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[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Na danasnji dan pre 50 godina tokom Meseca Maja u Indijanapolisu smrtno je stradao vozac Lotusa Majk Spens.

 

 

Spens je vozio za fabricku ekipu Lotusa 1963 - 1965, gde je bio u senci jednog od najvecih vozaca u istoriji auto-sporta, Dzima Klarka. Kako je Lotus bio u potpunosti fokusiran na Klarka ostali bolidi su tu bili prakticno samo da popune broj, i tesko da bi i mnogo bolji vozac od Spensa - koji je bio dobar, ali ne i vrhunski vozac, nesto poput Kultarda ili Vebera u skorije vreme - mogli tu postici nesto vece. Spens zato 1966. napusta tim i prelazi prvo u ekipu Redza Parnela da vozi privatni Lotus a za sezonu 1967. prelazi u fabricki BRM sa kojim zapocinje i 1968.

Nakon sto je Dzim Klark tragicno nastradao vozeci F2 trku na Hokenhajmu, sef Lotusa Kolin Cepmen poziva Spensa da vozi za njega na Indi 500. Cepmen je spremio revolucionarne bolide Lotus 56 pogonjene gasnom turbinom i agresivnog aerodinamickog profila u obliku klina. Spensu je ovo bilo prvo ucesce na nekoj trci na ovalu, i vec prvog dana je upozoren od strane organizatora da su njegove putanje kroz krivine neuobicajene i potencijalno opasne. No, posto je Spens tako postavio i najbrze vreme kruga, nije se puno obazirao na upozorenja.

 

7. maja 1968, Cepmen je zamolio Spensa da testira bolid Grega Velda, koji je od svih Lotusovih vozaca imao najvise problema da postigne kompetetivna vremena. Naime, bolidi pogonjeni gasnom turbinom su poprilicno "lenji" na komandu gasa, niti ubrzavaju cim se pritisne papucica niti usporavaju cim se ona pusti, pa zato protivno vozackom instinktu komande treba zadavati dobrano unapred. Sa druge strane prednost ovakvih agregata je mala tezina u odnosu na proizvedenu snagu i izuzetna ekonomicnost sa gorivom, sto su sve prednosti u trkama na 500 milja / 800 km koje zahtevaju mnogo zaustavljanja zbog dolivanja goriva.

 

Spens je sa Veldovim bolidom odmah u prvom brzom krugu postigao dobro vreme, ali vec u prvoj krivini drugog kruga njegova sreca ga je napustila - izgubio je kontrolu, bolid se zaneo udesno i zakucao u zid. Prilikom kontakta, prednji desni tocak se otkinuo i udario je Spensa u glavu nanevsi mu smrtonosne povrede od kojih je preminuo kasnije to vece u bolnici.

 

Spensovo najbrze vreme je ostalo do kraja Meseca Maja, niko mu se nije priblizio. Njegov bolid preuzeo je motociklisticki as Dzo Leonard, a kako je on prosao u trci mogli ste videti na video koji sam pre neki dan ovde okacio...

 

Spens je tokom svoje F1 karijere ucestvovao na 27 zvanicnih GP vikenda uz najbolji plasman jedno 3. mesto. Na nezvanicnim trkama je imao bolje rezultate, zabelezio je dve pobede i jos tri podijuma. Imao je 31 godinu kad je nastradao.

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 07 May 2018 - 13:07.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Simon, 84, to drive last race at SVRA Brickyard Invitational



By: SVRA | 9 hours ago
 

Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) today announced that popular Indy 500 veteran Dick Simon has decided to make this year’s Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) his final race as a driver. Simon, 84, has driven in every Brickyard Invitational since the 2014 inaugural event. The Pro-Am is the Saturday, June 16 feature event of the Brickyard Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“The Brickyard Invitational has given me a chance to extend my career in a very enjoyable way,” said Simon. “It’s always special to come back to Indy and this racing has brought me a ton of fun. I am delighted my final turn at the wheel during competition will come at the Speedway. This announcement gives me a chance to let fans know my decision in advance.”

“Dick is such a popular figure in the paddock, and not just among fans,” said SVRA President and CEO Tony Parella. “During our drivers’ meetings, I have been very impressed with all the drivers who expressed their gratitude for Dick’s help in providing them with their breakthrough career opportunities. I would like SVRA to continue to have a relationship with him and we will talk about that going forward.”

