I was a motorsport fan who grew up in a small, rural town in upstate New York in the 1960s. Sports cars weren't common then: you would sooner see a John Deere or Massey Ferguson tractor on the road than you would an MG or a Triumph. My 1960 'Bugeye' Healey Sprite, in basic primer grey, stood out in the high school parking lot. My primary connection to the world of sports cars and racing was through the pages of Road & Track and Sports Car Graphic magazines, and attending the occasional race at Watkins Glen (aka 'The Glen').
The Glen was situated among even more cows and cornfields than my home town, but several times a year the international motorsport world made the trek to upstate New York. Jackie Stewart remarked to Motor Sport: "It was a nice circuit, but it was rural America in the fullest sense and unlike all of the other places we would be travelling to, be it Monza [for the Italian Grand Prix] or Brazil." Regarding the modest Glen Motor Inn, where many of the drivers stayed, Jackie remembered: "To get a room in the Glen Motor Inn on a GP weekend was more difficult than getting the Hotel de Paris in Monte-Carlo!"
For a young motorsport enthusiast, The Glen was a sports car Mecca and I began my regular pilgrimages as a teenager in the mid-'60s. From behind the fences, alongside kindred spirits, I gazed in awe at the drivers and cars I had previously only read about Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill and Pedro Rodríguez, piloting exotic Ferraris, Porsches, Alfas and McLarens.
Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
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Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring