A Photo Gallery of Racecars

2009-10-13T18:08:00.002-07:00

Today I posting about 6 pictures of the rear suspensions of Formula Vee racecars at Miller this past August.

2009-10-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

PRS Formula Ford

2009-10-10T19:32:00.001-07:00

The PRS RH-01 Formula Ford:

This car that I am featuring is a 1978 PRS RH-01 owned and driven by Klimas Thomas.

Ex-Hawke man Vic Hollman, engineer Ray Hughes and driver Derek Daly founded PRS or Pro Racing Services in Dec. 1977. The RH-01 made its debut in March 1978 and showed a strong Crossle like influence in its design and construction. The RH-01 and RH-02 were quite successful with several important wins during the first few years of its existence. The PRS continued production until 1983 when the company folded.

2009-10-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

2009-10-10T18:23:00.001-07:00

PRS Formula Ford

2009-10-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

MIller Park Racing Assoc. Aug 15, 2008

2009-10-10T10:20:00.001-07:00

The following photos arre just a few that I took at Miller in August Last year.

2009-10-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

2009-10-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

2009 Rolex Grand Am at Miller

2009-10-09T20:18:00.002-07:00

It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything on this site. I thought that I would try again. Today I posting some photos talen at this years Rolex Grand Am.

Rothhmans Porsche 956

2008-11-20T20:06:00.003-07:00

I guess posting pictures of a pretty girl is not of much interest as I have not had any comments. Today I am posting five photos of a Porsche 956.

The Racers Lady.

2008-11-15T12:28:00.003-07:00

What does a racers lady think of while her man is out on the race track?

Last weekend at Miller I came across this lady watching (I assume) her man while he is out on the track. She seems oblivious to the goings on around her, while she intently watches the progress of her man around the track.

What do you think?

Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Radical SR3.

2008-09-23T12:33:00.003-07:00

Today I going to do a quick post of two photos of a 2004 Radical SR3 that raced at Miller during the Heroes of Speed race weekend.

Miller Grand Am:

2008-09-18T19:55:00.002-07:00

Today was the move in day and first day of practice for the Rolex Grand Am at Miller. I made it to the track by about 11:00 AM. Signed in for my photo credentials and got my photo vest. I then started to wander the paddock. This is my first Grand Am so all of the cars are new to me. Last Night at work I picked up the crew chief for the 88 & 89 Porsche's, so the first thing I did was to look up the team principal. Unfortunately the team already has a contract for a shooter, he did take my card just in case. In my wandering I came to the Banner Pontiac team and found out who the honcho in charge was. I approached Leighton Reese and offered my services and shock to end all shocks he accepted my services. He wants people photos primarily as he has tons to car on the track shots. I started taken photos right then and there. I'll share them soon.

Tomorrow I have to be at the track by 0730 for the photographers meeting. I guess I have to be heading for bed pretty soon as I am not used to getting up that early.

I'll keep in touch.

Hotwheels Paul

1977 March 77B

2008-09-16T12:33:00.003-07:00

Today I am posting 5 photos of a real nice and reaal orange March 77B. The driver/ owner is Kyle Buxton. So far I have not had the time to edit, crop or otherwise enhance my photos including these five.

Brian Cox, Mazda Miata at Miller:

2008-09-04T16:40:00.003-07:00

Today I am posting some photos of Brian Cox and his Mazda Miata as requested by Brian.

Father & Son Audi's

2008-09-03T13:14:00.003-07:00

I am posting 5 photos of a Father and son racer team. They both run Audi's. The Father drives the TT, while the son drives the Audi wagon.

The Passing of an Icon:

2008-08-28T19:33:00.001-07:00

The passing of an American Racing Icon:

Phil Hill, 1907/2008:

Phil Hill the first American Formula One Champion passed away today from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

I only saw Phil drive two times, both at the Nurburgring in 1961. The race that I remember most was the German Grand Prix at the “ring” in 1961. During this race one of the guys that I went to the track with and I had gone to an area along the so-called straight before the start/finish and when the German police were not looking we ducked under a wire separating us from the hedge that lined the track. We dove into the base of the hedge and stuck our heads out onto the track. At this point the cars were coming to our side of the track so that they could set up for a very fast left before the start/finish and the pits. The drivers were able to see us and they pulled a little to their left and did not come close to us. Stirling Moss had built up a fair lead and was not really being challenged by the Ferrari’s of Phil Hill and Wolfgang Von Tripps. Phil on the other hand was in a nip and tuck battle with his teammate Von Trips for the championship of Formula 1. My buddy was using an 8mm movie camera and I had a 35 mm film camera. He was up the track from me and I had to duck out of the hedge to place a new roll of film in my camera when along came Von Trips followed by Phil. Von Trips pulled slightly to the left but Phil was doing everything he could to catch the flying Von Trips did not give an inch. He held his line and just barely missed the camera. I cannot for the life of me remember his name but I did see his film and it was great. Your first saw a red dot in the distance pull toward the center of the road and then it passed and another red dot appeared and it just got bigger and bigger and did not budge an inch. He later told me that as he was watching through the view finder and as Phil’s car got closer he looked up and said “Oh Shit” and ducked his head and body back into the hedge but kept his hand in the movie camera. He thought he could take my hand not my head. It was a pretty good piece of 8mm movie making.

Phil placed third in that race less than one second behind Von Trips and after 2 hours and 18 minutes over the most difficult race track in the world only 22.5 seconds behind Stirling Moss the winner of the race.

I consider it a great moment in my life to have witnessed these great drivers at the greatest racetrack in the world.

Phil Hill had the distinction of winning his very first race and also his very last race the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in 1967.

Phil leaves behind his wife Alma, a son and two daughters.

Phil you will be missed but not forgotten.

I will try again:

2008-08-24T19:23:00.002-07:00

I am going to try again to post some photos of this site. Since Friday I have been trying to post pictures here on Google and everytime I have been unable to add pictures. Google says that they do not know the address that I am trying to use. For crips sake I am posting from their site and they don't have that address. Google sucks.

So much for my whinning, here hopefully are some pictures of the grid of the F2000 race during the NASCAR West race at Miller.

John's Porsche 996. photos

2008-08-22T20:57:00.004-07:00

Sorry John, Google is not letting me post your pictures tonight. I'll try again in the morning.

John's Porsche 996 at Miller:

2008-08-22T15:52:00.002-07:00

Last week at Miller One car that caught my eye was a silver and Green Porsche 996. Sometimes looking only through a viewfinder you sometimes miss some details. After the race I was wandering through the paddock garages and I came across this Porsche and its owner. We got to talking I mentioned that at the NASCAR race some of the photographers will pay the driver of a car a buck for every yellow cone that the driver runs over and they get a shot of. John then pointed out that he had taken out several yellow candle stick cones with his right front headlight. Then I saw that his headlight was indeed broken out and rthat he had sustained some damage to his fender. John proabably didn't need to drive so close to the cone as hhe and his car were the class of the field. At the green he was just plain gone. This is one pretty and fast race car.

