Category Archives: Sermon

WHAT IS A RACE CAR AND WHAT ISN’T – OR DO YOU REALLY OWN A FERRARI?

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Some Restoration Needed

 

 

As someone fast approaching my seventh decade, when I began my involvement in motorsport old, obsolete race cars were either left to rot out back of one’s shop, or even dismantled and cut up to provide parts for their successors. They were not, in any sense, venerated for their past accomplishments.

Today that has all changed. Not only are they accorded the status once reserved for human beings who affected history, they now enjoy the mantle of being art objects, right along side the paintings of Rembrandt and Picasso. They also share one other thing with these masterpieces: the prices they command in the marketplace.  And, therein can be found controversy.

Unlike a Rembrandt or a Picasso, race cars, old and new, are “tools,” that were never intended to become cherished collector items. Over the course of time they were changed, or even duplicated as necessity dictated.  Until the European Union came into existence, motorsport was a universe filled with, and controlled by the paperwork needed to travel from one European country to the next.

For example, if a car was destroyed, its replacement, or replacements if it was wrecked again, more often than not would be given the same chassis number, so it conformed to the paperwork. Thus, there might be two or three examples of the same vehicle to have been created over the course of its original career. Moreover, if that career was lengthy, more than likely it would be modified for the sake of competitiveness. After all, it was “a tool.”

The effect of this has been to play havoc in authenticating what now are considered investments, rather than living memories. Some companies, such as Porsche have been “collector friendly” when comes to the process, others, such as Ferrari, have been much less so.

The latter, for example has established a “classics” department, which for money will bless one’s prize as being a “real” member of the breed. Of course, to attain that entrance one has to meet the standards set by the Italian manufacturer, which until recently had a strict policy that a car must be exactly as it was when it left the factory to qualify. And, oh yes, only Ferrari’s classic department could right any uncovered flaws. The problem of course in Ferrari’s case is that so many of its sports racers achieved their fame, and thus their current value in guises that were distinctly non factory in character. The unique “250 Drogo created “Bread Van,” which started life as an undistinguished 250 Short Wheelbase Berlinetta which falls into this category is a perfect example of the insanity of that position.

Happily, the Italian firm as backed off, and now acknowledges the existence of these modified Ferraris, accepting their preservation “as is,” if in somewhat grudging fashion. If one talks to Ferrari, the company will claim only the highest motives in trying to maintain the firm’s good name and prevent “fakes” from reaching the marketplace.

Certainly, there is more than just a little legitimacy to that posture. However, there is likewise some who would suggest that there are financial incentives as well. Keep in mind that a Ferrari 250 GTO, a beautiful sensual coupe, originally produced to give the company the edge in the GTs production arena in the early 1960’s, now sells for as much as $29 million, and you get the point.

However, there is a larger picture here. Simply put, shouldn’t one worry less about the specific heritage of a particular GTO, and more about using it for something much nearer to its original intended purpose: i.e. driving fast? The vintage and historic world has become much more about wealth and egos than about enjoying history.

Ferrari talks about “replica” bodies and other non original components/ Of course, a preserved race car that is thirty, forty or fifty years old are going to contain new pieces because they were built for “the moment” and not “the ages.” Tube frames wear out, engines blow up, suspensions develop cracks, and bodywork is a fleeting” proposition at best. The bottom line is if your ego demands a Rembrandt like purchase, then buy a Rembrandt, and leave the tools alone.

What Ferrari, and others have done maybe wrong, but the vintage and historic community has let them do it. It is time for all involved to take a more reasoned attitude, and enjoy that they have been blessed with.

Bill Oursler, August 2011

 

MERGERS and ACQUISITIONS

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Motorsports has its own language, just as does the other endeavors of mankind. So why, then, am I having to learn and deal with the language of the financial world when it comes to racing? The obvious answer, of course, is money: the ingredient without which neither motorsport, nor the rest of the planet would function, or even exist.

Anyone want to sit on my boat?

 

 

Clearly, the basis for Formula One is more greed than sport; a fact that might sadden and frustrate F1’s fans and true believers, but reality nevertheless. The sandbox that is sports car racing is perhaps less obviously based on greed. However, it too is financially driven these days as manufacturers increasingly are turning to it as a viable marketing tool not only to promote what is built now, but the technologies of the future which will reshape not only the sport, but the automotive industry itself.

