Sometimes I do wonder if it’s a part of getting older, to shift one’s focus from the future into the past…. although many of my friends accuse me of perhaps being too future/goal oriented in my own personal outlook, I do tend to seem to spend an awful amount of time looking into the history of various aspects of automotive culture. Dunno… for me it’s fun to look at the patterns of the past in order to understand the patterns of the present.
So in this respect the Autosport show was great fun, as it was a chance to get up close and personal with many a famous historical racing car, some of them being absolutely priceless and one-of-a-kind.
… case in point: look at this Gold Leaf Lotus…. This car is an example of the very first experimentations with wings on Formula 1 cars. As downforce was an unknown art at the time, it was also unregulated. There were no limits on wing size, placement or height. And thus the race car designers chose to mount the wings as high as possible and bolted them directly to the suspension. It was only after some terrible accidents as a result of wing strut failures that aero regulations started to come into effect.
BTW I absolutely LOVE the wheels on this car!
The mechanical simplicity of this car is absolutely beautiful.
Special thanks to Kev Horsley for the photos!
This ex-Mansell early 1990s Williams looks amazing doesn’t it? In the BG is a ex-Jacky Stewart Tyrrell: official legend.
There is no need to scratch your head, wondering if this is a fiberglass replica model is there? This is a McLaren M23… yes young children there was a time that McLarens were known for their red and white liveries… not silver…. and let’s not talk about orange….
Got meat?
Sometimes when you see these cars it’s hard to believe they are real… I’m more used to seeing grainy film of them, not perfectly restored, shiny museum pieces.
Here’s an ex-Senna Lotus….. A moment of silence please….
Historical rally cars were a dime a dozen at Autosport 2009.
The Lancia Statos is legend in rally circles. It was unstoppable in its day.
There were many rally spec Ford Escorts left, right and centre…
This Z rally car was on display with a host of more modern WRC machines…
Maybe this could be a new trend for vintage car styling? Rally Spec?
This Escort was stunning….
Check out how clean and detailed it is….
The Escort is Europe’s answer to the AE86 isn’t it? Just needs to be lowered…
Andy Blackmore just pointed out to me how ironic this statement is: “The AE86 engine is a knock-off of the Ford DBA twin cam engine, which made those Escorts so successful…so maybe its the other way around and AE86 owners should thank Ford ;)”
Check the diffuser on this mid 80s March prototype racer. It’s a bit out of control!
Many GT40 replicas were present…. Most of them I couldn’t be bothered to photograph… but this example from Superformance caught my eye.
The company claims that 90% of the components are interchangeable with the original cars…. it’s a perfect recreation of the original…
I quite like the look and style of this Ferrari….
In examining the car, it was unclear how much of it was original….
The inside of the nose looked like an alloy monocoque more than anything else…. is this a silhouette racer? Not sure…
Lastly, I’ll leave you with an image of this absolutely mental 400 horsepower, mid engined tube framed Mini made by Z Cars.
Crazy huh?
:R