrari franchise, Maranello Concessionaires. At Le Mans he finished second. In May 1962, Mairesse and Parkes came second in the 1000km Nürburgring race in a Ferrari behind the winning car of the same marque driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien. Parkes finished a mere car length behind Graham Hill in the 28th Royal Automobile Club tourist trophy race in August 1963. Umberto Maglioli and Parkes drove one of the Ferraris which claimed the top five qualifying positions for the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring; the Ferraris were equipped with new power plants. Parkes was timed at 3:10.4. In the race Parkes established a speed record and completed the most miles for a winner. Parkes and Maglioli, finished a considerable distance ahead of the Ferrari of Ludovico Scarfiotti and Nino Vaccarella. Parkes teamed with Jean Guichet in a Ferrari to capture the 1,000 kilometer Classic of Monza Italy in April 1965. Tommy Spichiger, 30, of Switzerland, died on the 34th lap of the race when his Ferrari 365 prototype went off the track and burst into flames.
Parkes and Guichet led most of the race in their Ferrari prototype, after taking the lead from John Surtees and Ludovico Scarfiotti. Parkes and Guichet placed 2nd to Surtees and Scarfiotti in a 620-mile race at the Nürburgring in May 1965; the winning pair led the full 44 laps. It was a 4th consecutive victory for Ferrari. Dan Gurney eclipsed the time of Parkes in the sole factory Ferrari in the final practice for the 1966 12 Hours of Sebring; the blue Ford was clocked 2 seconds faster than a lap run by Parkes the previous day. In a Ferrari P3 prototype, Parkes lap was so fast that none of the time-speed conversion charts would accept it. Parkes and Bob Bondurant started 2nd after his co-driver, Jerry Grant. Surtees and Parkes were in a Ferrari prototype in their victory in a 620-mile Monza sports car event in April 1966. Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini were triumphant in a 100 lap, 1,000 kilometer Monza race in April 1967, they drove a four-litre Ferrari for an average speed of 122.30 m.p.h. Parkes and Scarfiotti finished second with a time of 5:10:59.2.
The winning time was 5 hours 43 seconds. The Ferraris were in front after the Chaparrals of Phil Hill and Mike Spence had to make pit stops following the 17th and 18th laps. Parkes competed in a 1,000 kilometer sports car race in Argentina in January 1971, he was paired with Joakim Bonnier in a five-litre Ferrari entered and owned by the Swiss Filippinetti stable which maintained operations in Modena. Parkes first entered a World Championship Grand Prix at Aintree in 1959 driving a Formula 2 Fry-Climax 1.5-litre Straight-4. However he did not qualify and returned to sportscars thereafter, apart from a single outing at Mallory Park in 1962 with a Bowmaker Cooper. Following his success with Ferrari sportscars, Parkes joined Ferrari in 1963 as development and reserve driver, over the following seasons became recognised as a leading sports car driver; when John Surtees unexpectedly left Ferrari in 1966, Parkes was promoted to the Grand Prix team and with an extended chassis to accommodate his height of six feet four inches, was successful, finishing in second place in the 1966 French Grand Prix at Reims.
Jack Brabham won the race with Denny Hulme, third, in their Brabham -- Repcos. However this was followed by two retirements before another second place at Monza where he took pole position. Parkes won an international Formula One race at Silverstone by one third of a lap over Brabham in April 1967; the 52 lap race was the first Formula One contest for Parkes in his native country. He completed the 152.36 mile competition in 1:19:39.25 with an average speed of 114.65 m.p.h. In 1967, Parkes competed in two further Grands Prix for Ferrari finishing fifth at Zandvoort but retiring through accident at Spa, after sliding on oil being sprayed from Jackie Stewart's H16 BRM, on the first lap, suffering broken legs that would end his Grand Prix career. Ferrari Auto Works entered two cars in the 1967 Syracuse Grand Prix; this was a Formula One race. Parkes and Scarfiotti were assigned 1966 model single seaters. After Parkes' Formula One career ended, he raced into the 1970s in sports cars. Parkes was killed in a road accident near Turin, Italy on 28 August 1977.
