Post Type Archives: Events

Rial Racing was established in 1988 by German industrialist Günter Schmidt, who had been in Formula One with his ATS team, to participate in the 1988 F1 season. He contracted former Ferrari engineer Gustav Brunner to design a car based around the Cosworth DFZ V8 engine. The car, named ARC1, bared a few similarities with Brunner’s Ferrari F1/87, […]

In 1974, Jacques Laffite competed in the European Formula 2 championship aboard a BP Racing March 742 BMW, after winning in Formula Renault and in Formula 3 (including the prestigious Monaco GP), the previous two years. Starting on the front row at Salzburg, next to the Chevron of Tom Pryce, “Jacquot” won the race, his first […]

On Saturday, May 14, 1977, Tom Sneva drove into history by becoming the first driver to officially clear the 200-mph barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a Pole Day qualification run. Driving a McLaren Cosworth DFX owned by Roger Penske and prepared by chief mechanic Jim McGee, Sneva ripped a first lap of 200.401 mph that […]

Mid-1977, rumours circulated that this promising Canadian, Gilles Villeneuve, pictured here-above at Dijon in 1979, was one of several drivers in whom Ferrari was interested, and in August he flew to Italy to meet Enzo Ferrari, who was immediately reminded of Tazio Nuvolari, the pre-war European champion. “When they presented me with this ‘piccolo Canadese’ (little Canadian), this minuscule […]

One year before the first Formula One Grand Prix at Long Beach, a Formula 5000 race was organised in September 1975, with the intention to homologate the track situated close to the Pacific Ocean. A beautiful field of 40 cars forced promoter Chris Pook to organise two qualifying rounds and one feature race. On this […]

The Porsche 908 was a racing car introduced in 1968 to continue the 906-907-910 series of models designed by Helmut Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine), under the leadership of racing director and engineer Ferdinand Piëch. Porsche designed the 908 as the first Porsche sports car to have an engine with maximum size allowed. The new 3-litre Type […]

The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was the sixteenth and final race of the season and was held on the circuit of Adelaide. It was a three-way battle for the Drivers’ Championship between Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda; his team mate Nelson Piquet; and Alain Prost, driving a McLaren TAG-Porsche. Mansell went into the race in the strongest position […]

Nigel Mansell, the 1992 Formula 1 World Champion, had a fairly slow start to his racing career, using his own limited amount of money to help work his way up the ranks. In 1976, he moved to the Formula Ford series and won six of the nine races he took part in, including his debut […]

Carlos Reutemann won the 1974 Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix in a works Brabham BT44. The Argentinian, had a perfect start from second on the grid, took the lead from poleman Niki Lauda (Ferrari), and was never seen again. He crossed the finishing line with a lead of 42 seconds on his closest opponent. Lauda had […]

Seeing John Surtees at the wheel of his Honda RA300 at the 1967 Mexican Grand Prix, inspired Japanese race car driver Taki Inoue to one day become a Formula One driver. Taki Inoue: “I was a very young kid from Kobe in Japan and I remember seeing this picture of a Honda F1 car from […]