Simon, who maintains a level of physical fitness that is the envy of many younger drivers, is one of the most colorful characters of Indianapolis 500 history. Brimming with personality he saw the promotional value for his sponsors of being the first car to take to the track when practice opened in May. A veteran of 17 Indianapolis 500s, he scored a best finish of sixth in 1987. He was a highly respected team leader who helped launch the careers of such notables as two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk and 1992 Rookie-of-the-Year Lyn St. James. He also managed the team for Eliseo Salazar’s IndyCar victory at Las Vegas Speedway in 1997.

The Pro-Am feature Simon will compete in is a 45-minute race of American muscle cars on the Speedway’s 2.43-mile Grand Prix road course on Saturday, June 16. The cars are 1963 to 1972 vintage Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs of the “Group 6” SVRA class. As in the previous three years, the professionals will be paired with amateur drivers, splitting stints at the wheel at their discretion. Drivers who have announced entries include Al Unser Jr., Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, Willy T. Ribbs and Max Papis. Additional Indy 500 drivers will be announced as they enter the Pro-Am in the coming weeks.

In addition to the Pro-Am, there will be a festival of other activities at the Brickyard Invitational including the Sunday, June 17 feature race by the professional Trans Am series headed by 2017 champion and emerging superstar, 20-year-old Ernie Francis Jr. The weekend also presents the Hagerty Insurance “shine and show” car corral, vintage motorcycle racing, and 500+ vintage racers ranging over 100 years of automotive history racing in SVRA Groups 1 through 12. An oval exhibition featuring a racecar show of judged competition for the A.J. Watson and Sir Jack Brabham trophies led by track historian Donald Davidson will also take place. Also, the Pre-1920 Race Exhibition cars will be on track along with a paddock area full of in-period equipment displays. The National that finished seventh in the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 will be driven at speed.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Sixty years ago today, an up-and-coming driver from Houston passed his #Indy500 rookie test.

Who would have thought on May 9, 1958 that driver – A.J. Foyt – would go on to become the first to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” four times and set many other race records? Congratulations, Super Tex!

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

 

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 14 May 2018 - 21:30.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[zoran59]

Majko mila, Radoje, ubi me sa ovim videosima!

 

Najupecatljivije, na prvom se vidi (u voznom stanju!) Lamborghini Marzal. Pojma nisam imao da postoji primerak koji vozi.

(za neupucene: Marzal ima masinu koja je istesterisana polovica Miure - V6)

Onda, pojavljuje se F1 Tecno! To je valjda negde s pocetka '70-ih. Mrzi me da googlam, no nekako ga vezujem za kraj moje osnovne skole. Tecno je bio nenadjebiv poizvodjac okvira za go-karte, a i drugih vozila, a ovo mu je bio (neuspesan) izlet u F1.

 

Malo je falilo da pustim suzu...

[MrIncredible]

Pre-War i Pre-61 jump start

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Evo jos, tek objavljeno:

 

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

I jos dva videa su danas pustili:

 

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

RETRO: The Speedway's turbo revolution



By: Marshall Pruett | 4 hours ago


Everything about Joe Huffaker’s approach to Indianapolis was different. From a twin-engine Porsche-powered chassis he created for a customer to an Aston Martin-powered Cooper chassis he assembled for the great Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez, Huffaker wasn’t shy when an opportunity to try something new was presented.

By chance or by design – even he wasn’t sure – Huffaker also played a central role in bringing turbocharging to the Speedway for a young driver named Bobby Unser. Like every tale involving Uncle Bobby, buckle in for a wild ride once he enters the story.

The Indiana-born race car constructor made his home and his name in the San Francisco Bay Area which, compared to Huffaker’s rivals, was decidedly odd. And those Hoosier roots weren’t particularly useful in Huffaker’s primary discipline of sports car racing where his hand-built machines, mostly prototypes, found great success. Even when he turned to manufacturing small junior open-wheel cars, the ties to Indiana and the Greatest Spectacle In Racing had minimal influence on Huffaker’s designs.

It was the commissioning of two Indy cars by Bay Area sports car importer Kjell Qvale in 1964 that set Huffaker’s creative mind on a path towards fierce individuality as a pair of MG Liquid Suspension Specials for Walt Hansgen and Bob Veith took the sport in a new direction.

Borrowing the liquid suspension concept from the same MG road cars Qvale sold in his dealerships, Huffaker’s four-cylinder Offy-powered creations looked strange with their giant dampers – liquid-filled rubber bladders – in plain view atop the transmissions. The cars performed rather well, as Hansgen qualified 10^th and finished 13^th on Huffaker’s debut.

His liquid suspension wasn’t necessarily better than the leaf spring or coilover shock systems on the other cars, but it was unique, and also demonstrated Huffaker’s inspired approach to pursuing speed at the Brickyard.