Post two August 18, The Attitudes:

2008-08-18T08:59:00.001-07:00

Miller Park Racing Assoc. Aug. 16, 2008

2008-08-18T08:51:00.003-07:00

Today mostly photos I am posting a total of ten photos taken up at "The Attitudes" series of corners. I haven't had the time to do any corrections on these yet. HWP (hot wheels paul).

Photos at the Thriller at Miller June 30, 2007

2008-08-15T13:43:00.002-07:00

Today I am posting two sets of pictures that I took last year at the Thriller at Miller vintage sports car race.

Thriller at Miller June 30, 2007

2008-08-15T13:21:00.002-07:00

Thought for the day.

2008-08-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

This has been a long week and it is not over yet. Tuesday night was my night in the barrel. I was the late driver, which means that I went to work at 3 p.m. and if everything goes right I get off at 3 a.m., thing of course did not go quite as planned. I ended up getting off work at 5:30 a.m. Fourteen and one half hours driving a crappy Astro van. The money wasn’t too bad though. I did on one of my runs pick up a man from China and he asked if he could hire the van to take him around town while he made business calls. Our company doesn’t do that, but in the end he hired me my car to take him around the valley today end my car. He paid me for 6 hours work and extra for gasoline. All in all it was a good day. Any day I can score some extra green is always a good day. Speaking of extra green. I received an email from the magazine today and not only are they going to publish one of my photos, they are even going to pay me and send me a copy of the issue.

This weekend is The Miller Park Racing at Miller. Duh… I am going to try and go out for Saturday and Sunday. September is just about the last month of racing at Miller. The first weekend is for Vintage Motorcycles, then the Hero’s of Speed, the Rolex Grand Am and the final race is a Porsche Club event. The end of the racing season is almost upon us. How sad!

Now for some pissing and moaning, maybe just a little sour grapes thrown in. Recently one of our drivers totaled his second van. Now this driver started just after I did so he has less seniority than me. The first total was last winter when he hit a moose up on I 80 on the way to Park City. The thing about that accident was that he had a van full of people paying him to drive them safely and he did nothing to try and avoid the Moose. He told me that he didn’t even try and use the brakes much less the steering wheel. Oh my gosh, there is a Moose in front of me I guess I’ll just ram it at full frigging speed. About two or three weeks ago during a heavy rain storm he came barreling out of a cloverleaf turn and hydroplaned lost control and drove the van up onto the Jersey barrier. The police investigating cited the company for having tires with only 3/32 tread. The tread may have been a little low but that is no excuse for him on his inspection sheet to say that the tires were ok. Isn’t that why they have us inspect each vehicle before we take it on the road? The company was apparently afraid of him suing them so they gave him his raise about four months early. What do I have to do to get a raise wreck a couple of vans? I know that at just about the same time that S---- wrecked his van I began to hydroplane during the rain and I was driving slowly.
Tomorrow I will try and be more positive and even post some photos of racecars.

2008-08-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Nascar at Miller:

2008-08-05T08:14:00.002-07:00

Last weekend it was the NASCAR West Camping World Series at Miller. To tell you the truth this is only the second Nascar race that I have ever been too. I have watched a few Nascar races on the tube throughout the years and have been to a few short track races. I have also driven my old Bobsy Formula Vee on an oval and don't tell anybody but I thought it was great fun and a challenge. I did like the fact that smoothness is of the utmost importance on an oval. At one time before Miller came into being I had even considered getting a Legend car. Yes, I did consider going circle track racing, mostly because Utah did not have a road race track. Now thanks to Larry Miller we have a world class road race facility.

Anyway, last weekend was the second Nascar race at Miller. They used the 3 mile outer track. Also on the card was Miller Park Racing Association and Formula 2000. I was covering the F2000 races for Formula Car Magazine. I will say that the F2000 cars were much faster on lap time than the Stock Cars. The F2000 cars could lap at over 100 mph. and were close to ten seconds a lap faster. They had some really good races and Jeff Westphal won on both days. Jeff was clearly very fast, smooth and a racer. I think I heard that he is hoping to get into Indy Lights. Soon I will post some pictures of the F2000 cars and races and racers.

The big ground pounder's while not as fast as the F2000 put on a great show, with a lot of rubbing slipping and sliding, crashing and just plain racing. This may be a rung or two down from the main NASCAR cup race series but let me tell you if you ever get a chance to see them race, do it.

Today I just quickly picked out five photos of some of the cars on Fridays practice.

Just some photos.

2008-07-31T16:57:00.001-07:00

I am just posting some photos today.

2008-07-25T00:14:00.002-07:00

Today I had a little time on the computer while Terri was running about town and I picked out four photos that I wanted printed. Terri had a few pictures that she wanted printed also so I put them them on a CD and we went to Costco. Our printer is out of ink and I just didn't want to spend $60.00 for ink. To tell you the truth I was very pleased with the results of the one-hour printing at Costco. We had five 8 x 10's, two 5 x 7's and about a dozen 4 x 6's printed and it came to less than 10 bucks. The heck with getting new ink. I don't think that I can print my own photos for that little.

Anyway I am posting the four car photos that I had printed I had two 11 x 14 matted frames for the 8 x 10's and they are hanging on the wall where I put my photos that I really like. I am posting them at this time. The framed photos are of the Ferrari 430 and the Mercedes Headlights. I may get two more frames this weekend and hang the other two photos.

Audi R-10 TDI Diesel

2008-07-22T08:45:00.003-07:00

I think this has to be one of the prettiest new modern racecars. The shape is not all that much different from other modern long distance sports racing cars. The colors chosen just make this car stand out. The car has pure sculpture in its design. When I went through my pictures taken of the ALMS prototype cars it seems that I took more pictures of the Audi than all of the others combined.

Sports Racers

2008-07-20T10:44:00.002-07:00

I suddenly realized that I have been terribly remiss in posting photos. It has been a week since my last post. I am sorry. Today I am posting some pictures of semi modern Sports racers. I am also posting two sets of photos today. Here is the first set.

2008-07-20T10:33:00.002-07:00

Second set of pictures for today.

July 8, 2008

2008-07-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

No particular theme today. I am posting five photos of several racecars at Miller during the NASA race last month. The cars are as follows, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Turbo NSX and a Porsche 911.

2008-07-04T20:53:00.001-07:00

The Art of The Racecar:

Can the racecar be a piece of Art? I think it most definitely is. It is a piece of performance art, a palate for the artist, the sculpture, and a piece of mechanical art. Art should be a pleasure to the eye and even the ear and the soul.. Form equals function I think I read somewhere. I cannot remember very many ugly successful racecars. Aerodynamics comes into play in making a smooth looking racecar. Smoothness means clean airflow, clean airflow means clean lines. Simple lines and form seems to always follow successful racecars.

In the form equals function I think that one of the best examples is the Swift DB4 Formula Ford (an example is attached the yellow FF.) Note in the Swift how compact and clean the lines are. The function of the line of this car is cut through the air as cleanly as possible.

Sculpture, is quite evident in the modern racecar. My example is the Penske Porsche LM2. The bodywork is sculpted around the internal components to create clean sculpted lines that cover the car and still allow the form to function in the matter of aero dynamics.

Another example of sculpting bodywork is the Stohr D-Modified racecar. The body is formed to be extremely efficient and yet be very attractive. The beauty of this car may have been an accident, but this then follows the Form = Function.

