Horological Meandering

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Gratuitous pictures of some of my favourite cars ‘gunning the hill’ at Goodwood

Ferrari

My absolute favourite of all the cars racing up the hill was the 166 Berlinetta (built 1949). Winner at Le Mans 24 Heures, the Mille Miligia, and Spa in 1949. Simply brilliant and ideal for the school run!



The incomparable 250 GTO – described by Sir Stirling Moss as perhaps the finest car ever made! This example won came third at Le Mans in 1962.



Bugatti

Bugatti was also celebrating a Centenary and as a special tribute, a collection of cars from their heyday as a racing Marque.

From the earliest racer: the Type 16 (built in 1912); the only one remaining with a chain drive and this car was raced by Ettore Bugatti himself at Mont Ventoux.





The Type 35C (built 1931) – the most successful Bugatti car ever to race winning over 1000 races in its heyday – including the 1928 and 1930 French Grand Prix’s.



A Type 50 ‘Le Mans’ (built in 1931); built specifically for the race and which ran in the 1931, 1932, and 1933 ‘24 Heures du Mans’ races at the Le Mans circuit.



A Type 59 (built in 1933) – the last Bugatti car to win a Grand Prix. This one was genuinely racing the hill and was not there just for show!



LeMans

Le Mans is a race and circuit with a special place in motor racing. The cars that have competed there, that endure for 24 hours flat out, deserve their place in history. In the 1950’s, the British dominated. First with the Jaguar D-Type (from 1956) and the finally, for Aston Martin and David Brown, the DBR (from 1957):





Anyone who has watched Le Mans (the film) a few times cannot help but love the endurance cars from the 1960’s and 1970’s. At a time when Henry Ford was pissed off with Ferrari for not following through with the deal, and built the GT40 from scratch to prove a point, to the all dominating Porsche.

The Ford GT40 Mk II (built in 1966) for the Le Mans race. This was the car that came third in 1966 when the GT40 finished first, second, and third.



Ferrari 312P (built in 1969) and part of Ferrari’s half-hearted attempts at sports/endurance car racing at that time. Despite looking good, the car was not that successful.



From the Porsche Museum, the 1970 Le Mans winning Porsche 917K (driven by Richard Attwood – who also won with this car in 1970).



Porsche 917K 1970 in Gulf Oil colours; this one was the star in the film Le Mans and was damaged during filming. Fully restored – as you can see!



The modern day has seen some new Marques enter the fray, and the return of some of the older British firms.

The Bentley Speed 8 (with the Audi R8 engine – built 2003) and giving Bentley a first and second finish to Le Mans in 2003.



Lola – Aston Martin LMP1 (built 2009) and finished fourth in the Le Mans race this year (see Jaeger LeCoultre forum):



Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (built 2009) and (at last) the winner of Le Mans this year



Audi R15 TDI (built 2009) – the successor to the R10 which had won the previous 5 Le Mans races. Runner up this year.



Formula 1 and Indy

Matra - Cosworth MS5/6 (built 1966) for Formula 1 /Formula 2 racing



Eisert – Chevrolet (built 1964) for the Indy 500:



Ferrari Type 056 (built 2009):



Red Bull – Renault RB5 (built 2009) and currently the joint hottest car on the F1 track.



Super cars

On each of the days at Goodwood, the present breed of ‘Super Cars’ get to parade up and down the hill. Of this years’ selection, to my mind, these two stood out.

The Bugatti Veyron ‘Sir Malcolm Campbell’. This is simply stunning and is the absolute ‘Super Car’ at the current time. Polished metal and British Racing Green paint work body, the same over engineered ‘tour de force’ engine and mechanics within the car (anyone who has seen James May from BBC Top Gear take this car up to maximum speed will know what I mean), and the presence of the car make it difficult for any other car to compare with it.



Named after the British land speed record holder from the 1930’s, this is only one of four cars being produced to mark Bugatti’s centenary. Campbell, as well as developing the ‘Bluebird’ for the land speed record, also competed in Grand Prix’s for Bugatti (mainly in Type 37’s or Type 35’s) and drove a Type 57 S in his everyday life. He was the first person over 300mph, and has a tribute, Bugatti have recognized his contributions to speed with this limited edition of one! The other three limited editions (in the Centenary Veyrons) are equally named after Bugatti drivers from the past and are represented by the racing colours of the respective drivers’ countries.

However, if there was one other car currently in production that might just ‘turn heads’ in the same manner, it would be this.

The Mercedes McLaren ‘Sir Stirling Moss’ SLR. ‘Loosely’ based on the Mercedes 300 SLR in which Moss won the 1955 Mille Miligia (in the fastest ever time), the car is part Mercedes SLR, part racing sports car, and part Batmobile! No top – and therefore probably destined for countries that have a more predictable dry climate, the car can attain over 200mph. In this particular case, the car was being driven by Sir Stirling Moss himself (although I have no idea who the individual with the wide grin on his face is). But at almost half the price of the Bugatti above, perhaps a relative bargain!



The car is a fitting tribute to Sir Stirling Moss. In particular, the open air design and lack of protection for the driver and passenger fit well with his racing philosophy. To quote from a BBC Top Gear interview: "If someone had come along in my era and said, 'I think we should remove those trees, they're dangerous,' we would have laughed and said, 'Well, don't bloody hit them, then!' When I started, my father said, 'You'll have to wear a crash helmet,' and I said to him, 'Dad, that's a bit sissy.' None of the fast drivers of the time wore crash helmets, they wore cloth helmets. So I had to wear a crash hat. I raced in short sleeves most of the time, to get a sun tan. I never wore a seat belt, of course.”

Proving to some extent that the Brits just love ‘going fast’ or ‘giving it a go’, it is nice to see foreign car manufacturers naming their limited edition super cars after British ‘speed kings’!