M1 Momentum Issue 5 Autumn / Winter 2024

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N

THE

OF M1 CONCOURSE

ISSUE 5

KING

RICHARD PETTY CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF THE PETTY FAMILY IN RACING

F E AT U R E N A M E

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WELCOME TO THE FIFTH ISSUE OF M1 Momentum, produced just ahead of our fourth American Speed Festival.

It’s been an exciting year so far at M1 Concourse, as the facility has continued to grow. We’ve held more events and hosted more visitors than ever before, and we have become an even more integral part of the local Pontiac and wider Michigan communities.

This is crucially important to us. The idea of M1 Concourse was making use of the derelict but once productive factory site for the good of the local area as much as for the car enthusiasts it inevitably attracted. That was the vision of the founders of M1 Concourse, and it continues as my vision here.

All of us at M1 Concourse continue to work closely with local residents, charities and businesses. When I started to add up all that we’ve done here, it soon became clear that this needed documenting, so we commissioned veteran journalist Ronald Ahrens to talk to some of the organizations that we’ve worked with since taking over the site here – and the result is a comprehensive article in this issue of M1 Momentum.

This area has had it tough, even more so since the 2009 bankruptcy of General Motors,

Welcome

M1 MOMENTUM

so it’s an honor to be a part of something that might offset those hard times to some small degree. We do so not only in charity assistance, but in sharing the facilities here and in showing our members and visitors some of the businesses and organizations that exist nearby.

Meanwhile, M1 Concourse continues to grow. You’ll see over the next pages the plans for our new X Center, which will feature a kart track for our electric-powered KTOs, race simulators, E-gaming, slot cars and even golf simulators, in addition to a restaurant and leisure areas. There will also be kart garages, in a similar style to our existing car condos.

The X Center will be suitable for all visitors, from kids to enthusiastic kart racers. You’ll see it starting to come together next year in the south-east corner of the site, adjacent to our main entrance on Woodward Avenue.

I can’t not mention our excitement, too, at Richard Petty’s involvement in the 2024 American Speed Festival. The King has been celebrating the Petty family’s remarkable 75 years in motor sport throughout 2024, and so we are honored that he chose American Speed Festival as the climax of the year.

I look forward to seeing you here again soon.

Tim McGrane, CEO, M1 Concourse 5

©2024 SUNMARKS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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MOMENTUM ISSUE 05 FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 4

CONTENTS UPFRONT

14

All about M1 Concourse – the ideal automotive destination

16

M1 Concourse events diary – what excitement is in store?

18

Captured on Camera Memories of some recent M1 events

22

News X Center plans unveiled

26

News Meet racer Pippa Mann

28

News New Ginetta Akula

30

Preview American Speed Fest

34

News Nico’s new ASF artwork

36

Report Woodward Dream Show

46

40

Report Sick Powerfest

42

Report Roadkill Nights

F E AT U R E S

80 M1 MOMENTUM

46

Cover Story 75 years of Petty

58

Dream Garage Racing heaven

68

Le Mans Corvettes

80

New-Car Track Test Aston Martin Vantage

88

Chrysler Turbine Car

96

Slot Mods miniature tracks

100

Ferrari Challenge at 30

104

IROC legend Jay Signore

112

M1’s community input

118

Local History Wilson Brothers lead the way

7

104 CONTENTS MOMENTUM ISSUE 05 FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 4

USEFUL

122

Local Knowledge Stahls Automotive Foundation

126

Desirables Products

132

Desirables Books

134

Desirables Watches

96

136

Buying Guide Mercedes SL

142

Automobilia Petroliana

144

Track Tips From the experts

146

Parting Shot Corvair testing

128

136

134

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Bentley Troy 1755 Maplelawn Drive, Troy, MI 48084 947-447-3070

W H O T O C O N TA C T

The official magazine of the M1 Concourse www.m1concourse.com 1 Concourse Drive, Pontiac, MI 48341-2216