Another run at the 1965 Indy 500 saw Jerry Grant added to the MG Liquid Suspension Special roster, and from Huffaker’s trio, Hansgen was the top performer once again after starting 21^st and finishing 14^th. Victory through suspension advancement, as Huffaker eventually found, was not the pathway to glory around the 2.5-mile oval. Something more ambitious would be required for 1966.

The concept of making extra horsepower through forced-induction systems was by no means new at Indianapolis. It would, however, transform the race for decades to come when Huffaker arrived with Unser and a turbocharged Offy bolted to the back of a new chassis with smaller liquid suspension dampers.

On the Speedway’s technological timeline, giant, ornate superchargers appeared in the 1920s, and by 1952, a turbodiesel-powered car took pole at Indy, but it took the first crack at conventional turbocharging in 1966 to rewrite the Indy 500’s norm.


1966 Huffaker Offy Turbo. Image by IMS

Working with the leading Meyer-Drake Offy outfit, Huffaker was one of three teams to take a leap of faith by adding turbo boost to the stout motors. Along with the Offy turbo in Unser’s Huffaker, Jim Hurtubise had one in his Gerhardt chassis, and sprint car champion Bobby Grim also used a turbo Offy in 1966 – in a front-engine roadster entered by “Horsepower” Herb Porter, no less.

De-stroked from the naturally-aspirated 255 cubic-inch Offys to 168 c.i. in turbo form, the introduction of boost would eventually make a world of difference for Unser. In early, unrelated testing for Goodyear Tires, Unser was a skeptic, and recalls being unimpressed by Porter’s first attempt at turbocharging the Offy.

“Those things were so new,” he said. “Nobody knew anything about them. Herbie Porter always told everybody – he was a genius on ‘em – but s***, his didn’t run worth a hoot, you know? In other words, his didn’t pull a lot of power. We used his engines all the time in tire testing, so when he switched off of the normally aspirated [Offy], which Herbie did a good job [with], he just couldn’t make power [with the new turbo Offy].”

Strapped into his Vita-Fresh Huffaker Offy turbo, Unser was introduced to the gains Meyer-Drake had made with their mill, but the engine – at least in 1966 – would not be enough of an advantage on its own to usher this gunslinger to Victory Lane.

“That was the worst Huffaker chassis that he ever built, I’m sure,” Unser declared. “I don’t care if he built a goddamn wagon back in the 1600s. That would’ve been the worst one that he ever built. The car was no good. He made big mistakes on that car, and, and the only thing that saved that car was the turbocharged engine. That’s the only way I qualified for the race.”

From Unser’s recollection, a flexing chassis made the 1966 car an unwieldy mess in the corners.

“And there was so much wrong with that thing, I couldn’t even begin to remember how bad it was,” he continued. “It was a real bad car. You know, I tried that car in testing. I tried it different places, it just was no good. Number one, the tub was like a rubber band, you know? We didn’t know much about tub flexing in those days, but we were all starting to talk about it. And we tried and tried and tried to make it go fast, but it just wouldn’t.”

That turbo Offy, however, made a lasting impression on Uncle Bobby.

“In ‘66, the discovery happened because, man, when I’d light that thing up going down those two long straightaways, that son of a bitch’d go like hell,” he said. “And it didn’t go through the short chutes good, meaning you didn’t have enough room for the turbo to get to acting really good, you know? And the car couldn’t handle good, but man, when you’d come off of [Turn] Number 4, Number 2 turn, and I mean, you knew that turbo’d kick in because if there’s somebody in front of [you], you’re just gonna pass them. Doesn’t make any difference who they are.


The turbocharger on Bobby Grim’s No.39 car, 1966. Image by IMS

“And there’s gotta be some way, if they think that Graham Hill actually won the race, there’s gotta be some way that I passed that son of a bitch and went on by him in a junky, junky, junky car, you know? It’s all the engine.”

Hill commentary aside, Unser, Herk, and Grim started a turbo revolution that would take hold of the Speedway before the Sixties came to an end. And speaking of endings, the unloved Huffaker met a suspicious demise on the way back to Unser’s base in New Mexico.

“They were coming home to Albuquerque, somehow or another the whole rig jumped off the Salt River Canyon, off a cliff,” he said with a laugh. “Norm Shoop was driving it, and of course, word had it around that the car was no good, so we’re gonna get rid of it and [team owner Gordon] Van Liew had bought some insurance on it. Now, I know Van Liew didn’t buy insurance knowing he was gonna ruin the car, because he got mad at everybody ‘cause it happened. The insurance company accused him of doin’ it, you know? So it was really Shoop that did it. It wasn’t even me. I got mad about it too because I was afraid somebody [was] gonna accuse me of wrecking the car that was no good.”

