CAN-AM REDUX: THUNDER ROAD AT LAGUNA SECA!

The guttural rumble of Can-Am cars from an “anything goes” era of motorsports delighted enormous crowds during its heyday. They’ll be back at the inaugural Spring Classic at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 19-21. Sports car racing’s booming popularity following WWII resulted in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the CASC (Canadian Automobile Sports Club) founding the Can-Am Series for Group 7 type sports racers in 1966. Armed with sponsorship from Johnson Wax, the Can-Am Series was ...
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STEALING THE 500: SHELBY’S 1968 TURBINE-POWERED INDY CAR!

Stephen Cox blogs about Carroll Shelby’s assault on Indy - Part 2 of 2. Ken Wallis was running out of time. Both of Carroll Shelby's turbine-powered cars were now at Indianapolis but they were nowhere near race-ready condition. His drivers, McLaren and Hulme, had only a six-day window before they returned to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix. In a desperate bid to make the cars competitive, Wallis used a liberal interpretation of USAC rules to design a new annulus (the engine opening ...
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STEALING THE 500: SHELBY’S 1968 TURBINE-POWERED INDY CAR!

Stephen Cox blogs about Carroll Shelby’s assault on Indy - Part 1 of 2. He wasn't the first to try, nor was he the last. Armed with a huge budget, a massive turbine engine and two of the finest drivers on the planet, in the spring of 1968 Carroll Shelby was ready to steal the Indianapolis 500. The plan was straightforward. Ken Wallis, a 38-year-old British aircraft engineer, had designed the famed Granatelli-Lotus Turbine with which Parnelli Jones had nearly won the race in 1967. Wallis had ...
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ROY LUNN: GODFATHER OF THE FORD GT40!

Ford GT & Cobra owners, racers and Roy Lunn’s friends and family gathered at the Lakewood Ranch Golf & Country Club in Sarasota, FL to celebrate the legendary engineer and designer, known as the Godfather of the GT40. His accomplishments led to Ford’s domination of international sports car racing in the mid-late-1960s.  On June 19th, 2016, racing enthusiasts, friends of the Blue Oval, automotive journalists and historians, and the Ford Motor Company, will celebrate the 50th...
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McLAREN & AMELIA ISLAND: HALF-CENTURY CELEBRATION!

2014 Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance will honor 50 years of McLaren at speed, displaying rare and significant racers from five decades of competition. McLarens were not only victorious in the world's richest and most prestigious races, the company changed motorsports through a relentless pursuit of perfection. They brought a strictly professional approach to a sport that had been more of a glamorous hobby than a true business. Today McLaren is still the only marque to win the Formula 1 Con...
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