248-326-9999

Timothy P McGrane Chief Executive Officer tmcgrane@m1concourse.com

Brian Baker Director of Festivals & Events bbaker@m1concourse.com

Bill Lee Director of Sponsor Partnerships blee@m1concourse.com

Bruce Rothschild Director of Event Sales brothschild@m1concourse.com

Keith Bonn Director of Track Operations & Facilities keith@m1concourse.com

Anne Sloney Executive Administrator asloney@m1concourse.com

Jennifer Ruks Experiential Festivals & Events Manager jruks@m1concourse.com

Joe Pope Operations Manager joe@m1concourse.com

John Hoover Manager of Special Projects jhoover@m1concourse.com

Austin Fietsam Car Selection & Event Specialist afietsam@m1concourse.com

Meghan Lenard Event Center Sales mlenard@m1concourse.com

Sabrina VanVyve Events Administrator svanvyve@m1concourse.com

Lisa Molzon Motorsports Club Administrator lmolzon@m1concourse.com

Ken Burch Events Coordinator kburch@m1concourse.com

Dan Fuoco Digital Marketing Coordinator dfuoco@m1concourse.com

Jonathan Petrous Marketing Project Coordinator jpetrous@m1concourse.com

Richard Powell Graphic Designer rpowell@m1concourse.com

Marc Molzon Lead Driving Instructor marcmolzon@m1concourse.com

Robert Simmons Beverage Manager rsimmons@m1concourse.com

William Kneal Sr Facilities Technician bkneal@m1concourse.com

FA C I L I T I ES Alex Curry

10

Cory Gardner

Aiden Haverty

Aiden Lusk

Eriq Tallmadge

Michael Thomas

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Business inquiries Geoff Love geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk

Editorial David Lillywhite david@hothousemedia.co.uk

Advertising Sue Farrow sue@flyingspace.co.uk Lifestyle advertising Sophie Kochan sophie.kochan2010@gmail.com Managing Editor Sarah Bradley

Art Director Peter Allen

Rob Schulp rob@flyingspace.co.uk Accounts Jonathan Ellis accounts@hothousemedia.co.uk

Design Debbie Nolan, Andy Thomas, Ruth Haddock, Matthew Hutchins, Sam Walker

Magazine Operations Coordinator Elaine Briggs elaine@hothousemedia.co.uk

Printing Buxton Press

© Hothouse Publishing Ltd. M1 Momentum and associated logos are registered trademarks of M1 Concourse. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of M1 Concourse and Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Hothouse Publishing Ltd uses a layered privacy notice giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information. For full details, please visit www.magnetomagazine.com/privacy.

M1 Momentum is published biannually by Hothouse Publishing Ltd on behalf of M1 Concourse. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur. The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.

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All of the biggest families in NASCAR under one roof. Bring your family to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and make new memories in our racing simulator and pit crew challenge or get up close with the iconic cars along Glory Road. With over 850 artifacts and 50 interactive exhibits that span generations, everyone will find something for the scrapbook.

THIS IS OUR SPORT. THIS IS OUR HOUSE.

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NASCAR ® and NASCAR Hall of Fame ® are registered trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. © 2024.

ABOUT M1 CONCOURSE The perfect Michigan destination for events, conferences, track days, driving tuition and much more

M1 CONCOURSE IS AN 87-ACRE PREMIER destination for car enthusiasts and spectators.

Nestled in the heart of Pontiac, Michigan, this unique facility draws visitors nationwide to experience the adrenaline of its high-octane offerings and community-centric events.

At its forefront, the state-of-the-art, 1.5-mile M1 Circuit has been professionally engineered to ignite the passion of both seasoned and novice drivers. With 11 challenging turns, a 30foot width and a 30-feet elevation change, it is a testament not only to track design but also to safety. The extensive run-off areas, Armco and advanced barrier systems provide peace of mind for those pushing limits on the asphalt.

Yet M1 Concourse is more than just a track; it

is a cultural hive for automotive pursuits. Its signature events include the American Speed Festival, Woodward Dream Show and Cars Under the Stars, each celebrating automotive heritage in a unique way. From car shows and coffee meets to grand festivals and balls, M1 Concourse is the hub for anyone whose heart races at the sound of a revving engine.

Beyond the track, the multifaceted Event Center and Pavilion are architectural gems providing an elegant backdrop for social and corporate gatherings. They are complemented by the top-flight Prefix Performance Center, where cars are meticulously tuned, ensuring they perform at their best on and off the track.

For those who wish to marry their livelihood

with their lifestyle, M1 Concourse offers private garages, allowing members to safeguard their automotive treasures. The M1 Motorsports Club nurtures a community of enthusiasts, creating a shared space to revel in the joys of car ownership and camaraderie.