Happy to be free of the Huffaker, Unser had another laugh at the bad job done to sell the accident as something other than an intentional act.

“Somebody called me and told me that, that the car was not only wrecked, but off the Salt River Canyon, but then also, that Shoop, now, the guy that’s guilty of this shit – now, he oughta be smarter than this – [he] ran a goddamn jalopy race that night in Phoenix, same night that he supposedly had to go to the hospital and get doctored up a little bit ‘cause the station wagon jumped off Salt River Canyon,” he added.

“Now, that was kinda bad, you know? I called that Shoop, I’m sure I fired him. I didn’t even have the right to, you know? Oh, I’m telling you what. But that was Huffaker’s deal. That car was just no good, you know?”

Uncle Bobby would spend the 1967 Indy 500 in a naturally-aspirated Eagle chassis, and by 1968, his new car from Dan Gurney’s All American Racers had a turbo Offy over his shoulders. The marriage of the Eagle’s supreme handling and a vastly improved turbo engine would soon make history.


Bobby Unser, 1968. Image by IMS

So when we went back in ‘68, I mean, everybody’d heard about everything. Herbie Porter now becomes the guy that knows the most in the entire world about turbocharging supposedly, you know? But you get guys like a Jud Phillips involved … I mean, we actually dynoed that winter, the Offy. He knew how to make a 255 [non-turbo] Offy run … but the turbo Offy is new. And so he calls me on the phone in Albuquerque one day, and, and of course, I’m tickled to death with it. And so Jud and I get to talking. He starts talking to Porter. He learns everything he can learn.”

One trick in particular would turn Unser’s turbo Offy into a raging monster for the 1968 Indy 500.

“So, so he dynoed that thing and … I could be wrong here, but I think I’m right – put five percent nitro in it,” Unser said. “It made a freaking King Kong outta that thing. Jud calls me after he runs it on the dyno, and he says, ‘Man, we got some power now.’ And I says, ‘You gotta be s***ing me.’ I says, ‘From what? What’d you change?’ He says, ‘I just put nitro in it.’ Put whatever, five or eight percent. That’s not very much. I’d be used to running at Pike’s Peak 25-30 percent, you know? Wake it, wake it up good, you know? And boy it did it at Indy. It did it on the dyno. So now I can’t wait to get back there. It’s our big, big, big secret.”

Uncle Bobby’s Rislone-sponsored Eagle would qualify third as Andy Granatelli’s second-generation turbine model took pole and dominated all by the final laps of the race. With both turbines suffering mechanical failures on a late restart, Unser inherited the lead and drove home to his first of three Indy 500 victories.

His turbines, the ones tucked inside the AiResearch turbo feeding the Eagle’s Offy, would force another technology shift at Indy, and from his win in 1968, every ‘500’ victory through 1996 was achieved with turbocharged engines.

The advent of the Indy Racing League and its bespoke formula for 1997 hit the pause button on turbos, but they returned in 2012 when the IndyCar Series wrote a new set of regulations that embraced the Speedway’s forced-induction history.

IndyCar competition president Jay Frye has set a horsepower goal of 900 for the next-generation engine due in 2021. At least for Uncle Bobby, the good old days at Indy – especially his record-shattering pole run in 1972 with an Eagle-Offy – stand as his turbo-fed favorites.

“1100 I used to qualify with in that car. 1100 hp,” he said. “Man, I’m telling you what. I’ll guarantee you, I had a hold of that steering wheel hard, you know?”

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

25 years of HPD at the Speedway



By: Robin Miller | 6 hours ago


Honda’s first attempt at the Indianapolis 500 in 1994 was a disaster.

Three-time CART champion Bobby Rahal and teammate Mike Groff were struggling to run anywhere close to competitive speeds, and Honda Performance Development general manager Robert Clarke flew to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway just before qualifying.

“I was walking up to Rahal’s scoring stand when Groff blew an engine and stuffed it into the Turn 1 wall,” recalled Clarke. “Carl (Hogan, who co-owned the team with Rahal) started screaming at Mr. Asaka (HPD’s head engineer), and the relationship went downhill from there. They rented cars from Penske and used Ilmor engines to make the race, and that was a very tough month.”

Tom Elliot, the president of HPD and driving force behind Honda’s involvement in open-wheel racing, added his memory: “We had people from Honda going to Indy to watch, and the only car we had was in a hotel lobby.”

But from that shaky beginning Honda and HPD blossomed into a dominating force. Beginning in 1996, Honda-powered cars won six straight CART championships before moving to the Indy Racing League and securing two more. To date, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Honda has scored 228 wins in IndyCar, including four of the last five Indy 500s and 12 in total.

