Monday, October 21, 2013

Birthday's of A Different Sort...




Corvette C6R GT2 racecar. (Image source: thecarconnection.com)
So while your humble No Fenders scribe is in Indianapolis celebrating a milestone birthday, hey! What better place to celebrate your birthday in Speedway, Indiana if your an Open wheel Racing devotee, right Danny? As notice I AIN'T gonna tells Yuhs the number, other than its LESS than Tristan 'Turbo Vautier's car number but more than 'FAST EDDIE's; Hooah!

Hence, whilst the (No Fenders) head scribe is away, (again) thee mice upon duh "Interwoodz" will play...

Thus I thought I'd throw out a few other marques who are celebrating milestones of their own, as I can think of five deserving entities worth mentioning in this 'lil rant, with the roll call consisting of two automotive manufacturers; Aston Martin & Lamborghini, one racing team; McLaren and two very well known automobiles; Corvette & Porsche 911...

Aston Martin
The storied automobile manufacturer Aston Martin is celebrating its Centennial this year upon having been founded in Bloody 'Ol London in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, to which I've just discovered how the company's name was concocted, as Lionel Martin was an avid Hill Climb racing specialist and he competed often at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, hence the name Aston Martin was hatched, albeit World War I got in the way and the company didn't really take off until afterwards and has subsequently gone through multiple ownership changes.

Obviously Aston Martin's zenith of its long racing success is undoubtedly winning the 1959 24 Heurs du Mans overall with a fantastic 1-2 finish with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori co-driving their DBR1 to victory at Circuit de la Sarthe during the David Brown ownership era, (hence what the DB stands for, while R obviously equals Racing) along with capturing the coveted FIA World Sports Car Championship that season on the back of their Le Mans win.

Yet how many of Y'all know that Aston Martin raced in Formula 1 also? As unfortunately Aston Martin decided to dip its proverbial toes in the F1 waters in 1959-60 with a front engine DBR4 racecar at the very same time that the revolutionary rear-engine Cooper Climax's were obliterating the field with Sir 'Blackjack (Jack Brabham) at the controls, as the above mentioned drivers Shelby & Salvadori had pretty lackluster results before the marque returned to focusing upon Sports Cars instead.

And Aston Martin had a brief renaissance with success upon winning the GT1 class at Le Mans in 2007 with a DBR9 chassis, as I still recall Roberto giving me grief for rooting for them over our Yanks Corvette's and "Immer Ferrari" 550 Maranello's before pointing out that they were owned by Ford at that time, albeit in their final days of ownership before selling the marque to David Richards of Prodrive fame and his investor group; but hey! How could I root against Bad Boy driver Tomas Enge and Johnny Herbert; both of Formula 1 fame...

Corvette
Although the Bowtie Brigade has been my Automotive nemesis - nonetheless General Motors Flagship "Halo" car has certainly done its share of winning as those DAMN Yeller' (yellow) 'Vette's have been synonymous with winning throughout the 2000's, having taken multiple class wins at thee legendary Circuit de la Sarthe during le 24 Heurs du Mans, not to mention multiple ALMS championships and class victories at both Sebring and Daytona in their endurance races respectively.

As I suppose my favourite times of competition were against those nasty Factory backed Dodge Vipers, while they've also cleaned up against both Aston Martin and Ferrari's GT1 factory efforts, with a 'Who's-who of drivers piloting the Vette like Scott Pruett, Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Mad Max Papis, Frank Freon, Oliver Beretta, 'MAGS, (Jan Magnessen) Oliver Gabin Antonio Garcia and newcomers Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor just to name a few...

And although we blew past them in a flash just a few weeks ago, especially since my CRAPY eyeballs hadn't readjusted to the light - nevertheless its nice knowing that thee "BITCHINEST!" (As Randall, thy Moniker King would pronounce I-T...) Car museum in the Pacific Northwest, the LeMay America's Car Museum is currently showcasing 60-years of Corvettes in its cavernous museo which I've scribbled 'bout previously in;


To continue reading, see; Birthday's of A DifferentSort - Finale