An art canvas: I think that BMW and or Porsche started the art car at Le Mans. BMW hired some artists to paint various cars and Porsche had the Pink Pig 917. In that vein I am posting a photo of a current Porsche that sort of qualifies as an art car.
The mechanical bits that make up a racecar can also be works of art in their own right. I think that I may have to leave that for another time. It is getting late and I need to go to bed.

Ferrari F430's at Miller

2008-07-01T21:33:00.003-07:00

It is about time that I posted some photos on this web site. Things have been sort of busy and even a litle bit crazy. We have been watching Lexi for the past week and also had car trouble. The car is back and Lexi goes home on Thursday. We love the little dickens but we are old and having to take care of a sweet special little girl is a lot of work.

This coming weekend at Miller is the Thriller at Miller. This is a Vintage Sports Car race. I am looking forward to this race weekend. In the meantime I am goint to post five photos of Ferrari F430's at Miller. I know that I have already posted some photos of these cars, but I really like Ferrari's. Therefore I am posting another series of photos.

Peter's 2003 Z06 Corvette.

2008-06-25T12:03:00.003-07:00

Today I promised Peter that I would post a few photos of his very nice 2003 Z06 Corvette. Thanks Peter for your interest. I have a few more photos of this really nice Corvette, but Google only lets me post 5 at a time.

1983 Porsche 944, #30

2008-06-19T20:15:00.003-07:00

Today a few pictures of a Spec. Porsche 944. As a race group these guys put on a great show.

007 BMW at Miller

2008-06-18T12:06:00.003-07:00

I am posting five random photos of Steve Woodard's BMW that I took this weekend during the NASA event at Miller. I still have some edit and sort the photos.

NASA at Miller June 13, 2008

2008-06-13T19:52:00.003-07:00

The theme today is red cars at Miller. This weekend NASA is at Miller. I am posting five photos of red cars at Miller. A Lotus, Mustang, Porsche 944,BMW sedan and last but not least a Factory Five Cobra. The Factory Five Cobra has some really neat ghost flames but they don't show up very well on this angle. Next time I will show the flames.

GT1 cars at Miller ALMS

2008-06-11T12:50:00.003-07:00

Time, Time, Time I never seem to have enough of it. Today a quick post of five different GT1 cars at Mille ALMS race a couple weeks ago.

Ferrari F430's at Miller ALMS race.

2008-06-10T12:02:00.002-07:00

The font color has to be red. After all this post is showing Ferrari F430's at Miller. I still need to do a Photoshop edit on these pictures to eliminate some dust spots that got into the camera when I was changing lenses.

Heintzmen's bad black Mazda.

2008-05-29T21:45:00.002-07:00

I came across this Mazda Miata last weekend at the SCCA Great Salt Race. This is not your typical Miata this one is fast, fast, fast and on top of that it's black. It is not perfect, in fact it has a few battle scars. I just picked out five photos to post tonight. I have quite a number of other photos and I'll get around to posting them soon.

Thursday practice at Miller May 23, 2008

2008-05-27T11:00:00.001-07:00

Random photos at Miller:

2008-05-23T18:21:00.002-07:00

Today was practice day at Miller. The day was cool and cloudy with traces of rain now and then. Check out the mountains in some of the shots. That is fresh snow on them. Other than that it was a nice day. I think that there will be at least twice as many car tomorrow. It is beginningto look like several of the fields will be quite interesting. So far about five Storh's have arrived for practice, and about the same number of Formula Atlantics. Hopefully the weather will hold out. I'm not going to hold my breath though, the weather person is still predicting some thunder showers for the weekend.

Today some random photos taken today at Miller.

Porsche's at Miller

2008-05-22T21:51:00.003-07:00

Last weekend was the ALMS race at Miller. Today I am posting five photos of various Porsches racing at Miller.

ALMS at Miller Random photos

2008-05-18T21:58:00.003-07:00

The ALMS race weekend is over. Thank goodness, that was a lot of work. I took a lot of my photos of the Star Mazda race, but I managed to include photos of some of the other races. Like I took about 3,000 photos. two or three even turned out fair. I got to meet some of the drivers and found some new photo locations. I also learned more about which part of the track is best at what time of the day. The sun light in Utah is really harsh and to get the best exposure you need to move with the sun form one end of the track to the other.

This race was put on by IMSA and therefore they took charge of the issuing of photos vests. They have some really nice blue vest with IMSA badges and photo on them. The advantage of the vest was that it gave me full access to the track and the pits. Another advantage was that I could get pretty girls to pose for me. Of course they do that for all of the shooters if they ask. I was so worn out that I didn't stay for the main races today, and beside I had some family stuff that really needed to be done.

I am going to post just a few random pictures today with no particular theme. The same as I did on my other site hotwheels-paul

http://hotwheels-paul.spaces.live.com/

2008-05-13T12:09:00.002-07:00

I know that I have been terribly remiss in my posts. Things are better now. I think that I am over my slight blue funk of last week. The magazine has been heard from and everything is fine. I only have tonght and tomorrow to work then it is the ALMS weekend at Miller. She Who Must be Obeyed has decreed that we need to re-arrange the two upstairs bedrooms. Today I have been moving furniture out of them so that the carpet cleaners can come out and clean them tomorrow. The carpet cleaners will be here by about 10 a.m., I will still have to get up early to take down the bed as it has to be moved anyway. Oh yes, tonight is my late shift at the Shuttle company, this means that I most likely will not be home till about 3:30 or 4 a.m. and then I still have to go to work tomorrow night.

I will try and file a report and post a few pictures late Thursday night.

ALMS at Miller

2008-05-11T06:13:00.002-07:00

Next weekend is the ALMS races at Miller. I am going to spend four full days at the track. The good thing is that it doesn't cost me anything other than gas money. I have photo journalist credentials for the race weekend. I believe that Miller is even buying breakfast, lunch and dinner and I have full access to the track and all facilities including the club house and pit lane.

My primary focus on the weekend is the open wheel races and in as much as these are the support races I will have plenty of time to devote to the ALMS cars. During the ALMS race I will most likely spend most of my time out on the track. I do plan on taking as many pictures of all of the cars in the pits. I expect that I shall fill a lot of memory cards during this weekend.

It should be an interesting weekend.

Chevrolet Camaro's at Miller.

2008-05-09T19:55:00.002-07:00

All I am going to do is to publish a few photos of Camaro's racing at Miller.

Road Racing Camaro's

2008-05-09T19:51:00.002-07:00

More photos of road racing Camaro's at Miller.

2008-05-06T22:17:00.002-07:00

A thought that occurred to me:

The other day at work I go to talking to one of my customers and the conversation turned to one of my favorite subjects, racing and Miller. To start with the only other paved raced track in Utah is Rocky Mountain Raceway which is a 3/8 mile oval and drag strip. Miller is a 4 1/2 mile road race facility. Anyway back to my conversation, this fellow felt that he most likely wouldn't go out to Miller as he did not agree with Larry Miller's politics. Now I have no idea what Larry's politics are and I could give a damn what they are. For one thing I never really liked Adolph Hitler's politics, but he did build the Nurburgring race track. The Nurburgring is in my humble opinion the greatest race track ever created. Larry Miller built Miller Motorsports Park and I say on behalf of all Utahan's thank you Larry. Politics be damned, Utah has a world class racing facility.

2008-05-01T18:08:00.001-07:00

My artsy photo at Miller:

Opinions and whom you seek to give you and opinion is sort of an art form in itself. The other day I sent a copy of my photo to three people and asked for their opinion. Two of those are photographers and the third is of the artistic bent. The two photographers did not like or understand the photo. The person with the artistic bent liked the photo. I was beginning to doubt my eye and what I thought might be a fairly good piece of art. I then sent it to another person in Canada who is an artist. He made a couple of slight changes, like making the colors brighter and adding some wording to the photo. He understood the photograph.

I now just have to find a use for the photo as it is and maybe I have learned something. I still need to learn more about working with the photos once I have the picture taken. I can see that I need to take some classes in Adobe Photoshop.

The other thing that I have learned is that if you seek opinions maybe, just maybe it would help to know or at least have an idea of your opinion givers. Will the opinion giver be giving technical advice or true artistic advice? Knowing what you are seeking in an opinion will help you to receive the constructive opinion that you are seeking. In this case I was looking for an artistic opinion and I received that from the artists. The photographers gave me technical opinions in that they thought the photo was blurry and that they couldn’t tell what it was a picture of and generally didn’t like the photo. I found that just a little bit strange.
Special thanks to Paul C. for his advice and opinion.

Ricardo Favoretto Formula BMW driver

2008-04-29T11:40:00.002-07:00

Today a few shots of one of the Formula BMW drivers at Miller for the test session last weekend. This drivers name a Ricardo Favoretto and I do believe that he is from Brazil. I seem to recall a couple of famous F-1 drivers have come from Brazil. Who knows maybe Ricardo will be one more. I checked out his web site, unfortunately I do not read Spanish or Portuguese. He needs to have an English translation on his site. http://www.ricardofavoretto.com.br/

I am posting five photos of this driver.

Today's post.

2008-04-28T13:09:00.003-07:00

The best thing about having a four day weekend is having a four day weekend, the worst thing about having a four day weekend is having to go back to work for three day. Today is the start of my work week. Damn, damn, damn.

About the weekend at Miller. This was my first weekend as a working photojournalist. I did get to meet the owner publisher of FormulaCar Magazine and I gave him two Cd's of photos that I took on Saturday or the Formula BMW test day. Now I wonder if they found any that they liked!!!!

On Saturday I went back to the track but the FBMW was over and Motorcycles were using the East track. The Porsche club was using the West track and I did tack some pictures of some of the Porsche's and other cars. I did post a bunch of those pictures on http://hotwheels-paul.spaces.live.com/ If you want to check out any of those pic's. The other day I did post on this site three photos that I took on the FBMW day. Today I am just going to re post one of those and I WOULD really like to get some feedback on it. If you could please email me at tswatson78@msn.com and constructive comments I would appreciate it very much.

Formula BMW testing at Miller

2008-04-26T06:19:00.003-07:00

Today I am just posting three pictures that I took yesterday at Miller during the Formula BMW testing.

Bob McKee Can-Am car

2008-04-24T18:14:00.001-07:00

Bob McKee

Bob McKee started out working on drag cars and then Stock cars. Bob also served as the crew chief for Dick Rathman at the Indy 500. He was quite the mechanic and made his first transaxle, which he attached to a Buick engine in Roger Ward’s Cooper. This was Bob’s first experience with sports cars. From there Bob went on to manufacturing his own sports cars usually powered by American V8 engines. In 1966 Ralph Salyer became the SCCA National “C” sports racing champion driving a McKee-Oldsmobile. Bob McKee worked out of his shop in Palatine, Ill.
Attached are a number of photos of a McKee Can-Am car with a Plymouth Hemi and one of his unique transaxles.

Formula BMW

2008-04-24T11:53:00.003-07:00

Being basically lazy and also due to the fact that I had previously published an article on Formula BMW I am re-publishing that article. The reaso that I am doing this is tomorrow I am going out to Miller for the Formula BMW USA testing at Miller in conjunction with the Snap-on Go-Kart series.

Formula BMW has invited 10 Go Kart friver in the Snap-On series to test the Formula BMW FB02. I am going to see if I can do something for FormulaCar Magazine. The owner publisher of FCM is also going to be at Miller this weekend.

Just so that you have an idea of what a Formula BMW is I am publishing a few photos that I took last year at Miller.

This is the fourth year of Formula BMW. Formula BMW is designed to give new and upcoming drivers a place to learn and show what they can do. The goal of the design behind Formula BMW was “to build a car that would set new standards in the entry level Formulas.” A high standard for safety was of the utmost importance and then low cost, ease of maintenance and flexibility. The gear ratios, shock absorbers, and wings are all adjustable. Young drivers can quickly get up to speed with the process of setting up a car. The front and rear wings are also adjustable, and the car has a stepped underbody for safety reasons.This is the first time BMW has put its name brand on a Formula car. The car was designed by BMW’s American subsidiary, Designworks/USA, in cooperation with BMW Motorsport in Munich.The Formula BMW FB2receives its power from the four-cylinder engine taken from the BMW K1200RS motorcycle. The engine produces 140 bhp and will propel the 1,001-pound car up to 140 mph depending on the gear ratio chosen. The engine is also sealed so that the teams cannot tune it. This gives the engine a longer lifetime, lower maintenance costs and a very high level of equality among all of the teams.

My sopbox for the day:

2008-04-20T08:13:00.001-07:00

My soapbox for today!

I was reading in my favorite British car magazine the other day that the IRL and CART have kissed and made up and apparently the IRL has won the long war over open wheel racing in the U.S.

First of all I believe that it is a good thing that they have combined into one organization. Unfortunately, Tony George is now the Czar of U. S. open wheel racing. It appears that the new Champ, IRL car will be just another one make racing series. What a frigging bore. Now I have nothing against one make racing series, the Star Mazda is a good example of a one make series that has a serious place in racing,. The Star Mazda series is a great place and set of rules to help develop up and coming race drivers. As for a premier racing series I foresee a serious lack of interest from sponsors, and spectators. As much as I am not a great fan of NASCAR, the thing that NASCA has going for it is the variety of cars participating Ford fans come to see a Ford race and win, Chevy fans the same along with Dodge fans, heck even Toyota fans can now be a NASCAR fan. F-1 has BMW, Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari’s to root for.

Can you see Ford or Chevrolet putting their names on a racecar that has an engine with somebody else’s name on it? I don’t think so. Honda has already said that they will be pulling out of American open wheel racing.
To bring back the pizzazz and excitement in American open wheel racing Tony is going to have to develop a series that has diversity in it and that encourages manufacturers to get involved with engines and chassis. If you can get Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Renault and Ferrari or even only a few of them involved then Tony will truly have a world class racing series. Good luck Tony! I am not going to hold my breath until it happens; as I do not think that Mr. George has the will and or brains to make a really great series. The only thing that Tony George wants to do is to promote the Indy 500 and Tony George. To tell you the truth ever since Tony came into power at Indy I have not watched more than a half an hour of the Indy 500 on any year, most of the time I don’t even care who won.