Heavy Metal

 

America, where Detroit continues to try and rebound from the monetary crisis of 2008, there is less emphasis on performance than there has been in the past, the U.S. public more concerned with gas mileage than horsepower. Nevertheless, the real issue facing the Michigan-based manufacturers is their size and influence within the industry itself. With Chrysler now owned by Fiat, and General Motors having been forced to cut its brands down to just three to survive; only Ford remains a true global automotive powerhouse. However, there’s no need to worry for there is another global giant building up a head of steam in Europe, name Volkswagen.

Flying Start

 

Conceived by Hitler to provide Beetles to the German masses, the Volkswagen Group now embraces such prestigious brands as Bugatti, Porsche, Audi and Bentley, not to mention Lamborghini in its portfolio. And, it is this wealth which, friends and neighbors, leads us to the motorsports dilemma now facing VAG.

Racing Green?

 

 

Although the Italian nameplate has not won Le Mans’ Holy Grail, the other four marques have. Moreover, three of the remaining four could be in the running to do so again. However, those notorious bean counters are unlikely to allow Audi, Bentley and Porsche to compete for the same prize at the Sarthe, much less run against each other for a whole season. So, who goes where? That is the unanswered question.

When We Were Kings

 

 

Normally, it would be an interesting, maybe even a somewhat humorous discussion. However, in this case the future of the sports car competition universe could well hang in the balance. The reason for that is simple: the retrenchment by many of the participants on which the enclosed bodywork set of depended, particularly among the Japanese car makers, has drastically reduced the number of potential players down to just a few.

Vive La France

 

 

For the moment, only Peugeot appears committed to the sports car scene, with BMW perhaps moving to join the French manufacturer.  Two other likely candidates, Mercedes and Renault, are far more focused on F1, and will probably remain so. That leaves VAG’s Audi, Bentley and Porsche camps as the only resources for the two seat scene to draw on. But, what about Ferrari, you say? The Italians, in this case, likewise appear to want make F1 the mainstay of their motorsports efforts, providing only privateers oriented GTs machinery for the sports car arena.

Jump for Joy

 

 

So, who gets the brass ring at VAG? Is it Porsche, which needs, and has announced it will run a prototype at Le Mans in 2014; or will it be Audi, which, has, with the exception of 2003 and 2009, the latter occasion marking Peugeot’s only 24-Hour triumph in this century so far, has dominated at the Sarthe since the year 2000?  And, what about Bentley, which took the top prize at Le Mans in 2003, and which now, perhaps is ready to jump back into the fray? While it would be a tremendous boost to see all three fight it out, as we would put it in America, “it just ain’t going to happen folks.”

Wild Things Run Fast

 

 

Closing matters let me again introduce another possible scenario. Assuming that Porsche will take the lead at Le Mans, and assuming that Audi will continue in the German Touring Car Championship and with the R8 programs, could the be-ringed brand then follow Mercedes into F-1?  Perhaps? However, perhaps not. What if Bentley became VAG’s Formula One standard bearer and Audi returned to a rejuvenated rally arena where it could demonstrate the new automotive technologies now being developed just as it did with four-wheel-drive in the form of the Quattro during the first part of the 1980’s?

Some would suggest that all this is outlandish thinking on an old fart’s part. But, then again old farts have been known to occasionally get it right. In this case it is a case of “pays your money: takes your choice.”

Bill Oursler, August 2011

 

 

Spanish Snippets

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To Barcelona by train and thence by motorway some 300 miles west to the new Navarra circuit for the Blancpain Endurance GT race. But first, Barcelona. Spain has had a motor industry with a chequered history – the Civil War of 1936-38 destroyed the country’s economy and industry – but interestingly most of the manufacturers such as Hispano-Suiza, Elizalda, Eucort, Pegaso and SEAT have over the years centred on Barcelona, making the Catalan capital the hub of Spain’s motoring activity.

Not surprising therefore to find a Motor Show there. The Barcelona exhibition is of course a provincial show set out in a number of not too large halls and certainly not on a par with the big ones like Geneva, Frankfurt or Paris. But Peugeot used it to present the World’s First Diesel Hybrid, a new version of the 3008, and the revised VW Beetle could be seen:

 

 

 

 

Two rare birds, the Aston Martin Cygnets, were on show:

SEAT, Spain’s only indigenous large-scale manufacturer capable of creating and producing cars of its own design, naturally had a hall all to itself:

 

Spain hasn’t a significant history of endurance racing, the 12 hour San Sebastian events run on the long Lasarte circuit between 1925 and 1929 being the most important in their era. So a 3 Hour GT race on a circuit as close as any in the country geographically to that former location is a step in the right direction to keeping that tradition going.