M1 Concourse’s dynamic blend of luxury, performance and community has cemented its place as a distinguished automotive enclave. It pays homage to Michigan’s rich automotive history by providing an unparalleled venue, where the legacy of motor-driven excitement continues to thrive. Here, the spirit of the automobile is not merely observed; it is lived.

More details at www.m1concourse.com.

a k u l a

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torque 670 Nm

weight 1190 KG

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top speed 180 mph

EVENTS DIARY

AUGUST 02

MOMENTUM NEWS

Dates for the diary 2024-26 These are the M1 Concourse events planned so far for the next year and beyond, plus a few nearby that we recommend visiting – and there will be more to come!

OCTOBER 2024

JANUARY 2025

13

10

19

10-20

30

FEBRUARY 2025

4th Annual Sanctum House ‘Wings of Courage’

9th Annual Uncork for a Cure

Sheriff’s Dept 13th Annual Angels Nights ‘Trunk or Treat’ NOVEMBER 2024

01

Detroit Auto Show, Huntington Place, Detroit

23-MAR 02

72nd Annual Detroit Autorama, Huntington Place, Detroit APRIL 2025

Habitat Oakland 12th Annual Fall Gala

16

Volunteers of America ‘Holidays of Hope’ Gala

05

M1’s Cars & Coffee

JDM and Asian brands

DECEMBER 2024

M AY 2 0 2 5

08

03

2024 Jingle Bell Run to benefit Arthritis Foundation 16

NACTOY North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year Awards, Huntington Place, Detroit

M1 MOMENTUM

M1’s Cars & Coffee

Customs and hot rods

EVENTS DIARY

18

13

25

19

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

M1’s Monaco Formula One and Indy 500 ‘Day at The Races’ Viewing Party

30-JUN 01

Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented

by Lear, IndyCar and IMSA, Detroit JUNE 2025

07

M1’s Cars & Coffee

Supercars and exotics

15

EyesOn Design, The Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores

Northville Concours d’Elegance, Northville

27

02

29

Cars Under the Stars Fireworks Spectacular 2025

06-07

Old Car Festival, The Henry Ford / Greenfield Village, Dearborn OCTOBER 2025

M1’s Cars & Coffee

Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Plymouth

08

02-05

American Speed Festival

Sick Powerfest presented by M1 Concourse

24-25

Teen Street Skills 2025

General Motors

AUGUST 2025

13

36th Annual Motor Muster, The Henry Ford / Greenfield Village, Dearborn

06

M1’s Cars & Coffee

Italian Happening, Rochester Hills City Park

09

Woodward Dream Cruise, Woodward Avenue SEPTEMBER 2025

Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) MI, IN, OH Regions Grand Classic

15

16

04

Checkered Flag Ball

Roadkill Nights (TBD)

11

M1’s Cars & Coffee European marques

Corvettes on Woodward

15-16

Woodward Dream Festival and Dream Parade

JUNE 2026

24, 26 & 27

Pontiac 100th Anniversary, Pontiac Oakland International Convention (POCI)

TBD

Detroit’s Invitational Wings & Wheels, Michigan Flight Museum, Belleville J U LY 2 0 2 5

05

M1’s Cars & Coffee

Ford, Lincoln and Mercury

11-12

Balloon Glow, Laser Show and Kite Festival

JUNE 07 M1 MOMENTUM

17

EVENT REPORT

ABOVE M1 Concourse was transformed into a cinematic playground as more than 60 Pontiac Trans Ams and Firebirds took center stage for the much-loved Bandit Run.

RIGHT Racer Pippa Mann offers coaching and training to female M1 members. BELOW, The Woodward Dream Show celebrates cars of all kinds.

Captured on camera M1 Concourse has hosted a wide variety of exciting events in recent months. Here is just a taste of what’s been going on

ABOVE Patriotic line-up at M1 for Corvettes on Woodward. LEFT All sorts of machinery at the SEMA Collector Car Appreciation Day.

BELOW Oakland County high school students explored STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) opportunities with a military tie-in.

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ABOVE Xtreme Xperience gets you behind the wheel of the world’s best supercars.

LEFT Sick Powerfest is a high-octane horsepower party – don’t miss it in 2025.

RIGHT Oakland County Sheriff’s Office motor unit uses the track for ongoing opportunities to develop advanced rider skills. FAR RIGHT Open track days are available to the public.

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M1 MOMENTUM

BELOW The M1 Concourse Car Club membership program provides access to perks, discounts and benefits – and special track days, too.