Parkes worked for the Rootes Group from 1950 to 1962 as an apprentice. One of his roles at Rootes was as project e
Jaguar D-Type
Designed to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, the slippery D-Type was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Sharing the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type predecessor its structure however was radically different. Innovative monocoque construction and aerodynamic efficiency integrated aviation technology in a sports racing car, some examples including a renowned vertical stabilizer. Engine displacement began at 3.4 litres, was enlarged to 3.8 L in 1957, reduced to 3.0 L in 1958 when Le Mans rules limited engines for sports racing cars to that maximum. D-Types won Le Mans in 1955, 1956 and 1957. After Jaguar temporarily retired from racing as a factory team, the company offered the remaining unfinished D-Types as XKSS versions whose extra road-going equipment made them eligible for production sports car races in America. In 1957 25 of these cars were in various stages of completion when a factory fire destroyed nine of them. Total production is thought to have included 18 factory team D-Types, 53 customer cars and 16 XKSS versions.
The structural design, by Jaguar's William Heynes Technical Director and Chief Engineer was revolutionary at the time, applied aeronautical technology. The "tub", or cockpit section, was of monocoque construction comprising sheets of aluminium alloy, its elliptical shape and comparatively small cross-section provided torsional rigidity and reduced drag. To the front bulkhead was attached an aluminium tubing subframe for the engine, steering assembly, front suspension. Rear suspension and final drive were mounted to the rear bulkhead. Fuel was carried in the tail and the designers followed aviation practice by specifying a deformable Marston Aviation Division bag in place of a conventional tank; the aerodynamic bodywork was the work of Malcolm Sayer, who had joined Jaguar following a stint with the Bristol Aeroplane Company during the Second World War and worked on the C-Type. The D-Type required a minimal frontal area. To reduce the XK engine's height, Chief Engineer William Heynes, responsible for the C and D type overall design, developed dry sump lubrication, it has been said that the car's frontal area was a consideration in canting the engine at 8½° from the vertical.
Philip Porter, in his book Jaguar Sports Racing Cars, says that " more reason was to provide extra space for the ram pipes feeding the three twin-choke Weber carburettors." Reducing underbody drag contributed to the car's high top speed. For the 1955 season, factory cars were fitted with a longer nose, which lengthened the car by 7½ inches and further increased maximum speed. Mechanically, many features were shared with the outgoing C-Type, its front and rear suspension and innovative all-round disc brakes were retained, as was the XK engine. Apart from the new lubrication system, the engine was further revised as development progressed during the D-Type's competition life. Notably in 1955 larger valves were introduced, together with asymmetrical cylinder heads to accommodate them. Elements of the body shape and many construction details were used in the Jaguar E-Type1961-1969. Jaguar D-Types fielded by a team under the leadership of Jaguar's racing manager Lofty England were expected to perform well in their debut at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
In the event, the cars were hampered by fuel starvation caused by problems with the fuel filters, necessitating pit stops for their removal, after which the entry driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt speeded up to finish less than a lap behind the winning Ferrari. The D-Type's aerodynamic superiority is evident from its maximum speed of 172.8 mph on the Mulsanne Straight compared with the 4.9 litre Ferrari's 160.1 mph. Three weeks the D Type won the Rheims 12 hour endurance race. For 1955 the cars were modified with long-nose bodywork and engines uprated with larger valves. At Le Mans, they proved competitive with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs, expected to win. Mike Hawthorn's D-Type had a narrow lead over Juan Manuel Fangio's Mercedes when another Mercedes team car was involved in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history. Driver Pierre Levegh and more than 80 spectators lost their lives. Mercedes withdrew from the race. Jaguar opted to continue, the D-Type driven by Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb went on to win.
Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1955 season, Jaguar again entered Le Mans in 1956. Although only one of the three factory-entered cars finished, in sixth place, the race was won by a D-Type entered by the small Edinburgh-based team Ecurie Ecosse and driven by Ron Flockhart and Ninian Sanderson, beating works teams from Aston Martin and Scuderia Ferrari. In America, the Cunningham team raced several D-Types. In 1955, for example, a 1954 works car on loan to Cunningham won the Sebring 12 Hours in the hands of Mike Hawthorn and Phil Walters, in May 1956 the team's entries for Maryland's Cumberland national championship sports car race included four D-Types in Cunningham's white and blue racing colors. Driven by John Fitch, John Gordon Benett, Sherwood Johnston and team owner Briggs Cunningham, they finished fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively. Although Jaguar withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1956 season, 1957 proved to be the D-Type's most successful year. 3.8-litre engine Jaguar D-Types took five of the top six places at Le Mans, Ecurie Ecosse, with considerable support from Jaguar, finished first and second, the best result in the D-Type's racing h
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality, its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike, informally abbreviated to PMB, it is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium and dairy products, as well as the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality. The public sector is a major employer in the city due to the local and provincial governments being located here, it is home to many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the city was founded by the Voortrekkers, following the defeat of Dingane at the Battle of Blood River, was the capital of the short-lived Boer republic, Natalia. Britain took over Pietermaritzburg in 1843 and it became the seat of the Natal Colony's administration with the first lieutenant-governor, Martin West, making it his home.
Fort Napier, named after the governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Thomas Napier, was built to house a garrison. In 1893, Natal received responsibility for their own government and an assembly building was built along with the city hall. On 7 June 1893, while Mahatma Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white man objected to Gandhi's presence in a first-class carriage. Despite Gandhi having a first-class ticket, he was ordered by the conductor to move to the van compartment at the end of the train: he refused, he was removed from the train at Pietermaritzburg. Shivering through the winter night in the waiting room of the station, Gandhi made the momentous decision to stay on in South Africa and fight the racial discrimination against Indians there. Out of that struggle emerged his unique version of Satyagraha. Today, a bronze statue of Gandhi stands in the city centre. In 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, Natal became a province of the Union, Pietermaritzburg remained the capital.
During apartheid, the city was segregated into various sections. 90% of the Indian population was moved to the suburb of Northdale while most of its Zulu inhabitants were moved to the neighbouring township of Edendale and white inhabitants were moved out of those areas. There exist two interpretations about the origin of the city's name. One is that it was named after Piet Gert Maritz, two Voortrekker leaders; the other is that it was named after Piet Retief alone, since his full name was Pieter Maurits Retief. In this interpretation the original name was "Pieter Maurits Burg" transliterated to the current name. Retief in fact never reached Pietermaritzburg and was killed by Dingane, successor to Shaka, king of the Zulus. Maritz died of illness on 23 September 1838 near the present-day town of Estcourt, some hundreds of kilometres northwest of Pietermaritzburg; this was after the battle with the Zulus at Bloukranz, Maritz did not reach the Pietermaritzburg area. In 1938, the city announced that the second element Maritz should honour Gert Maritz.
At the time of the rise of the Zulu Empire, the site, to become Pietermaritzburg was called Umgungundlovu. This is popularly translated from the Zulu as "Place of the Elephant", although it could be translated to mean "The elephant wins". Umgungundlovu is thus thought to be the site of some Zulu king's victory since "Elephant" is a name traditionally taken by the Zulu monarch. Legend has it that Shaka had his warriors hunt elephant there to sell the ivory to English traders at Durban. Today, the town is still called by its Voortrekker name, although the municipality of which it is part bears the Zulu name; the University of Natal was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College and extended to Durban in 1922. The two campuses were incorporated into the University of Natal in March 1949, it became a major voice in the struggle against apartheid and was one of the first universities in the country to provide education to black students. It became the University of KwaZulu-Natal on 1 January 2004.
