Rally history

Unique among world rally championship events, Rally Sweden offers the only chance for the world’s top drivers to show off their extraordinary talents entirely on snow and ice. Threading powerful rally cars along …

The recent celebrity-driver karting event at the Palais Omnisport in Paris-Bercy, in which a number of international racing stars did battle in electric karts around the indoor circuit, brings back memories of the inaugural event …

An important chapter of sportscar racing came to an end on May 13th 1973 when the last ‘proper’ Targa Florio took place on the 45-mile Piccolo Madonie circuit on the Italian island of Sicily. Since …

Imagine trying to organise a six-week rally that took 100 crews on a 16,000-mile route from London to Mexico City, via most of Europe and the Americas, and that comprised the most inhospitable and torturous …

Porsche’s fearsome 917 sports-racer came, saw and conquered during the first two world sportscar championship seasons of the 1970s. The 4.5-litre, flat-12 cylinder machine – later increased to five litres – was the most sophisticated …

One of the most eagerly anticipated appearances at next weekend’s 18th Goodwood Festival of Speed, indeed anywhere in historic motorsporting circles, will surely be the first public exercising of the iconic Lotus 38. Formula 1 …

The 37th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours features on most sportscar racing fans’ list of ‘greatest-ever races’ around the legendary La Sarthe venue – and for several good reasons.

Very few of the world’s modern-day, sanitised, super-safe international race tracks command the sort of respect their tree-lined, blind-summitted, heart-in-the-mouth forbearers once did. Names such as Elkhart Lake (Road America), Mosport, Nurburgring Nordschleife, Rouen and …

Sportscar racing’s brightest prospect, Stefan Bellof, finally secured the discipline’s biggest prize, the FIA Endurance Championship for drivers, with his sixth win of the 1984 season. The 27-year-old German guided the factory Rothmans Porsche 956 …

How many world championship grands prix can you recall that were won by a driver who didn’t lead a single lap? One such event took place 25 years ago this week at the Autodromo Enzo …

At the start of the 1980s, Austin Rover reached a crossroads in its efforts to take on its chief rivals – notably Audi, Ford and Opel – in the increasingly competitive world rally championship. Despite …

It’s 25 years since one of the world rally championship’s most successful drivers first climbed the top step of the podium. Juha Kankkunen, who would go on to win 23 WRC events and claim four …

Born in up-state New York in 1941, Tony Adamowicz, or Tony ‘A2Z’ as he is fondly often referred to, became interested in cars as a young boy, and was inspired in the late 1940s by …

Watch this video of the last 10 laps of the 1983 Indianapolis 500 and you’ll quickly realise why the climax to America’s biggest race that May is remembered as one of the best.
The 67th running …

As NASCAR’s Sprint Cup daredevils get ready for this weekend’s season-opener, the Daytona 500 at the fearsome Florida Speedway, it’s worth wallowing in a bit of stock car nostalgia.
The blue-riband 500 has been the most …

January’s AUTOSPORT International show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham is the ultimate Christmas/New Year hangover cure for race fans of all ages and tastes. Organised for the past 20 years by the world’s …

With the annual Dakar Rally having just been won by the legendary Carlos Sainz in a VW, I’m reminded of the year – almost a quarter of a century ago – when Porsche turned up …

Few images from the halcyon days of 1980s American Indycar racing are as evocative as those featuring Rick Ravon Mears in a Pennzoil-liveried Penske.
Thanks to his status as one of only three drivers to have …

Generations of sportscar racing fans recall – no doubt with shivers down their spines – the day, back in April 1970, when one of the category’s biggest stars literally walked on water. And this superb …

Having digested Piero Comanducci’s fabulous aural treat in the shape of the 1977 RAC Rally, rally fans really ought to check out this other Piero masterpiece. This one showcases the Group B formula of the …