The new circuit of Navarra gives the visitor the impression of being in the middle of nowhere, its location being far from any large centre – the sparse crowds underlining this. However, it is a friendly track with good viewing points and it attracted a varied field of good quality GT cars even if the expected new McLaren failed to materialise.

GT3 and GT4 cars are much more akin to the real world and currently the battle at the top rages between the Audi R8 and Ferrari’s new 458 Italia:

Not ever forgetting Porsche of course:

The battle early on for GT4 honours:

Drama always threatens. Here the Italian –entered Ginetta briefly burns:

The race brought success in the GT4 class for the promising Lotus Evora:

 

Back to Barcelona. The city has long been a centre for motor racing (and still is with the Catalunya circuit just outside) and over the years it has hosted some of Spain’s most important races. The Pedrables circuit, using roads in the north-western suburbs, was the scene for two World Championship Grands Prix in 1951 and 1954; the Penya Rhin sports car race at the latter meeting was the last time it staged an international event, not being revived after the 1955 Le Mans accident.

Up on the hill in the beautiful Montjuic Park a circuit was devised using the public roads back in 1933 and this was used for sports car races in the Fifties and up to the early Seventies – a Pegaso Spyder won the 1 Hour Copa Montjuic race in 1954 and a Porsche 908 took victory in 1969 in the 12 Horas de Barcelona. The circuit is best remembered for the incidents which occurred during the Formula One Grands Prix: the collapsing of the new-fangled wings and the crash of Rolf Stommelen which caused the death of several spectators This ensured the circuit’s demise in 1975.

The drivers’ view as they sat on the grid:

Looking back to the brow of  the hill which caused the winged cars to lift:

The left-hand Hairpin, the first tight corner on the anti-clockwise lap:

The downhill sweep to the tight right-hand Tecnica corner:

 

TAILPIECE

SEAT Altea XL taxis, built 30km up the A-2 Motorway at Martorell, now the company’s main plant and headquarters since they moved from the Zona Franca on Barcelona’s water front.

 

© Words and images  David Blumlein 2011

 

WHAT’S HAAPENING?

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On Memorial Day weekend a United States tradition will celebrate its hundredth anniversary when they drop the green flag on the Indianapolis 500 Sweepstakes, better known simply as the “Indy 500.” And, while I’m sure the event will be celebrated then, up to now it has generated virtually no fanfare at all. Given the fact that Indy is one of the true storied franchises in motorsport, one has to wonder why.

The answer, unfortunately, is fairly simple: the folks that run the joint haven’t paid attention to business. Oval track racing in the U.S. is uniquely American, with its roots firmly planted on the mile long fairgrounds horse racing tracks whose history goes back to the middle of the 19th century. Moreover, the cars are front, not rear engined, and while the steering wheel is turned to the left, much of the steering imput comes from one’s right foot which plays the throttle like a mechanized musical instrument.

Indy, on the other hand, uses modern design machines whose powerplants a bolted to the frame behind the driver, and are only good for paved surfaces. And, as if all of these weren’t bad enough, must of the front runners are not from the “good ole US of A, but foreign lands, where in many cases, English isn’t a “first language.” In short, the trouble with the Indy Car scene is that it is totally out of touch with its core audience.

But, this is a sportscar blog, so why care? The answer is likewise simple: The ACO, the erstwhile overseer of our favorite segment of the sport, similarly seems intent on disregarding its audience with its intention to devote more of its energies to developing new automotive technologies rather than to providing a product that is entertaining. Ask almost anyone in the automotive industry, and they will tell you that such development comes almost exclusively from testing not from racing. As one insider, whose fortunes have long been intertwined with motorsport, put it: “We put are most promising people in racing, not so much to learn from their efforts, but to teach them how to think under pressure.”

Perhaps, at my advanced age, my own thinking may be way out of date in this politically correct world, but I firmly believe that racing should be simple: i.e. the guy you can go the fastest the longest gets to win. And if per chance he happens to have a better machine underneath him, then, instead of hobbling his efforts through a series of complicated rules so complex that that only a lawyer can make sense out of them, the opposition should be encouraged to catch up through their own efforts. Having read the ACO’s communiqué about how and why it’s adjusting its newly installed 2011 regulations for next month’s 24 Hours is, at its most generous, ridiculous.

