So it has been a while since we had a link log entry, the internet is still full of great car related sites, so lets have a look at which has been rocking our socks for the past few weeks.

First up this is a really retro set of photographs the Shorpy website is a fantastic collection of old photographs, it has much to look at, for us though the best stuff is in the classic car section : http://www.shorpy.com/classic-car-photos many hours can be lost studying these little snapshots of a world long gone.

Next we're off to Sweden for some racing cars, the Modsport Drivers Associations has a really nice website with reports, pictures, results and film clips.  It is easy enough to follow what is where even if you don't speak Swedish, you can see some outstanding racing cars : http://www.modsport.scorpionshops.com/index.htm

Where to next in our international whistle stop tour of the internet,.. Why Japan of course.  It is no secret that we love the Japanese scene here at RSM, so we thought you might also enjoy this build up of a Nissan 510 Drag racing car, from purchase to first race and beyond.  Fantastic! : http://www.0-4factory.com/510DRAG-1.htm

So on to our video.  One of our stated aims when we started Retro Scene Mag was to reflect the world wide Retro scene, this video perfectly reflects the reality of competing in Hillclimbs, really well filmed and evocative of how it is lived.

Usually I'd do a rare car entry about something there is only one or two of, they are often relics of great ideas that didn't pan out, or were ahead of their time.



This isn't a rare car in the same way, it is more a car of interest, something that should be more than a footnote in the history of classic cars.

Glas would already be known to anyone with an interest in microcars as the company that bought us the Goggomobil.  Founded by Andreas Glas the company’s primary business was sewing machines, at least until the end of World War 2.  Post war they produced the Goggomobil, but more interestingly for us in 1964 they started building the Glas 1300GT.



The 1300GT was a very pretty car, designed by Frua, powered by an inline 4 1290cc, single overhead cam engine.  Later the 1300 was beefed up and available as a 1700.  In 1966 the cars had a facelift and in which the round headlights were replaces by sharper rectangular lights, the lines of which created a more angular wing profile too.

Glas became part of BMW pretty soon after with the Glas 2600 GT being produced as a BMW and later beefed up to 3 litres with the 3000GT, essentially the design was the same but with BMW badges, if you line up the BMW cars from 1967 together you'll notice one stands out from the crowd, the Glas.



What piqued my interest in this car is this photo of a 1300GT racing, it is apparently taking part in Group 4 1970, however that would seem a bit late for it to be in international competition, does anyone know any more?

More information on the 3000GT can be found here

You can find out much more about this cool car on the Glas Club website

They say that smell is one of the strongest aids to recollection, that you can be transported back to a time or event by the whiff of whatever you associated with it.

For me that smell is racing fuel mixed with burning rubber.  Pretty much every weekend of my formative years was spent at Brands Hatch watching some form of motorsport or another, from Group C and touring cars, to Mighty Minis and Honda CRX'.



Each year I move further away from this time in my life, houses, jobs, moving, responsibilities all take me a little further away from the carefree time when Sunday was all about getting the best photography spot at Druids, then the days after waiting for the photos to come back from the developers.

So every chance I get now days I'll grab and head over to a motor racing circuit, it almost doesn't matter what it is, just to be out and enjoying cars racing round a track is good enough.  If it can be an event like the HSCC Historic Festival, or this weekends Castle Combe Classic Carnival then all the better.  Now not only do I get to shed responsibilities for a while but I also get to meet up with a whole load of new friends I've met in the intervening years.  What could be better, racing, cars and friends?

I'm sure I'm not the only one for whom the smell of cars triggers happy thoughts, am I?

 

Isuzu are not a company you would usually associate with sleek supercars, however for at least one brief moment this was the world they played in.  At the 1969 Tokyo Motor Show Isuzu presented the first of two concept cars, the Bellett MX1600.



The car had a mid mounted 1.6 litre engine from the GT-R version of the Bellett powering the rear wheels.  Inside the car was a two seat sports affair, and being Japanese is was right hand drive.  In 1970 Isuzu presented a second MX1600 concept car, the imaginatively named MX1600-II.  It was only subtlety different from the 1969 model, mainly in the front end styling.



Sadly the car never made it into production or it would have provided an interesting counter point to the ever popular S30 platform Nissans, as well as acting as a predecessor to the Honda NSX in terms of Japanese super cars.

The car was designed by Tom Tjaarda, who worked at Ghia, Pininfarina and Italdesign, his hand can be seen in many Pininfarina cars of the 60’s from Fiat to Mercedes.  Most notable here is the DeTomaso Pantera, whose design is said to be a direct descendant of the Isuzu MX1600.

Sadly I have no idea where about these cars live now days, does anyone know?