And, in addition to rescuing the series for six years (2006-2011) as its sole engine supplier, Honda has become IndyCar’s most visible and valuable partner in terms of marketing and promotion. All because Elliott wanted to pursue big-time auto racing.

“We were racing IMSA, in Camel Lites with CompTech, thinking about the Camel GT Class when Honda dropped out of Formula 1,” he said. “We were always interested in ope- wheel racing since 1986, as long as Honda was in F1, but they had no interest in IndyCar racing.

“But when they left F1, we talked again and after telling them it wouldn’t take as much effort, they agreed to help us. American Honda financed the whole thing, and we purchased engines and parts from Japan. We announced in January of 1993 our inclusion into CART.”

Michio Asaka was the lead engineer at Honda R&D and Clarke was already ensconced in the Honda family working for Honda Access. He loved racing (competed in Formula Ford and Atlantic) and stumbled on to the big secret in Santa Clarita, Ca.

“I saw an Indy car sitting in our paint area and I start asking around,” he said. “It’s all hush-hush I was told, but I approached Tom and let him know I was interested.


(L-R) Robert Clarke, Gil de Ferran, Helio Castroneves, Tom Elliott.

“Mugen Honda actually did the original mule engine for the test program; built it in Japan. It was a aluminum block V8 – Honda didn’t have much experience with methanol or turbochargers.

“They were having problems with the block cracking, so then they went to cast iron and the blocks still cracked. Then they added something called a girdle, which added more weight and it didn’t have a lot of power.”

Following the Indy nightmare things didn’t get a lot better, and Elliott and Clarke learned during the Michigan weekend that Rahal/Hogan were dumping them for 1995.

“My opinion is that Carl pressured Bobby into dropping us,” said Elliott. “We knew it was going to be harder than Bobby thought and we knew we had a lot to learn. I think if Bobby would have stayed with us he would have won the championship in 1995.

“But we went with Steve Horne’s team for ’95 and he had Scott Goodyear and Andre Riberio driving, and we also had Parker Johnstone’s team. Scott had Indy won until he passed the pace car, and Parker won the pole at Michigan. Then Andre gave us our first win at Loudon.

“It was obvious our engine had improved, and Chip Ganassi approached us and showed the most interest. That turned out to be the turning point for us and Ganassi, but I always respected what Steve Horne did for us in testing and working with us.”

In 1996, Ganassi sported Jimmy Vasser and an F1 castoff named Alex Zanardi; Tasman had Adrian Fernandez and Ribeiro; Jim Hall hired Gil de Ferran and CompTech was back with Johnstone. When the smoke cleared, Honda drivers had captured 11 of the 16 races with Vasser taking the title.

The following year, Zanardi won the championship on the strength of five wins and returned in 1998 to score seven wins and another crown for Ganassi. Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya made it four in a row for Honda and CGR in 1999 with seven victories before Penske came on board and de Ferran claimed back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.

It was an onslaught, as Honda won 59 of 112 races during that stretch while competing against Ford, Mercedes and Toyota. The only downside of Honda’s superiority was the fact it didn’t compete at Indianapolis during those years because of the open-wheel split.

“Our first race at Surfer’s Paradise in 1994 was the weekend Tony George announced the IRL, and we had no idea about the in-fighting,” said Clarke.

Elliott was considering an Ilmor-prepared engine for its CART teams to run at Indianapolis before the infamous pop-off valve controversy at Detroit in 2001, which along with a sudden move to adopt IRL engine rules, eventually led to Honda pulling out of CART after the 2002 season.

“It was a sad day when we announced we were leaving CART, but we simply lost our trust in management,” said Elliott, who then took HPD/Honda to the IRL in 2003.

In the most ironic chapter of this story, Rahal was back with Honda in 2004 and delivered its first Indy win with Buddy Rice as Honda swept the first seven positions.

“It was good for Bobby and us, and it helped mend his relationship with Honda,” said Elliott, who retired in 2002 after running HPD’s marketing program by week and racing program by weekend.

Then in 2006, with Toyota and Chevrolet down the road, Honda was asked by IndyCar to supply the entire field – which it did until 2011, when General Motors returned to competition.

“Brian Barnhart called and asked if we could step up and furnish engines for everyone, and that’s not what Honda wanted to do,” said Clarke, who retired in 2008.

“Toyota was already a lame duck and it helped save HPD from a work point of view. But I felt Honda saved IndyCar from itself. If we had not stepped up to be sole supplier, I’m not sure IndyCar would have made it.”