Style vs ?

2008-04-12T14:56:00.004-07:00

First of all I want to say that I am a fan of Lotus cars. They may not have had the most in styling but Lotus always made of for their lack of style in engineering. Colin always said to add lightness. Their have been a couple of Lotus cars that did exude style, the original Lotus Elite and the Elan for two, not too many more. A Lotus was almost always about handling. The Lotus Exige is a good example of adding lightness and engineering handling into the total package. I will admit that it is also "styled." The styling though in my poor humble opinion lacks a certain panache. In fact it looks downright Japanese cartoonish.

Photos at Miller.

2008-04-11T20:49:00.003-07:00

Yes, I know that I have been very remiss in not posting new photos on this site. I have written and posted on HotWheels paul today. I did get an interesting telephone call a couple days ago. While at Miller last wekend I only gave out two of my new business cards. One fellow called back and was interested in some photos if I had any of his car. I did manage to get a few shots of his car that turned out. He ended up buying them from me to use in an advertising display at his business with his racecar. One of these days I will publish those photos on this site but not right now. Right now I am going to post some pictures of Martin Snows beautiful Porsche. I believe that he raced this car at Sebring last month. It is really pretty and very nicely turned out, on top of that if is fast.

Virus

2008-04-07T13:00:00.002-07:00

I finally went and bought an anti-virus program and cleaned up my computer. I'm sorry if my computer has been a problem to you. Hopefully now I wont pass on anything to your computer. Thanks Paul

The start of a new season.

2008-04-07T08:30:00.002-07:00

Ah, spring time in the Rockie's, the air is brisk. Brisk Hell, it was down right cold, at least it did not rain like weather person suggested.

My plans were to use this weekend to get used to the new Sigma lens. It is going to take a little getting used to as it is just so big. On Saturday they had motorcycles on the East track, Go-Karts on the go-kart track and sports cars on the West track. On Sunday only the sports cars ran. I did take a couple of pictures of the motorcycles but my main focus was on cars. Sometime this Summer I will go just for the cycles. I Met with John Gardner at Miller and made all of the necessary arrangements for my photo journalist credentials for the season.

The only downside of the weekend at the track was what I consider bad manners, poor taste and just downright rudeness of at least one of the racers. I was in the garage taking pictures of cars and people and I came across a possible interesting photo. While getting the photos one of the racers was giving me the finger. Now don't get me wrong I'm not a prude, but the one thing I do not like is bad manners and rudeness. I can understand if you don't want a picture taken. Just tell me. No problem. At the time I was also wearing my orange Miller Photographers vest, so it was not like I was just some John Doe wandering around clicking pictures. Giving me the finger and thinking that is cute or funny, that is his right. It is also my right to ignore him and his like. Therefore I do not plan on posting pictures of that group of race cars. Pity, some people are just asses. Do not expect any photos from me of Miller racing Mustangs any more this season. I do not need being flipped off and I do not need pictures if Mustangs, believe me there are enough other cars and lots and lots of friendly owners and drivers who do not mind having their pictures taken and usually are more than happy to share information with me.

So much for my soap box speech. There were several interesting and fast cars at Miller this past weekend, including a Porsche that raced at Sebring a few weeks ago, at least three new Stohr D-Mods. I also came across my first Audi R-8, an older Alfa and a Ferrari 308.

Today just a few random photos.

Smothers Bros. Chevron Formula B. race car.

2008-04-03T18:40:00.002-07:00

My first time at Miller I came across this car which according to my research is 1 of 3 made. I believe that this a 1968 Model B-14 Chevron. The engine listed for a Model 14 is a 1598 cc Cosworth four cylinder with I think a twin cam head. The engine was based upon an English Ford sedan engine, and in someways was similar to the Lotus twincam engine.

It is even possible that I saw this car race at Kent Washington in 1969. Terri and her Mother and I went on a trip to Washington and to Vancouver, B.C. for a vacation and we stopped at Kent for the F-5000 and F.B. races. Somewhere I have a bunch (at least one roll of 35 mm film) that I took at the races. If I ever find them I'll scan them and post them.

I don't seem to have very many photos of this car, but I am posting the few that I came across tonight.

The new racing season.

2008-04-02T09:45:00.002-07:00

The 2008 racing season starts this coming weekend at Miller. Miller has a series of six sports car races for local drivers as a way for local drivers to race and gain experience. I shall be out there taking pictures and I am hoping that the new telephoto lens works out. It had better for the buck$ I paid for it.

I have to go to work tonight and this will be my first 4 day weekend of the summer so that I can have the time to spend at the track.

2008-04-01T10:09:00.002-07:00

Back to the Ginetta G4. This time I am showing some of the chassis details. While I was there they were making some suspension changes to either the shocks or springs. Also take note of the shot from the front of the car and notice the aluminum belly pan and the lack of oil and dirt in the engine compartment.

The frame is done in a nice grey and that theme carries through into the passenger compartment. I like being able to see the frame in contrast to the body panels.

This is one very nice race car, good looking and fast. What more could you want in a race car? I can't think of anything.

Lola T332 Formula 5000

2008-03-28T22:20:00.002-07:00

Whoops I forgot where I was and I forgot to add the photos of the Lola T332. Here they areand don't forget to read the post below about this car.

Lola T332 Formula 5000

2008-03-28T22:03:00.002-07:00

It's red, it's loud, it's fast, it is a Lola T332 F5000.

Last June at Miller I came across this Lola. I really like this car, I mean who wouldn't like a very light race car with gobs of Chevy horse-power. On top of that the owner John Obialero told me that he also has the full fender body kit so this car can race in open wheel F5000 or with the body kit with the Can-Am cars. The chassis is a aluminum monocoque with the engine as a stressed member and tube sub frame to hold the wing at the rear of the car.

In 1974 Brian Redman became the Formula 5000 champion in a Lola T332. One word of advice from somebody who learned the hard way. Watch out for the exhust pipes when the car is hot. I received a nice burn on my shin while taking some of the pictures in the garage just after John came in from a track session. Ouch.

The Ginetta G4 Part III

2008-03-22T10:00:00.003-07:00

Today I am posting a cople more pictures of the Ginetta. One more photo of the car on the track and the rest were taken in the garage. Note the detail in the supports for the rear deck. The supports are really quite simple but very elegant in their execution. It is sort of hard to see the simple detail that they put into these supports but the results are what really counts. Also note the checker flag that they were very proud of.

The Ginetta G4 part II

2008-03-21T14:45:00.002-07:00

This Ginetta G-4 was quite impressive. It is a very pretty little car and very quick. Look closely at the photos and you can see some of the changes to the car during the weekend.