It is easy to take for granted now the idea of 'trying out' car modifications on your car before doing them, a quick lap around photoshop and you'll be able to alter your cars colour, ride height and wheels pretty quickly.  More radical modifications can also be performed, or if you are lucky you'll have a Busselecta type web page for your car.

There was a time before all this was at hand, back when skilled illustrators were required to fulfil these visions.  One of the best known illustrators in the UK is Steve Kirk, with the work he did for Street Machine magazine.

Initially the idea was in two sections, in the first Street Machine magazine from May 1979 we have a Motorvation section that concentrates on modifying details:



Here we can see some illustrations and text around bonnet scoops, the section was introduced with the text "Street Machine's idea sketchpad. Each month I'll be trying to stimulate your imagination with ideas bridging the whole customising spectrum from detail topics".

The partner to the early Motorvation was "Custom Profile" :



Here the Austin Cambridge is taken as a base and illustrated in a number of different guises.  This section was more than just pictures and went a bit more in-depth into the technicalities of achieving the look.

Later in Street Machine Magazine's life the two sections effectively became one, each month a theme was picked and Steve was provided with guidelines for cars to draw and back they would come.  Motorvation was a great way of expressing ideas and stimulate thoughts, it is a shame that we no longer get this monthly injection of ideas.

The ideas are still as valid now as they ever were, here is a little selection

December 1996 'Pro Street' theme:


February 1999 'Roadsters' theme:


January 1993 'Morris Minor' theme:


November 1979 'Street Racers' theme:


There was once hope of a book, but I don't know how far that ever got.  So for now we just need to scour ebay for back issues of Street Machine to get our Motorvation.

Time for another feature here at Retro Scene Mag towers.  This time its an account of our trip to the HSCC Historic Festival, it came at the end of Racing Car Week for me and Simon so we were excited to be going.  It didn't disappointed, click the link below to learn more:

HSCC Historic Festival Feature

Now we've been a bit slack getting our features up and together, particularly now that the blog seems to be flowing nicely, we shall attempt to rectify this and get out Worthersee and Berg Cup coverage up in the new couple of weeks.  Also we are likely to start tweaking the website a little over the next few weeks, we'll keep you updated of any changes.

Thanks for sticking with us, and please help to spread the word.

I was going to start this entry as the first in a series of "What If" ideas.  The basis being; take an idea that a manufacturer should have done and take it to its logical conclusion.  What if Volvo had started racing the Volvo 240 Estate in touring cars rather than waiting for the 850.  What if the Mk2 Fiesta has been developed for rallying instead of the Mk3 Escort.  Those kind of thoughts.

My big idea for today was "What If Alfa Romeo had built a Group B rally car".  I was a bit scuppered on this as a what if when I found out that they did, they just never saw it to its conclusion.


Alfa's Group B car was based on the Alfa Sprint.  Taking the lovely Sprint as a base they removed the rear screen and seats before shoe horning a the GTV 2.5 V6 engine in to drive the rear wheels, creating a 2 seat rear wheel drive coupe.  The project was killed off by Alfa Romeos financial worries before they produced the 200 road going examples required for homogulation.  It is believed that only one remains at Alfa Romeo's museum.



You can still take this and What If it though.  What if they hadn't stopped with the Sprint, what if later they had developed the 33 in the same way.  What if Group B hadn't stopped, what would the Sprint Group B car have ended up being like in its second or third evolution?  What if you got a Sprint and a beyond repair GTV then decided to build your own version?.... now there’s a thought.

The great thing about being a web based magazine is the fact we can point out great things that live in traditional paper magazines without worrying about stupid things like market share and publishers and all that jazz.  Hot Rod magazine is an institution, having been around from the early days of hot rod culture as a paper fanzine all the way up to the present day championing causes like environmental impact of scraping old cars they have always been involved in the hobby of modifying cars.



There is an ill informed opinion that hot rods are all the same, the idea that one 32 Ford custom is the same as any other, or that all hot rods are just the same ideas recycled.  Really though Hot Rod magazine has been leading the way in showing how innovative hotrodding still is with its Dare To Be Different features since 1989.  It is safe to say that in hot rodding circles there are "ways to do things", this is the same in any scene really, certain styles become predominant at certain times.  Dare to Be Different actively highlights those cars that aren't constrained by any of these rules.



Featured in the past have been pro street drag looking road cars, drag racing vans, jet powered VW Beetles, as well as having had a number of now famous people pass through the Dare To Be Different looking glass.



We recommend you to go and pick up a copy of the magazine when they do their big Dare To Be Different features or go and browse their website.  Even if you aren't building anything, or even want to stand out that far, or be that different, it is great fun to try and think like these innovators and see where your ideas can take you.

All images from Hot Rod magazine, please don’t sue us for using them, we love you.