The first newspaper in Natal, the Natal Witness, was published in 1846. The 46 hectare; the city hall, the largest red-brick building in the Southern Hemisphere, was destroyed by fire in 1895, but was rebuilt in 1901. It houses the largest pipe organ built by Brindley & Foster; the British built a concentration camp here during the Second Boer War to house Boer women and children. During the Second World War, Italian prisoners of war were housed in Pietermaritzburg. During their stay, they built a church. In 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested in the nearby town of Howick to the north of Pietermaritzburg; the arrest marked the beginning of Nelson Mandela's 27 years of imprisonment. A small monument has been erected at the location of his arrest. After his arrest Mandela was taken to the Old Prison in Pietermaritzburg. After a night in the prison, he was taken to Magistrate J. Buys’s office in the old Magistrates Court Building in Commercial Road, was remanded for trial in Johannesburg. Prior to 1994, Pietermaritzburg was the capital of Natal Province.
Following the first post-apartheid elect
Lorenzo Bandini
Lorenzo Bandini was an Italian motor racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Scuderia Centro Sud and Ferrari teams. Bandini was born in Marj, Libya an Italian colony; the family resided near Florence. When he was 15 his father died. Bandini found a job as an apprentice mechanic in the Freddi workshop in Milan, he made his way into auto racing from competing on motorcycles. He started racing cars in 1957 in a borrowed Fiat 1100. Goliardo Freddi, acknowledging Bandini's talent, decided to support him. Bandini would marry Freddi's daughter, Margherita, in 1963, remained involved with the family's garage in Milan, he achieved a first class victory at the Mille Miglia, in a Lancia Appia Zagato, in 1958, a class win the same year in the 500cc Berkeley in the 12-hour race at Monza. He raced in Formula Junior until 1961. Bandini placed third in his first race in Sicily. In 1959 and 1960 he drove a Formula Junior Stanguellini. In 1960 he placed fourth in the Formula Junior World Championship. In 1961 Bandini and fellow Italian driver Giancarlo Baghetti were both in contention for a seat at Ferrari.
Ferrari opted for Baghetti, Bandini went to drive for Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud. At a non-championship race, he finished third at Pau. Bandini drove his first world championship race at Spa in 1961, he retired with engine failure. During the winter of 1961-1962 he drove in the Tasman races in New Zealand. In 1962 Bandini was hired by Ferrari for the 1962 and 1963 seasons, moved to Maranello, near the team's headquarters, his debut in a works Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix. For 1963 Bandini was retained by Ferrari for sports car races only. Along with Ludovico Scarfiotti, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours race and placed second in the Targa Florio that year racing in Formula One for Scuderia Centro Sud, his string of good results, including a fifth place at the British Grand Prix, convinced Ferrari to retain him as a Formula One driver as well for the rest of the season. In 1964 Bandini had his best Formula One season, he won the first Austrian Grand Prix at the Zeltweg circuit and scored two more podiums in Germany and Italy.
At the Mexican Grand Prix, Bandini was running second when he decided to let his teammate John Surtees pass, enabling him to score enough points to win the World Championship. In 1965 Bandini won the Targa Florio. In 1966 Surtees left Ferrari in mid-season. Bandini was promoted to team leader, he was unlucky not to win the French and U. S. Grands Prix that year which he dominated before mechanical problems intervened while he was holding a huge lead. Bandini's best finish was a second place at the Monaco Grand Prix in a 2.4 liter V-6 Ferrari behind Jackie Stewart's BRM. In the season Bandini helped director John Frankenheimer with his movie "Grand Prix". Bandini recommended the location at the harbour chicane for a crash scene in the movie filmed at the Monte Carlo circuit. In "The Making of Grand Prix", actress Eva Marie Saint noted that, this spot would be the site of Bandini's death in the race one year later. In 1967 Bandini won the 24 Hours of the 1,000 km of Monza, both with Chris Amon. On 7 May 1967 Bandini was racing at the Monaco Grand Prix, running second to Denny Hulme on the 82nd lap, when he lost control of his car at the harbour chicane.
