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.
Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin May 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Mick WALSH
'Had someone said that this worn-looking titan would win the most famous old-car event, we would have laughed'
ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QF
Rewriting the rulebook on what an SUV can do, and how it can make you feel
FLOATING INTO THE FUTURE
Citroën's DS-replacing CX was at a cutting edge so sharp it still looks fresh today, and it had the drive to match - as five superb survivors reveal
"It's a car for posing in really"
Broadcaster Michael Buerk reflects on more than three decades with his beloved Jaguar E-type S1 3.8 fixed-head coupé
HONDAS DECK THE HALL
The Japanese firm's Los Angeles collection is now on public display for the first time in two decades
ABSOLUTELY buzzing
Honda's Si Civics brought agile, cheap fun to motorists long before the Type R name got anywhere near a hatchback
THE FEMININE TOUCH
In 1955, General Motors styling guru Harley Earl brought 11 talented women into the male-dominated world of automotive design. What was their lasting impact?
Out on a limb
Panther's innovative Solo 2 was something completely different, both for its maker and the sports car market
Restyles with substance
Panther Westwinds blended a passion for pre-war designs with modern-era mechanical usability and remarkably fine coachbuilding
Dead ringers
The Maserati Kyalami and De Tomaso Longchamp share much, having emerged from the same stable, but are poles apart at heart