Do Look Back

There are some racing cars that have impressed me on aesthetic grounds alone, whether or not they were competitively successful – (see Tecno PA123 and E731 feature coming up.)    Then there are those that inspire awe because of their innovative technology/race-winning prowess.   This is one of the rare examples of a machine qualifying under both headings.   The appeal of the Matra MS80, (and its predecessor, the MS10), is all the more understandable if you share my rivet-work fetishism and remember that the MS80 carried the peerless JYS to his first World Championship, with five Grands Prix victories, in ’69. MS80 © Wouter Melissen MS10 © Wouter Melissen © Wouter Melissen If you too are a rivet fan, you probably already know this car, but the Petrolicious feature on the Iso A3/C is always worth a revisit. 

When Britain stood alone in Western Europe against the might of the Wehrmacht in the early 1940s, it was confronting an array of fearsome technology.   On paper, the German fighting machines were superior to those of the Allies – the Messerschmitt 262; Tiger tank; the Mk.11 U-boat; for example.   Later in the decade, as a consortium of the British automotive industry began to plan a new racing car, there lingered, despite the Allied victory, perhaps a little too much reverence for German engineering.   Although the 1938-9 versions of the Auto Union Grand Prix cars had utilised 3.0 V12 engines, the predecessor types with their V16s – up to 6000 cc in capacity – clearly left an immense impression.   Sufficient at any rate for the nascent British Racing Motors team to decide that its engine would be in such a format, albeit of just 1.5 litre capacity.   Starting from scratch and in the austere economic climate, this could nowadays be classed as an act of self-harm:...

My main interest since the 1950s has been in the Grand Prix scene.  But in 1969 I found a shop that sold the American magazine, Road & Track , and ‘discovered’ the fantastically exhilarating Can-Am Challenge.  That my interest was so piqued was to a considerable extent down to the authoritative and witty reports filed by the great Pete Lyons .  I was – and remain – fascinated by the Group 7 cars, revelling in their gross nature, characterised by their huge and noisy Chevy pushrod V8s.  Not that such an attribute could be enjoyed in a sensory way in England, as there was precious little press coverage, let alone anything on film at the time.  Even today, footage of the Can-Am is not plentiful and is mostly of low quality.   For me the classic period of the Can-Am was 1967-74, the years of the Bruce & Denny Show, the advent of the Porsche 917/10 (and /30,) and the final breakthrough of the Shadow.  I’ll be featuring stories and images from the...