Ahead of the first Formula One pre-season tests to be held at Jerez in Spain this coming Tuesday, let’s take a look back at some of the magic that has occurred on the circuit over the years.

1986 was the first time that Formula One had contested the Spanish Grand Prix since Gilles Villeneuve won the extremely closely-competed 1981 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama.  Ayrton Senna started the race on pole position, followed by the Williams-Hondas of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. Senna and Mansell wasted no time in christening the brand new Circuito Permanente de Jerez, engaging in furious motorsport and producing one of the closest finishes that the sport has seen.

Enjoy the race coverage from the day, with commentary from the great Murray Walker and Formula One World Champion, James Hunt.

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Image:  TheCahierArchive©

Race Day: 1986 Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

Owning, working on, running and racing a classic car is something special. It’s a unique experience, and usually a deep and quite meaningful relationship that grows and changes along with life. There is a connection between car and driver that you can find in a classic and which often extends beyond driver and car into a unique and rewarding community.

This short film looks at two generations of men; a father and a son, and their experiences buying, owning and working on classic MGs.  It’s beautifully shot and edited, and an uplifting and interesting watch.

Enjoy.

You can see more of Josh Clason’s work at depthofspeed.com

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Video: Depth of Speed – British Mania is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

Imagine interviewing a machine gun. That’s what it is like talking with John Force. The 15-time NHRA Funny Car Champion is the sport’s most popular driver

Californian John Force is extremely well known in the United States, but hardly at all outside the country’s borders. Why is he so well known at home? It’s because as well as being one of the most dominant drag racers of all-time, with over 1000 wins, he is an instant quote machine that talks as fast as his 300+mph quarter-mile runs.

He is the life and soul, a non-stop- livewire, and in another world could easily be a stand-up comedian. I twice had the pleasure of spending a day with him at his factory in Yorba Linda for RACER www.racer.com, and each time ended up with so much material we could have filled the entire magazine – and more. Here is a brief selection of many anecdotes.

His drag racing career actually started in Australia in 1974, and straight away came the first story. “I didn’t have a licence, I’d never been in a professional drag race, and we were bad. I didn’t have a clue, but it meant the organisers could introduce me as ‘American John Force’. I was on fire every week for three months it seemed. I’ve seen more burns units that State Parks.

“The only thing that saved me racing there was that I set a new national record on the opening day,” he said. “The promoter came to me and said ‘since that opening day, you’ve been terrible, you’ve burnt all your engines.’ So I told him he’d better send me home then. His reply was: ‘Well, you can swim back, because you suck.’

“We were milking the media there though, and the Sydney papers were running headlines about me. We were wearing big ol’ cowboy hats and boots in the pictures – I’d never worn a cowboy hat in my life! They all thought we were John Wayne… That’s when I realised the power of the media. I could give my own line of BS, and these people would love me.”

Force quickly became a sponsor’s dream when he returned to the States (“This guy can’t hit his own ass, but boy can he talk”).

As we set up for the RACER cover photo shoot, Force launched into a load of one-liners as chit chat. “I saw Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder… I never had a physique like that, even in my best days. Look at the guys in Formula 1 and IndyCars. These guys look like movie stars and can drive like hell. Which backyard farm do they grow them in?”

Or on the exhilaration of blasting away from the lights, and acceleration to 300mph and more in no time at all: “It’s about 4gs when you leave the line. They compare it with the Space Shuttle. But I’ve never been in the Space Shuttle.”

As we got closer to the shoot, he came out with this: “You guys at RACER have a great way of portraying race car drivers, and I want to be seen as I am – an overweight, blue-collared guy who gets the job done.”

To give an idea of his popularity, in 2001 he had an open day for his fans at his race factory, which is in the middle of a shopping complex. An estimated 23,000 people turned up, and ruined the trade for all the shops around it. So much so the local council refused to let him repeat it the following year. One of his sponsors was there: “Burger King brought 15,000 buns with them,” he laughed, “and they were all gone in four hours.”

Which leads to one of my favourite stories. “Burger King has been a long-time partner of ours, and you can tell I like them by looking at me. One day we had the big execs coming for a meeting, and the team thought it would be good for me personally to collect them at the airport. So I jumped in the car, and went and picked them up – forgetting that the back of my car was littered with empty KFC cartons! I told them I was just checking up on their rivals…”

As you can tell, he and his family were tailor-made for a TV series like the Osbournes, and sure enough it came. Driving Force was a thoroughly entertaining warts and all reality show about Mr Non-Stop, his wife and three girls.

There are so many more stories to tell –this really is scratching the surface – and we will revisit John Force for part two later in the month as part of a special series based on the photos RACER magazine did. There are some of the out-take Polaroids by photographer Robert Kerian here to give you a tease, so keep an eye out for the real thing!

Special thanks to RACER magazine, www.racer.com, NHRA, and of course John Force Racing, www.johnforce.com

By Andy Hallbery, follow me on Twitter @hallbean

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NHRA: Can you feel the Force? is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

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 frozen forest tracks that you’d struggle to walk on is the preserve of the very best. In fact, any of the great champions would admit that a Rally Sweden victory is a vital inclusion on their CV.