The first thing that they did was to take the top off as it was causing lift on the long straight at Miller, an air scoop was put on the rear deck to cool the differential and the truck lid was raised with spacers to act as a spoiler and I guess to also help reduce lift and maybe to aid in cooling the rear end.
In Saturdays qualifying race the Ginetta had to start at the back of the grid of 22 cars. During this race I was on the other side of the track in the area of “Right Hook.” From Right Hook I could see the field take the green flag and by the time the Ginetta had reached the first turn (Sunset Bend) it had passed by my count 5 cars. At the end of the first lap it was up to 14th and each lap it just kept picking off one car after another. With about three laps to go the pace car came out because of an off road excursion of another car at this point I believe the Ginetta was either third or fourth. The two cars in the lead were Porsche 914/6’s. The Red 914/6 seemed to have it over the whole field, as he was able to pull away at will. On the restart the Ginetta passed the other cars and ended up with a well-deserved second place. This was the great drive of the weekend. Saturday night the course workers got together and voted for their favorite car and driver. They awarded this to Jeff Kline and his Ginetta G-4. They took the victory checkered flag and each worker signed it.

Ginetta G4

2008-03-16T11:39:00.002-07:00

Ginetta G-4
One car really caught my eye last weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. It was a 1964 Ginetta G-4. This is the first Ginetta that I have ever seen. The one thing that really struck me was how small this car really is. This is/ was a real two seat sports car that when new was driven on the street and was road legal. Today it is a race car but the basis for the street car is still there.

The car was towed from California on an open flat trailer and had a removable hardtop. While the car was in the pit garage I measured the top of the driver's door and it came to the top of my kneecap. Dispite being a very small car it appeared to be big enough for me.

The engine in this car is a 1600 Lotus Twin Cam with twin Weber's.

Stohr WF-1 D-Mod Sports Racer

2008-03-14T16:17:00.002-07:00

Last spring at Miller I came across three really pretty sports racers. They are all made by Stohr and are model WF-1. Stohr is pronounced store.

The chassis is a combination of carbon fiber with steel tube front and rear clips to support the engine and suspensions. The Stohr is comparable with Indy and F-1 in that those cars are required that the driver be surrounded by a carbon fiber survival cell. The Stohr is the only DSR (D sports racer) with this type of technology.

The Stohr WF-1 comes with full ground effects underbody. The rear tunnels are integrated into the full carbon fiber floor, the front carbon fiber diffuser balances out the grip to match that of the rear. The rear wing is made also of carbon fiber and weighs less than 5 pound. The rear wing is adjustable in 1-degree increments.

The WF-1 uses any modern 4-cylinder motorcycle engine. The power is transmitted through a Quaife differential via lightened CV joints and hollow half shafts. A lightweight aluminum radiator and large oil cooler cool the engine.

The suspension was developed by Ohlins engineers and driver Mark Jaremko. The WF-1 uses centrer-lock ultra-light racing wheels and Ohlins ST44 double adjustable shocks. The tire size is 8X13 in front and 10X13 in the rear. The uprights are machined from aluminum billet that have extra sleeves installed for increased wheel bearing strength and rigidity. The wheels bearings are large in size to withstand the high downforce that the car generates.

Wilwood billet aluminum brake calipers come with custom brake rotors that are full floating on lightweight aluminum billet hats. Stohr has gone with this expensive brake system as it provided a firmer pedal and longer rotor life. Tilton master cylinders with cockpit adjustable brake bias control are also installed as standard equipment.

The WF-1 weighs 795 pounds and had a wheelbase of 97 inches with a front track of 56 inches and the rear track is 54 inches.

Ooops

2008-03-13T14:18:00.001-07:00

I made an ooops in my previous posting. Can you spot it?

Paul

The '59 MG & Sprite:

2008-03-13T10:43:00.002-07:00

I guess you could also call this post "the good the bad and the ugly," I somehow mised the race on Saturday afternoon and therfore the action. Apparently during their race another car had spun and while trying to avoid the spinner the MGA and the Sprite came into contact. I first came across the MG and noted the dent and then when i saw a dent in the Sprite, clever me I sort of put two and two together. Asking around I found out what had happened. The spinner that caused the problem, well, he went on his merry way apparently none the wiser about what he had caused. Fortunatley the damage was not to serious and nobody was hurt. That's racing even in vintage racing.

1959 Austin Healey Sprite

2008-03-12T12:21:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I posted some pictures of Boyd Mace's '59 MGA, today I am posting a few pictures of a 1959 Austin Healey Sprite driven by James Aretakis. I like the head rest on this car. sometimes for what ever reason I don't get enough information from the driver on his car. In this case he was working on his rear brakes and I did not want to bother him. Not only was this a real nice looking car it shared the garage with a McLaren M6 GT. Now how cool is that?

1959 MGA and Austin Healey Sprite:

2008-03-11T13:05:00.001-07:00

1959 MGA and 1959 Austin Healey Sprite:

Last summer at Miller during the Thriller at Miller I came across two more British cars. Both cars were exceedingly well turned out. Unfortunately I did not spend a lot of time with the owners and therefore I did not get a lot of information about them.
The MG is a 1959 MGA and is/ was absolutely stunning. The paint was done in a very nice blue and silver. I don’t recall MG’s done in this combination back in ’59, but what ever it is very nice. The owner is Boyd Mace. Today I am posting a few photos of the MG. I hope that you will enjoy them. Tomorrow I will post photos of the Sprite and then some photos of both cars. This sounds like I have material for at least three days.

Ron's Sprite rebuild.

2008-03-06T12:17:00.002-07:00

I know that I have been a little bit slack in posting stuff on this web site, but I have been busy with work and doing an article on Ron's Austin Healey Sprite rebuild. I wrote on of my longer articles with the help of Ron. I wanted to get the story right so I asked Ron to proof read and it to make sure it was correct.

I have posted two sets of photos along with the story of his re-build. I have one more set of photos that I will try and post either tonight or tomorrow. All I need is "time, time, time." Sometimes that is the most foul four letter word in my life. Never enough time.

Anyway check out my other web site. http://hotwheels-paul.spaces.live.com/

Thanks
Paul

Titan Mark 6 Formula Ford

2008-02-16T13:35:00.003-07:00

Titan Mk6 Formula Ford
Driver and team owner Charles Lucas founded the Titan car company in 1965. In 1971 Charles sold the company to R.J. “Roy” Thomas The company was originally going to be called Griffin but just before the first car was produced they found out that the name already being used. The U.S. Titan rocket was in the news at that time and they couldn’t think of anything better.

Approximately 240 Mk6’s were made between the A, B, and C derivatives.

There were three Titan Formula Fords at “The Thriller at Miller, I am right now showing photos of two. Number 86 is a 1971 Mk 6 driven by Tom Kreger, number 77 is driven by Andy Antipas and is a 1972 version.

Crossle Fornula Ford

2008-02-15T18:36:00.002-07:00

Crossle Formula Ford:

I have come across several Crossle Formula Fords at Miller, so I guess it is time to make a special post on them.

John Crossle was born in Scotland and raised in Ireland. He graduated from college with a degree in agriculture. He became a successful motorcycle racer and his first racecar was a home built 1172cc Ford powered special. His first move from two to four wheels in his home built racer was a positive and so he decided in 1959 to build another car. That followed with two replicas, which became the first production Crossles.

His first cars were made in a laundry room of a house in a village outside of Belfast. Soon the laundry room became a successful and fairly expansive racecar factory.

Crossle’s cars have seldom been revolutionary but they are safe, sturdy and easy to work on. Skip Barber acquired the U.S. importation right in 1975 with the Crossle 30F. This also gave Crossle a parts availability second only to Carl Haas and Lola.