In an age of computers, if one can’t predict what rules will produce what performance, then one ought not to be charged with writing them in the first place. Clearly, since the ACO has been working on its scriptures for some time now, they should have gotten their sums straight before putting them down in the little books they send out to the participants

What fans want, at least on my side of the Atlantic, is to see the best succeed, not to have them crippled so the others can catch up, and perhaps beat them at the finish. Unfortunately, this second path appears to be the preferred one these days. However, as I see it, all it does is encourage meritocracy rather than progress. For me, I intend to follow the “KISS” rule of life: keep it simple stupid.

Bill Oursler, May 2011

 

In the Interest of Balance…………

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Yea Right.

In fact there is no such interest but having plugged one great post at GrandPrix.com, it seems only fair to salute the other F1 site that I read regularly.

Mike Lawrence’s contributions to www.PitPass.com are also on the required reading list. Thoughtful, erudite and provoking, the posts are never dull. His latest musings on the coming change of engine regulations in Formula One gives background and depth not usually seen in these days of short attention spans.

Do yourself a favour, open something red and full bodied, settle down and feast at this table.

John Brooks, January 2011

Rollin’ and Tumblin’

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It is said that one of the definitions of insanity is to repeat an action over and over again expecting a different result, sounds familiar. Some of us never learn.

I was at this blogging lark back in ’95 and ’96 before the term was coined, posting on the net what I thought passed for wisdom about the BPR Series. All that got me was banned from the final race in 1996 by Jürgen Barth. He had a point, don’t crap in your nest and I had a point, don’t bullshit those who can tell the direction of the wind. We are still on speaking terms.

Work In Progress?

The next net adventure was to get involved with the group that became DailySportsCar, then I got uninvolved.

Kerry Morse and I had the bright idea of setting up our own stall, SportsCarPros and due to the kindness of a real gentleman, Harald Mergard, we managed to blunder our way through for six years. An unlikely result given the chaotic manner that Kerry and I conduct ourselves. However we hit the target more often than we missed. Outraged of Weissach and Unhappy of Volusia were evidence that our aim was true.

The SCP mission statement, if it can be graced with that tag, went like this:

What the World needs now is……..another website about
sportscars……….Nah!

You can see why good ole Burt Bacharach rejected that line……showing the good
taste and judgement that bought him a string of classics and even showed him
the way to San Jose.

If such a musical titan rejected this plot line then why are Morse, the Cottons and I
plunging headlong down that particular ravine?

Because it’s there? Well, yes actually.
Sportscars and their competitive antics attracts the usual cast of obsessive,
compulsives who also chase locomotive engines and the life and times of Black
Sabbath……….so too their websites are a reflection of this.

What are we going to do that’s different?

Hmmm, it is probably easier to say what we are not going to do.

No race reports as events unfold, no forums, no competitions, no minute by
minute breaking news of events that rarely mean much, no endless photo
galleries of the same shot, badly taken…………

You get the picture, there is a broad canvas out there and we are going to splatter
our oils on it when we have something to say and not before then.

The site is unusual in that the main suspects are all working in the sport already
not peering from the outside trying to find a magic key to gain admittance and a
free media pass for lunch. We know the resource that we all have the greatest
shortage of, even more than money, is time……..so just this once we intend to use
this fact to govern our course……….we won’t say much but what we do say will be
worth listening to.

Viewed coldly there are only two things in the sportscar area of any worth……….Le
Mans and the people who labour away in the business……….saints, criminals,
lunatics, fantasists, good blokes, complete shits and people who make me laugh.
This procession of heroes and villains is the world that I now inhabit some 25-30
times a year.

There are worse places to be.

Our aims……. To stimulate mainly, to entertain usually and to annoy
occasionally………climb in for the ride

Of course the effort of keeping our cyber rooms tidy was too much for Morse and I after a few years, plus there was a bag of gold on offer from another blog. So for the recent past I have been toiling away trying to keep the faithful entertained but that too seems to have run its course, so I am back on the streets again.

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

Ah yes the streets………….in fact I have been back to the tracks as well and will bring a few thoughts from the Dubai 24 Hours that took place last weekend.

The other good news for the readers is that I will have guest blogs from a wide variety of collaborators during the course of the year. Things will take a bit of time to get established, so please have some patience till the flavour of the blog gets set. Those of you who are familiar with my style will know what to expect, the rest of you have been warned.

Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride…………….

John Brooks, January 2011.