He had just entered the chicane when his Ferrari's left rear wheel hit the guard rail, sending him into an erratic skid. It overturned; the car hit straw bales which lined the harbour side, rupturing the fuel tank, sparks ignited the fuel as the car rolled over, with Bandini trapped beneath it. Marshals flipped his car upright and pulled Bandini, out from the flaming Ferrari, it is thought that, during the effort to right the overturned car, fuel leaked on the hot brake line or the exhaust pipe and exploded. A second fire occurred when the fuel tank exploded after Bandini had been pulled away from the Ferrari. Bandini sustained third degree burns covering more than 70% of his body, as well as a chest wound and ten chest fractures. Three days after the crash, Bandini succumbed to his injuries at Princess Grace Polyclinic Hospital in Monte Carlo. There were concerns about the promptness of Bandini's rescue. However, investigators from the Principality of Monaco ruled on 10 May that "the security operation had functioned properly."
The straw bales, having been banned from all Formula One races in response to the accident, were replaced by an extended guard-rail the following year. Bandini's funeral was held in Reggiolo on 13 May. 100,000 people attended the funeral. He was buried in the Lambrate cemetery, in Milan. Lorenzo Bandini Trophy Lorenzo Bandini's fatal accident on YouTube
Louis Rosier
Louis Rosier was a racing driver from France. He participated in 38 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1950, he achieved 2 podiums, scored a total of 18 championship points. He won the Dutch Grand Prix twice in consecutive years between 1950 and 1951, the Circuit d'Albi, Grand-Prix de l'Albigeois and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with his son Jean-Louis Rosier. Rosier owned the Renault dealership of Clermont-Ferrand. In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Rosier was ranked the 19th best Formula One driver of all time. Rosier finished 4th at Silverstone in a Talbot, in October 1948; the event was the RAC International Grand Prix, the first grand prix to be held in England since 1927. He drove a 4.5-liter, unsupercharged Talbot-Lago to 3rd place at the 1949 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He was a lap behind the winner with a speed of 76.21 miles per hour. Rosier won an International Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in June 1949.
He piloted a Talbot in the 500-kilometre, 32-lap event, achieving a time of 3 hours, 15 minutes, 17 seconds. He assumed the lead after 23 laps. Rosier won the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans in a blue Talbot, he teamed up with his son Jean-Louis Rosier who only drove two laps during the race, which means Louis won the race by himself. He finished one lap ahead of Pierre Meyrat; the Rosiers covered 256 laps, 2,163 miles, in 23:54:2.2. Rosier captured the Grand Prix d'Albi in Albi, France in May 1953, he drove a Ferrari, covering the 18 laps of the finals, 160 kilometres, in 56:36:8. He averaged 160 kilometres per hour. Rosier placed second in a Ferrari at a Grand Prix in Aix-Les-Bains, in July 1953, his time was 2:24:48.1. In April 1956 Rosier finished 4th in a 201-mile race at Aintree. Stirling Moss drove a blue Maserati to victory in the 67-lap event for Formula One cars, with an average speed of 84.24 miles per hour. Rosier finished 5th at the 1956 German Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Maserati. Louis Rosier was the owner and manager of a racing team, the "Ecurie Rosier".
Set up to run Rosier's Talbot-Lago T26, evolved to an actual team running 250Fs and Ferrari 500s for Rosier and another driver. Throughout the 1950s, Écurie Rosier provided drives in Formula One for Henri Louveau, Georges Grignard, Louis Chiron, Maurice Trintignant, André Simon and Robert Manzon. Louis Rosier was one of the key sponsors of the Charade race track. After World War II, Jean Auchatraire and Louis Rosier promoted the idea of a race track around Clermont-Ferrand. A set of preliminary designs were drawn up for a circuit of a length between 4 and 6 km, meeting the latest safety regulations with large parking capacity at a location just outside the city limits on a hilly landscape; the Le Mans disaster on 11 June 1955 brought the project to a halt. All race events were postponed. No further events were allowed to take place on temporary urban tracks. Racing events were only to be allowed on dedicated race-tracks, providing that they met a new set of rules. In Clermont-Ferrand, as was the case for many other new race tracks, new safety devices were being imagined and discussed and assessed.