John Crossle and his wife Rosemary are still in business and today has a booming business in spares, as his 30 series of cars are increasingly popular in various vintage and Club Ford series.

Check out their web site: http://www.crossle.co.uk/

Vintage Racing Corvettes

2008-02-14T21:34:00.002-07:00

It seems that I have not posted very many photos of Corvettes and Camaro's. Today I am posting a few photos of some vintage racing Corvettes.

McRae GM-1 Formula 5000, part II

2008-02-13T13:23:00.002-07:00

I thought that today I would place a few (alright 5 more photos, because that is all that Google allows me to post at one time) of the McRae Formula 5000. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like good 'ol 'American V8 horsepower in a light weight single seat race car. That is a racecar. Minimum aero aids, just lots of horses in a neat small package.

McRae GM-1 Formula 5000

2008-02-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

McRae GM-1, Formula 5000
The most visible car at the “Thriller at Miller” had to be without question the 1973 McRae GM-1 driven by Ken Petrie. It is loud, fast and just about glows with its day glow orange paint. While not a pretty car it is very brutal in its appearance. In racing performance is more important than the beauty of its body. In this case a car that wins races is very beautiful to its owner and driver. The car was very well driven and was always in the lead by a long way.If this car comes to a track near you stop and take a good long look and find a corner as close to the track as you can and just enjoy the sight, sound and sensations as this cars blasts past.

Lola T 640 Formula Ford

2008-02-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

This car is a Lola T 640 Formula Ford. Due to its age it usually competes in Club Ford or Vintage races.

I did it.

2008-02-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well I finally did it. I made enough money during the Sundance Film Festival on my extra day over and above my usual working schedule to buy my new telephoto lens.

Yesterday Carl and I went out and visited a shop that he recomended as having a good selection of tripods. I had at that time pretty much decided upon a used Tamron 200/500 mm telephoto zoom lens. While looking around the store I noticed that they had in stock the Tamron lens, so I tried it out on my Cano Rebel XTi, that I just happened to have with me. They also had a Sigma 170/ 500 lens that fit my Canon and both Carl and the sales person thought that the Sigma had better glass than the Tamron. I tried out the Sigma on my camera and I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Thew clincher was that the Sigma cost less than the Tamron by nearly $100.00.

I also picked out a filter for the lens and a new flash. I had them hold the items till today as I needed just a couple more $'s to get everything. Terri and I went their this afternoon and I got the lens and stuff.

I also picked up a 2 gig memory card for the camera. The only thing(s) that I now want/need is still a tripod and a hard carrying case to protect the camera and the lenses when traveling.

I haven't had much time to test out the new stuff but from what I have seen sofar I think the lens and the flash will work just fine.

My Kind of Racer:

2008-02-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

My kind of racer.

I don’t have a lot of information on this driver/owner. His last name is Rosenwinge.

His car is an Ensign Formula B. Car #57, Blue in color. At this vintage sports car race their were rigs and race cars worth more money than I care to even dream about. Mr. Rosenwinge has a car that may be worth $40,000.00 and his motorhome and trailer may have a current value of $10,000.00. What I like about him is that his car costs more than his tow rig and trailer. He knows where to put his money. In Saturdays race he lead the race for a while and eventually finished second. I estimate that his car is worth in the area of $40,000.00.
His car was turned out in first class condition and obviously very fast and he drove very well.

Duntov Lightweight Corvette

2008-02-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Duntov Lightweight:

Some of what I am writing about is direct quotes from the booklet that was given to me by Sonny Adams at the races. The photos of the car are all mine and remain my property.

While at the Miller Motorsports Race track for the Hero’s of Speed vintage car races I came across what I thought at first was a Corvette Grand Sport. Only five Grand Sports were built before GM cancelled the project. GM ordered that the cars be destroyed and put aside two of the Grand Sports and then he sent cars 003, 004 and 005 to John Mecom in Texas. Those cars were sold to various racers.

Grand Sport chassis #003 recently changed hands for more than $6 million. The Duntov Motor Company was formed for the 40th anniversary of Sebring 1965. The Duntov Motor Company was organized to produce an exact replica of this famous car.

The Duntov Lightweight automobile is not a kit car. Every part is hand made to replicate the corresponding part in the original #003 car as it was presented at Sebring in 1965.

Duntov Motor Company was authorized to use the Duntov name by Elfi Duntov, in part to recreate the spirit of the original car, and to demonstrate that spirit to a new generation.

Specifications and performance:

Like the original Grand Sports that were built as racecars and is not intended to be driven on the street the Duntov Lightweights as also race cars and not intended to be driven on the street.

The cars come with three engine options starting with a Chevrolet ZZ383 small block that makes 425 HP at 5400 RPM on 93 octane gas, resulting in a weight to power ratio of 5.3 lbs. per horsepower.

The Duntov racing small block produces 675 HP at 7700 RPM on race gas. Weight to power ratio for this combination is 3.33 lbs. per HP.

As a point of reference, a new Corvette Z06 is 6.2 lbs. per H; a new Ford GT is 6.8.

Prices for production Duntov Lightweights start at less than half of a Ford GT, and less than 2 % of the market value of an original Grand Sport.

I want to thank Sonny Adams who took the time to talk to me and give me a copy of the brochure for this car. Oh and Sonny I love the bib overall’s.

The web site for this company is http://www.duntovmotors.com/ and their telephone number is 888-581-3838

This car took first place in its races at Miller Motor sports track and was first overall at Road America in July. The driver is Alan Sevadjian.
If you are looking for a fast and great looking racecar and like Corvettes this may be just the car for you.

One More Week:

2008-01-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

ONe more week then I have three days off. The Sundance Film Festival ends Monday, until then and through next wednsday I am putting in usuall 12 + hours a night. Film people are different let me tell you. Most of them are nice, just different. I gave a ride to some members of "Velvet Revolver" the other night. I had no idea at the time who they were, I thought they were just some little garage band.

I should have made enough money by Monday night to get the new telephoto lens that I want and some of the other items that I want and need for the summer picture taking. I am really looking forward to the summer racing season.

As soon as I can, like next weekend I'll try and catch up on posting photos, etc.

Thanks, see ya soon.

Renalut Grand Prix car

2008-01-18T15:46:00.001-07:00

Last August at Miller I came across this 1906 Renault Grand Prix car. My research says this is a 90 hp model and had a 13 litre engine. Renault went back to a convential chassis as oppossed to the previous underslung chassis. Renault also introduced detachable rims on this car to speed tire changing. This car was capable of nearly 100 mph. Considering the condition of the roads on the early 1900's those drivers had balls that would put an elephant to shame. Either that they were just plain crazy. I think I'll go with the huge balls.

Any way it is a really pretty car and has a place in automotive history. This car raced extensively in the U.S.

Happy Flipping Birthday to Me:

2008-01-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, big flipping whoop de doo! The Queen of Chaos and Little Crow are on their way down for cake and ice cream before I have to go to work.

I may not be able to post very much for the next couple of weeks as I am working 6 days a week and 12 hour days. The Sundance Film Festival starts tomorrow and I said I would work a couple of extra days. The only good thing is that I hope to use the extra income to buy a new really long telephoto lens for the up coming racing season at Miller. I do have Saturdays off and will try and at least make a post on the weekend.