First run in 1950 – and known as the ‘Rally to the Midnight Sun’ – Sweden’s international event is now part of the fabric of the WRC, appearing as the second round of the series’ inaugural season in 1973. Almost forty years on, it’s still there – and still as much a test of talent and bravery for rallying’s elite.

Super Swedes

With a long history in rallying it’s no surprise that Sweden has produced a bumper crop of top drivers. In fact, Sweden ranks third in the all-time list of winning nations with 10 drivers. Only France (18) and Finland (14) have produced more world-championship event winners. Most famous among the 10 Swedes are world champions and motorsport household names Bjorn Waldegaard and Stig Blomqvist.

Waldegaard won 16 WRC events and was crowned inaugural drivers’ world champion in 1979. His first win came on home soil – or should that be snow? – in 1975 at the wheel of the iconic Lancia Stratos and he was still winning 15 years later.

Blomqvist won that first world-championship-qualifying Swedish Rally in 1973 in the giant-killing, two-stroke Saab 96 and scored 10 more wins en route to the world title in the awesome Audi Quattro in 1984.

The eight other successful Swedes on the WRC scoreboard are Ove Andersson (one win), Ingvar Carlsson (two), Per Eklund (one), Mikael Ericsson (two), Kenneth Eriksson (six), Mats Jonsson (two), Harry Kallstrom (one) and Anders Kullang (one).

Saab

Only one Swedish manufacturer has racked up a victory in the WRC since 1973. Recent stories surrounding Saab and its bankruptcy won’t have resonated well with fans of the quirky Trollhattan manufacturer that took four Swedish Rally wins in the 1970s.

The lightweight, two-stroke 96V4 – an updated, four-pot version of the earlier three-cylinder machine – broke Saab’s WRC victory duck with incomparable local hero Blomqvist ‘at home’ in ’73. The same configuration also gave Eklund his only WRC win, again in Sweden, in ’76.

The replacement for the 96, the 99, continued Saab’s winning streak in ’77, with Blomqvist taking a six-minute victory – his fourth in his home rally.  The original Stig made it five two years later with the turbocharged 99. His win marked the first for a forced-induction engine in WRC history.

By Henry Hope-Frost

Images: MaxRally.com

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Rally Sweden: Saabs, Super Swedes and Sideways action is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

This feature gallery from the Cahier Archive contains images of the immortal Ayrton Senna.

Hit this link to view the full gallery

Climb Dance

One of the greatest motorsport videos of all time, this classic short film shows 1981 World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen completely attacking The Pikes Peak International Hillclimb on his way to a record breaking run in 1988.

It’s required-reading for every retro motorsport fan!

Video + Photos: 2012 Pirelli Calendar

The brief is simple. Commission leading photographers to capture the world’s most beautiful women on film for the exclusive calendar, which is only available as a gift for royalty, celebrities and VIP customers.

Read on..

Martin Donnelly: The luckiest man alive, part one

“For Martin Donnelly to have survived that accident was an act of God,” said Warwick. “That accident could happen another five million times, and in every one of them he would be dead. To be honest, he should not have survived. The only reason I drove today was that I was happy he was okay.”

Read on..

And click for parts two, three and four.

The 1980 Paris-Dakar from behind the handlebars of a Vespa

The Dakar rally is probably the most gruelling and dangerous motor race in the world.  Motorcycles, cars, quad bikes and trucks compete, not so much with each other, but with the race itself, to survive each year’s course. Competitors slog through each mile in danger of serious injury and death.

In 1980 a French team of 4 riders, put together by Jean-Francois Piot, decided that this all sounded wonderful and that they would enter the race. On their Vespas.

Read on..

Greg Moore, part 1. Mark Webber remembers

Greg Moore. It’s a name that stirs emotions and memories, happiness and sadness all in one go. This five-part column will celebrate the life of the Canadian that was cut so short, and try and pass on some of the fun that everyone around him experienced before he sadly lost his life at the tragically young age of 24.

Read on..

Parts two, three, four and five

And now for something completely different– Elf’s Experimental bikes from 1978 – 1988

Imagine the ideas and technology that can come about if the dudes tinkering away in garages late at night are racing engineering experts, funded by the seemingly bottomless coffers of French petroleum giants. That is just what Elf decided to do when it began a program of experimental motorcycles that lasted from 1978 to 1988, searching for that innovation that would propel their riders, and their brand, to the top of the podium.

Read on..

Legonds: Historic Race Cars in Lego

Incredible creativity, workmanship and design abound in all of them, from the simple but unmistakable W196 to the ridiculous detail of the Jaguar. Amazing work!

Read on..

Video: James Hunt punches marshall

James Hunt crashes his McLaren and is clearly dazed in the shunt. He then thinks he must be in the pub and gives the marshall a right hook.

They don’t make them like they used to!

Retro Martini Racing Gear

Star of the range is the uber retro light blue jacket, famously worn by Argentinian legend Carlos Reutemann. The jacket sports the Martini Racing logo on the chest with the iconic red white and blue stripes down the sleeves. Its made from 100% Polyester and retails for 149 Euro.