But the concept of a "mountain race track" moved forward. It would be the only one of its kind in France. Auchatraire and Raymond Roche worked together to get the project accepted by the political community before searching for funding, but Rosier was killed at Montlhéry on 26 October 1956 and would not witness his project come to fruition. The racetrack was opened on 27 July 1958, with the name of its famous founder "Circuit de Charade Louis Rosier". Soon after, several champions participated in racing events on the track, each of them, including Stirling Moss, making positive statements about the track and its surrounding. Rosier's Renault dealership in Clermont-Ferrand was one of the largest Renault dealerships in France. Rosier's dealership sold other industrial and farming equipment; the building housing this important business has been destroyed. In 1951, Louis Rosier designed a prototype based on the 4CV Renault. In 1953, using the concept of a barchetta that he raced at Le Mans, together with Italian coachbuilder Rocco Motto, designed a cabriolet, still using 4CV Renault sub assemblies.
This model was built in a quantity of about 200 units by Brissonneau. It was introduced at a car show in New York; some time he designed a roadster using Renault Frégate elements with an aluminum body developed by Rocco Motto, on a multi-tubular frame. The engine was revised, the body was lightened, the results was an interesting 950 kg for 80 hp. Louis Rosier sustained head injuries in a crash at the Montlhéry track, south of Paris, France, on 7 October 1956. Three weeks on 29 October 1956, Rosier succumbed to the injuries received in the crash. * Indicates shared drive with Charles Pozzi
6 Hours of Nürburgring
The 6 Hours of Nürburgring was an endurance race for sports cars held on the Nürburgring in Germany and organized by the ADAC since 1953. On the traditional 22.810 km long Nordschleife version, the competition took 44 laps and lasted about eight hours less than six hours. While the 1974 event was shortened in the wake of the oil crisis, the 1976 race was extended by 3 laps and covered 1073.245 km. The inaugural race, which counted towards the 1953 World Sportscar Championship, was won by Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina in a Ferrari. Due to disappointing attendance, the race was not held in the following two years, it became quite popular in the 1960s and 1970s though, more so after Formula One decided not to race at the Nürburgring after 1976 on safety grounds. The last race on the Northern Loop in 1983 was won by Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx in their Rothmans Porsche 956. In that year, due to the ongoing construction work, the track had been shorted to 20.832 km and provisional pits were used.
This event saw the fastest timed lap of the Nordschleife when German driver Stefan Bellof lapped his Rothmans Porsche in 6:11.13 during practice, an average of over 200 km/h. Bellof set the race lap record during that race lapping in 6:25.91. Since 1984, the 1000 km races were run on the new, much shorter Grand-Prix-Strecke, while the 24 Hours Nürburgring stayed on the legendary long track. In 1991, the 1000 km races were first shortened to 480 km discontinued overall due to the demise of the World Sportscar Championship. In 2000, the 1000 km were resumed, with new competitive cars of Audi; the race was held as a part of the European Le Mans Series, the European version of the American Le Mans Series. In a wet race, the unusual front-engined Panoz of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham won, ahead of a BMW V12 LMR, an Audi R8 and the second Panoz. On September 4, 2005, the 1000 km was held as a part of the Le Mans Endurance Series; the 500 km Nürburgring was similar event for smaller sportscars during the 1960s and 1970s.