This little gem kind of ties us back to motor racing week, but it was too good to pass up, particularly in light of our recent trip to the HSCC Historic Festival, a full feature on which is forth coming.

Innovation

These days it is difficult to remember that Formula 1 used to be hugely innovative, monocoque construction, wings, downforce, tyre technology, and all sorts of more modern driver aids were experimented with in Formula 1.


What is great about formula racing is that the very formula regulations themselves are what has encouraged innovation, having a limited set of things that you can change focuses the mind somewhat.  So it was that Tyrell found themselves facing a new set of small wheel diameter rules in the 1976 season.  Smaller front wheels would reduce grip for the cars, obviously something engineer Derek Gardner wanted to avoid.


Lateral Thinking

Being engineers their solution was a brilliant piece of lateral thinking, the rules stated smaller wheels, they didn't however state how many, so Tyrell set about building a car with 4 front wheels, all of which steered the car.  Compared to other cars of the era the wheels size could also be thought to have aided air flow.

The radical cars were used through the entire 1976 season, picking up a number of good results as well as a famous one, two victory at the Swedish Grand Prix.



Over Taken By Developments

The cars key innovation was also its major downfall, the innovative wheel size resulted in the current tyre manufacturers not developing new tyre technology for the car, soon the more traditional four wheel cars had as much grip as the P34, coupled with the later P34B putting on a bit of weight this innovative car became uncompetitive.

Interestingly the car has proven itself competitive once again in the Historic Formula One series of races, as it is now able to take advantage of more modern tyre compounds.  When seen in action it is obvious how well it handles and seems to corner as if on rails.  Whilst many of the rare cars we've written about are difficult to see, the Tyrell P34 can often be seen racing, or at motorsports events like Goodwood.  In the mean time check out this amazing on-board video round Monaco:

There is a bewildering array of motor racing happening every weekend of every year in pretty much every country in the world, know what to go to can be hard if you've not been before.  Here are our suggestions for events that it is worth travelling to get to.  With a slight UK focus.

VSCC : Big Red (England)

The Vintage Sports Car Club caters for people that own pre 1931 racing cars.  Each year they hold a massive event at Donnington, not only do you get to see some amazing racing cars they are a real spectacle to see but they also invite car clubs to gather there, so you have a car show on the side.  You may have the impression that people that race cars that are nearly a hundred years old and are occasionally irreplaceable may be a bit reticent in their approach to overtaking, not so with these guys and girls, sideways and hammer to the floor is the order of the day.  As a friend commented to me last year when we were watching it, this is racing from a time when sex was safe and racing was dangerous.


Le Man Classic (France)

This event happens every other year and is not only a fantastic line up of racing cars but also a huge gathering of petrol heads of all sorts from across Europe, the campsites are as much a part of the action as the word class racing.  Get some friends together and head to Le Man for the classic and you won't be disappointed.


HSCC Historic Superprix (England)

Brands Hatch used to be home to Formula 1 in the UK, now days its full Grand Prix circuit is only used for a select few car events, the HSCC Historic Superprix is one of them, and it is worth travelling for.  A two day meet its diverse line up includes headline races from Can Am cars and historic Formula 1 as well as a support bill that includes classic sports cars, saloons and single seaters.  All of this is held in one of the finest racing circuits in the world with a most spectator friendly aspect.  Hearing and seeing the historic F1 and Can Am cars roaring down the back straight is worth the entry price alone.  If you can't make it this coming weekend, mark it in your calendar for next year.


Pikes Peak Internal Hillclimb (USA)

A hillclimb in the most literal sense, if Bonneville speed week was a hillclimb, it would be Pikes Peak.  Some amazing purpose built machinery makes its way to the mountain to try and beat the records previously set.  From the wild unlimited class where Group B cars once dominated to the specials running in the mini sprint class there is something for everyone.  Definitely one for the 'must visit' list.


Goodwood Revival (England)

The Revival has become a social event as much as a motor racing event, the dressing up aspect and getting into the whole vibe has become a big part of proceedings.  This is not a bad thing, it creates a great atmosphere around the circuit.  This is, however, still a race meeting, the cars out on the track are really racing, and boy are those cars are amazing.  Some very rare and special machinery is bought out for the event and raced by some legendary drivers.  This event is often the only place you'll get to see some of these cars being raced each year.  We'll be giving more of a preview nearer this years event.


Top Fuel Dragsters (Worldwide)

Racing doesn't have to have corners.  If you've not seen and felt the awe inspiring event that top fuel drag racing is, then get yourself to your nearest strip that hosts top fuelers and get your fill, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed, these are cars so purposeful in their aim to get down a quarter mile as quickly as possible that they almost self destruct doing it.  Fantastic.

 

So now you have no excuse, except maybe geography, and even that is a poor excuse, we look forward to seeing you and some great cars at these events!