Read on..

Top 10: Best of Motorsport Retro is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

“People would not understand that you could be frightened. Well, it’s all part of it. If there was nothing to be frightened of there, and nothing, and no limit, any silly bugger could get in a motor car.” – Jim Clark

Personal, captivating and unique – spend a quiet Sunday hour with ‘The Quiet Champion’ in this wonderful BBC Four documentary about Jim Clark.

It’s full of rare footage provided by Jim’s family, interviews with the man, his family and friends, and the stars of a glorious period of motorsport and, of course, wonderful race footage featuring everything from his early club events to his Formula One career.

Enjoy!

Video Documentary: Jim Clark – The Quiet Champion is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

Qualifying for the 1983 1000km of Nürburgring and a young Stefan Bellof sets a pole-position time around the infamous Nordschleife of six minutes eleven seconds. He is five seconds ahead of second-place man Jochen Mass.

During the race he sets the fastest lap – a time of six minutes and twenty five seconds.

Fast forward to 2012 and both times still stand as unofficial and official records for traversing the twenty kilometre long Nordschleife really quite quickly indeed.

These were truly exciting days and the combination of the danger and thrill of the Nürburgring Nordschleife with the wild, rambunctious and impossibly fast Group C cars captures them perfectly. Sit back and enjoy ‘The Last Ringmeisters’, which follows the ’83 running of the 1000 kilometers of Nürburgring.

Video Documentary: 1000KM Nürburgring 1983 “The last Ringmeisters” is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

As a galaxy of stars get ready for the 50^th running of sportscars at Daytona this weekend at the 24 Hours we celebrate the  event’s most successful marque: Porsche

There are two things that are great about the Rolex Daytona 24 Hours, as it is now. Firstly, you know it’s the start of another racing season, and secondly, as other championships haven’t started yet, it brings a mix of top-line drivers from all-disciplines around the world to ‘have a go’.

One all-rounder to hit the record books in many ways was “Quick” Vic Elford. This is what he achieved in 1968: He won the Monte Carlo Rally in a Porsche 911, then a week later – yes, a week later – scored Porsche’s first 24 Hour win, at Daytona in the 907. It was the first of many endurance race wins for the German manufacturer.

In that summer Elford also made his Formula 1 debut, finishing fourth, and if that wasn’t enough won the terrifying Targa Florio road race that year too. Later in his career, he added NASCAR, Can-Am and rallycross to his resumé…

His Daytona win, with Rolf Stommelen and Jochen Neerpasch was a landmark, though, Porsche’s first of – to date – 18 wins at the high-banked Florida track. Not only was it the first, they filled the podium too.

Among Porsche’s 18 wins at Daytona came a spectacular run of victories between 1977 and 1983. To put this in perspective, fierce rival Ferrari won just five times between 1963-1998.

And there is no doubt that the iconic Porsche 917 from the 1970s – whether in the legendary light blue and orange colours, or different liveries – even 40 years on, is a work of art. Porsche’s sportscar success has continued, as has the Stuttgart company’s commitment to motorsport. As the cars and stars from all worlds of racing at Daytona for this year’s 24 Hours, the grid will again be full of Porsches racing for the GT class win, and continue the legacy.

By Andy Hallbery. Follow me on Twitter @hallbean

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50th Anniversary of 24 hours at Daytona: 1968 – Vic Elford wins for Porsche is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

Here is the latest video created by Finn Antti Kalhol. Called Love For Life, and narrated by Esther Veas, the video asks the question “Why are we prepared to sacrifice everything for love?”

The video covers every decade from the 1950s to present day and includes powerful footage of Dakar, Formula 1, Indycar, Rally and Touring cars.

We like it.

Video: Motorsport – Love For Life is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.

When you wake up in the morning, and jump into your car for work, you put the key in, and go. Not so with a Formula 1 car.

If you thought a modern F1 car was complex – it is. To be fair though Formula 1 has always pushed technology.

Take the gorgeous 1990 Leyton House March-Judd Zytec, in it’s Miami Blue livery. The car itself was one of Adrian Newey’s early F1 designs, as you can see by how compact it is. Apparently, it was also hard to work on – as with most of Newey’s cars. Aerodynamics, came first, ‘fixabilty’ came second.

The starting process of any race car has fascinated me, as I have watched in many times, and never truly understood it. Some teams rev madly, others idle the engine to get the heat in the oil up. Horses for courses I guess. This video explains a lot.

The 1990 Leyton House had a mixed season in the hands of Ivan Capelli and Mauricio Gugelmin, not qualifying at a number of races. Yet, at Paul Ricard they ran 1-2, Capelli eventually losing out in the final laps, but still finishing second behind Alain Prost’s Ferrari.

Even though it never won a race, the car was a beauty. And now you know it’s not something you can just jump into, hot-wire, and whizz away in at a moment’s notice!

By Andy Hallbery . Follow me @hallbean on twitter.

Video: How to start a 1990 Formula 1 car is a post from Motorsport Retro, bringing you classic motorsport, cars, motorcycles and gear every day.