Miller has their schedule out and it is a full one. I figure that once the season starts I will be at the track just about three weekends out of four. At that time I am cutting back my schedule to three days a week so that I will have more time for the track. I have already given Terri my request for weekends that I will be out at the track.

The Dan Gurney F-1 Eagle

2008-01-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Eagle had a short life span of only three racing seasons. With the help of the GoodYear tire company Dan hired Len Terry to design and help build an American Formula 1 car. Dan also contracted with Westlake to design and build a new V12 engine. The Westlake engine was a little slow in coming and for the first few races Dan used a four-cylinder Coventry Climax engine. The Climax engine was nowhere near having enough power but helped to sort out the car in the 1966 season.
The Eagle came home with a superb victory at Spa Belgium in 1967. This race win is the only Formula 1 victory for an American car owned and driven by an American. Very few Formula 1 racecars have the style and beauty of the Eagle. While this car had a short career in Formula 1 and only scored one major victory it is still a landmark car in American racing history. I was sort of disappointed that they only had the car out for a few hours at Miller, I am just thankful that I was there and was able to get these photos.

Dan Gurney F-1 Eagle

2008-01-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

I have been sick for the past week. It seems I got a case of Strept Throat. I will be going back to work for the first time in a week today. I have not felt good enough to do anything on the computer while I was sick.

Today I am posting a few pictures of Dan Gurnery's F-1 Eagle. I came across this car while at Miller this year. They only had the car out of the trailer for a few hours and I was fortunate enough to get these photos while it was out. The car came in Tom Malloy's trailer with his GT 40 MkIV and Toyota GTP Eagle, they also has a Kurtis 500 sports car and a Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gull Wing in their also. I really wanted to see the Kurtis but they never got it out of the trailer.

Jaguar XK-E

2008-01-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am posting 5 more picture of this neat Jag.

Jaguar XK-E racer

2008-01-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite race cars at Miller in the past two summers is this Jaguar XK-E. I can not remember seeing a nicer Jaguar or for that matter a nicer race car of any kind. This car is not only fast but looks just great.

Tyrell Racing in F-1

2007-12-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Robert Kenneth Tyrell came from an unassuming background that did not include much in the line of Motorsports. His father was in the lumber business, and during the Great War (WWII) Ken enlisted in the RAF and became a mechanic on Hurricanes and Spitfires. It appears that the orderly methods of working on fighter planes became the basis for his managerial approach to his race teams. After the war he went into the lumber business with his brother and supplied the leading sawmills in his county. At this time Ken was an avid football fan and was a supporter of his local team. A friend, Alan Brandon introduced him to Motorsports racing via the Formula 3, 500 cc class of open wheel racecars. Ken soon bought Alan’s car and began racing. He had a modest career as a driver and was even chosen by John Wyer as a member of the Aston Martin team in 1956.

Prior to 1960 Ken had been racing Cooper F-3 and F-2, and he came to realize that he might better put his talents to use as a team manager rather than a driver. In 1960 he left Cooper and set up his own Formula Junior team. The Tyrell Racing Organization progressed with quite a number of successes in various classes and Formulas. In 1968 Ken took the big step and managed the Matra Formula 1 team with Jackie Stewart as his lead driver. In 1970 Ken bought a March 710 Cosworth Ford and raced that in F-1. The next big steps in Tyrell Racing came in 1971 with a car of his own design and manufacture, the Tyrell 003. The thing that amazes me the most is that these cars were built in a small garage at the back of his lumberyard.

Tyrell racing cars, for the most part, may have not been the most innovative designs with a couple of exceptions. In 1976 and ’77 Tyrell introduced the innovative and unusual P34 6 wheel Formula 1 racecar. The P34 even won the Swedish GP of 1976 with Jody Schecter as the driver.

In 1990 Tyrell introduced the Tyrell 019 with a step up front chassis that was commonly used in F-1 at this time. Instead of having a flat bottom from the front to the rear, the floor of the chassis is raised from a point behind the front wheels. Jean Alesi was the chosen driver for the Tyrell 019.

The Tyrell 022 of 1994 was powered by Yamaha V10 and driven by Mark Blundell and Ukyo Katayama. Yamaha supplied the engine on the condition that Katayama was given a place on the team. The Yamaha engine proved to be fragile and somewhat gutless as it was giving away 100-horse power to the rest of the cars in F-1 that year.

This particular Tyrell was driven by Katayama and now has a Judd V10 engine. Even though it may not have been a front-runner, it is still a neat car. Tyrell continued to race in F-1 until 1998 but finally decided to retire from racing, as he did not have a budget or an engine for 1999. Ken’s comment on his retirement from racing, “Well, I had a lot of good times when you think about it.”
I will say this about this car, “if you are ever near it when it comes past at full chat; wear ear plugs as it just plain hurts.” Umpteen thousand revs and a 160 mph: Oh my God what a sound. As I overheard in the pits, this car set a new lap record at Miller last summer.

The Tyrell F-1

2007-12-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

I thought that I was going to have some time today, Silly man that I am. Have been doing "Honey do's" all the flipping day. I'm pooped. I think that tomorrow I will have a few minutes to spend at the computer. Today I am posting a few more photos of the Tyrell F-1 car.

Punlished at last.

2007-12-27T17:52:00.001-07:00

I can now say that I am a published writter. I wrote a short piece and sent it to "FORZA" magazine. They printed it in the Feb. 2008 issue on page 10. Titled "Remembering a Lovely TR59" it is about my experience with a special Ferrari racecar.

Tyrell Formula 1 continued.

2007-12-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post about the Tyrrell F-1 car at Miller. I am posting some detail pictures of the car. One detail that struck me was how small the master cylinders for the brakes and clutch are on this car. I guess that I am just used to production car master cylinders. I hope that you have had a very Merry Christmas.

Tyrell Formula 1

2007-12-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

For a change of pace lets do a Formula 1 race car. This car is a 1994 Tyrell 022 Formula 1. Originally I believe that it came with a Yamaha engine. It now has a Judd V10. What ever it is a neat car. It is quite possible that the Yamaha engine was made by Judd so the engine is prpoper. This car also set a new track record at Miller last summer.

The Ford GT 40, part X

2007-12-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Work, work, work, oh how I am beginning to hate that foul four letter word. I thought retirement was supposed to be a time of leisure. Leisure, Hell, I am working my butt off with 12 and 13 hour days. Now that I have that off of my chest I am going to publish a few more photos of Tom Malloy's Ford GT40 Mark IV.

The Ford GT 40, part IX

2007-12-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that I have not had the time lately to keep up on my posting. I have changed my work days to four in a row. I usually work any where between 10 to 13 hours on a shift come home, sleep and then get up and head back to work. Tonight is my last night of working this week and then I have three nights in a row off.

I am putting on 4 more pictures of qanother Ford GT 40, this one is a Mk II and was pretty quick.

I am in the process of sorting through all of my photos of racecars and putting them into folders so that I can put them on cd's. If anybody would like a cd I am selling them for $10.00 including postage. Let me know what you are looking for and I will see what I can do.

Paul