One More Week:

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

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:

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

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

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

I am posting 5 more picture of this neat Jag.

Jaguar XK-E racer

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.