Category: History

Want to own a BRAND NEW Bentley Blower?

Earlier this year Bentley Motors completed 100 years. And among the commemorative editions of their current cars, they will also release something vintage. And I mean really vintage. Twelve lucky (and wealthy) customers will be owners of a brand new 4½ Litre Team Blower. The cars will be built with “a mixture of cutting-edge technology and traditional construction methods” to make them as close to the original ones as possible. The engine will be a perfect replica of the original 4.4 l inline-4, and of course with the Amherst Villiers Mk IV roots-type supercharger.

The construction of the 12 cars will start later this year, and is expected to take two years for all to be completed. So there’s still time to get the piggy bank out…

917 in old photos

Without a doubt, the 917, in all it’s iterations, is my favorite race car of all times. In my mind it’s intermingled with Le Mans and all things that makes motorsports interesting for me. With that, I’m always looking around for info and shots of the car. And to my delight, Petrolicious has a very nice article with old photos of the 917.

I’m a big fan of Petrolicius, and I do follow their Facebook page, since they’re always showing interesting stuff. But some how I missed this article from last year. Most of those photos I’ve seen before, but a few were totally new to me. So if you want to see some very cool shots of the 917s in 1970 and 1971, click on the link.

Typ 64: the first Porsche that’s not a Porsche

Recently went on auction, and thanks to a blunder by the auctioneer, it didn’t sell. But though nobody actually said it is the first Porsche, it was kind of implied. However, neither Porsche nor the Porsche Museum recognize it as the first Porsche. It was though Ferry Porsche’s personal drive for many years.

Still a terrific piece of history. And as always, Chris Harris presents a very nice car video that’s worth the watch.

Porsche at Le Mans – 1971

Unfortunately only in German, but if you’re a 917 nut like me, and manage 13 minutes of spare time, watch it. It’s totally worth it! I was blown away by the amount of fabrication that they did in the pits. At one moment you can see the JWA team fitting a nose to the car by adding fiberglass – so it was not just a bolt-on job.

After watching the 2019 race, it’s really bizarre to see how things were done back then.

The first Porsche?

Most people think that the first Porsche model was the 356. If the person is a bit more knowledged, he or she would say it was in fact the 356 Gmünd. But no, they would be both technically wrong. Or kind of wrong.

Ferdinand Porsche created the Typ 64 in 1939, while he was still working on the KdF-Wagen (aka Volkswagen Beetle). The Typ 64 was a lighter sportscar version of the KdF-Wagen, built specifically for the Berlin-Rome race of 1939 and with VW parts.

Three cars were built, but because of World War II the race never happened and the car was almost never seen again. This is the only surviving example, and will be auctioned at Monterey in August. The price? It’s expected to fetch a cool $20 million. However, Porsche does NOT recognize it as the first Porsche, since the company was founded a decade later.

Sir Stirling Moss’ greatest victory

The 1955 Milli Miglia, of course.

His record of 10h7’48” still stands to this day, and will never be beaten. Why? Because the Mille Miglia was absolutely insane. Imagine around 500 cars on public roads going over 200 km/h through cities and villages. Oh, and those roads were NOT closed to the public.

And some say that the Avusrennen was bonkers…

Captain Nice’s speed record

In August 9, 1975, Mark Donohue drove a 917/30 at an average speed of 353.84 km/h (221.160 mph) at the Talladega Superspeedway, in Alabama, USA.

Nowadays the record belongs to Gil de Ferran. In 2000, aboard a Penske Reynard-Honda, he reached an average of 386.285 km/h (241.428 mph) at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

But Donohue’s car was MUCH cooler.