VLN runs a six-hour endurance race, while covering only 4h in other heats. In 2010, for the first time a distance of more than 1000 km was covered by the winning Porsche 911 GT3. Current record of most wins belongs to Stirling Moss who won the race in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960. In 2010, the winning Porsche 911 GT3 R of the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen race was the first to cover more than 1000 km in a 6-hour VLN endurance race for GT3 and touring cars, lapping the 24,369 km long modern version of the Nordschleife 42 times for 1023.498 km in a time of 6:06:56.091. The 2012 winner, a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, covered the same distance in a time of only 6:01:29.541, at an average of 169.879 km/h. As a part of the Oldtimer Festival in 2010 the tradition and name of the renowned ADAC 1000 km of Nürburgring will be continued by the motor sport club DAMC 05. In contrast to former years, the race is organised for older cars and therefore the term “classic” was added to the name; the 2013 race was the first under the Blancpain Endurance Series banner of the Stephane Ratel Organisation.
1 – 1974 Race scheduled for 750 km only 2 – 1981 Race stopped after 17 laps due to fatal accident of Herbert Müller which caused track damage 3 – 1986 Race was stopped due to torrential rain and only ran 600 km. 4 – Time limit reached before 1,000 km distance was completed. Official Website Le Mans Series – 2007 1000 km of Nürburgring Story and Photos 1966-1970 Story and Photos of 2000 Story and Photos of 2004
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc is a British independent manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. It was founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, with the fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger, their sports cars are regarded as a British cultural icon. Aston Martin has held a Royal Warrant as purveyor of motorcars to the Prince of Wales since 1982, it has over 150 car dealerships in over 50 countries on six continents, making them a global automobile brand. The company is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Headquarters and main production site are in Gaydon, England, alongside one of Jaguar Land Rover's development centres on the site of a former RAF V Bomber airbase. One of Aston Martin's recent cars was named after the 1950s Avro Vulcan bomber. Aston Martin has announced plans to turn itself into a global luxury brand, is branching out into projects including speed boats, bicycles and real estate development submarines and aircraft on a licensing basis.
Aston Martin had a troubled history after the third quarter of the 20th century but has enjoyed long periods of success and stability. "In the first century we went bankrupt seven times", incoming CEO Andy Palmer told Automotive News Europe. "The second century is about making sure, not the case." Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, the pair decided to make their own vehicles; the first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini. They acquired premises at Henniker Mews in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of the first World War, Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford joined the Army Service Corps.
After the war they found new premises at Abingdon Road and designed a new car. Bamford left in 1920 and Bamford & Martin was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis number 1914 developed as the Green Pea. 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood who put her son John Benson on the board. Bamford & Martin got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin was forced to sell the company; that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business. They renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited Hanworth works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, which they had tested in an Enfield-Allday chassis.
The only "Renwick and Bertelli" motor car made, it was known as "Buzzbox" and still survives. The pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that Aston Martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump start the production of a new car. Between 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new Aston Martins, since known as "Bertelli cars", they included the 1½-litre "T-type", "International", "Le Mans", "MKII" and its racing derivative, the "Ulster", the 2-litre 15/98 and its racing derivative, the "Speed Model". Most were open two-seater sports cars bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico, with a small number of long-chassis four-seater tourers and saloons produced. Bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars, one of few owner/manufacturer/drivers; the "LM" team cars were successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans. Financial problems reappeared in 1932.
Aston Martin was rescued for a year by Lance Prideaux Brune before passing it on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road cars, producing just 700 until World War II halted work. Production shifted to aircraft components during the war. In 1947, old-established owned Huddersfield gear and machine tools manufacturer David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin putting it under control of its Tractor Group. David Brown became Aston Martin's latest saviour, he acquired without its factory Lagonda's business for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley-designed engine. Lagonda moved operations to Newport Pagnell and shared engines and workshops. Aston Martin began to build the classic "DB" series of cars. In April 1950, they announced planned production of their Le Mans prototype to be called the DB2, followed by the DB2/4 in 1953, the DB2/4 MkII in 1955, the DB Mark III in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958. While these models helped Aston Martin establish a good racing pedigree, the DB4 stood out and yielded the famous DB5 in 1963.
Aston stayed true to its grand touring style with the DB6, DBS (1967–1