MOMENTUM NEWS

A new experience M1 Concourse’s facilities continue to expand with the brand-new X Center, which will place a focus on E-gaming and a new electric-powered KTO kart

W O R D S D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E PHOTOGR APHY INFORM

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M1 MOMENTUM

NEW M1 X CENTER

THE NEXT BIG TRANSFORMATION OF what was a derelict brownfield site only a few years ago into the buzzing community that is M1 Concourse, will be the construction of the X Center (Experience Center). The new facility will sit in the currently unused south-east corner of the site, adjacent to the main entrance.

These pages show how the X Center will look, thanks to Detroit architect INFORM’s latest renderings. It will incorporate simulators and E-gaming areas, a restaurant and, outside, a professional-level kart track.

Externally, the X Center will match the style of the neighboring Event Center, also designed

by INFORM, as company principal Ken Van Tine explains: “The color palette will be light gray, medium gray and dark gray, but we’re looking at using graphics on the building that we’re achieving through the use of perforated panels with little tabs punched through; when you bend each tab the light reflects off it, which creates a graphic image on the building. So we’re looking at that to create some highlight

areas at the entrance, and also on the side of the building that faces the track.”

Although from the outside the X Center will appear to have two stories, there will be a basement, too. “We did have a height limitation that we had to deal with, with the city,” says Ken, “but also a basement is a less expensive way to get the square footage that we needed, and it made sense to put the simulators down in an area that doesn’t have any natural light.”

On the ground floor, entrance doors will open into a welcoming vestibule area next to a gift shop and washrooms, but further in there will be a slot-car track created by the renowned Slot Mods (featured later on in this issue).

Two further rooms on this floor will be available for meetings and functions.

A curved staircase will lead down from the ground floor into the basement area – the simulator room. This will house eight top-ofthe-range race sims, a bank of E-gaming consoles and four large golf simulators.

Head back upstairs and onto the top floor, M1 MOMENTUM

‘X Center will incorporate E-gaming areas, a restaurant and, outside, a pro-level kart track and electric KTO karts’

THIS SPREAD Presented in a color palette of grays, the striking X Center will match the style of the existing neighboring Event Center, which was also designed by INFORM.

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NEW M1 X CENTER

and you will find a more conventional area, with washrooms, admin areas, a professional kitchen and a large dining area. This will lead out onto the observation deck overlooking the kart track, due to be built at the same time.

A series of kart garages will also be built as part of the X Center development. These will be in the same style as the M1 Concourse garages on the other side of the main race track, but appropriately scaled down.

“The garages will be 12ft by 24ft,” says Ken, “but we’re putting in second level to make them more of a man cave, with a sitting area, bathroom and tiny kitchenette. The exterior aesthetic is very similar to the larger car condos.”

Below the X Center observation deck will be an enclosed drive-through area that can be used as storage for the KTO electric karts – but also as a staging area when the track is in use.

Work on the X Center area will begin in 2025, bringing further levels of appeal to visitors, particularly families, as well as to serious amateur and professional kart racers.

Its construction will be yet another milestone in the M1 Concourse story.

THIS PAGE Set out over two stories and a basement, the new X Center facility will appeal to all visitors, with kart racers and gamers a particular focus.

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M1 MOMENTUM

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VISIT ANDIAMOCATERING.COM TO LEARN MORE

P I P PA M A N N

MOMENTUM NEWS

Pippa Mann on a mission From competing at the Nürburgring to fostering female racing talent, M1 instructor Pippa is on the right track

W O R D S N AT H A N C H A D W I C K P H O T O G R A P H Y M 1 C O N C O U R S E / P I P PA M A N N

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IT’S BEEN QUITE A YEAR FOR PIPPA Mann – among many other achievements, the respected racer returned to the Nürburgring to clinch third in class at the prestigious 24-hour race around the hallowed German track.

However, she is also celebrating a year as an official M1 Concourse instructor – and is continuing to makes moves off it as the CEO of the Shift Up Now Foundation, which is dedicated to helping talented female athletes in motor sport find ways to compete at the very highest levels.

Pippa began her career in her native United Kingdom, starting out in Formula Renault in 2003 before moving to Indy Lights in 2009. Competing for Panther Racing she notched up a string of top 15 finishes, before moving to the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team for 2010. That year saw her become the first female pole-sitter for a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the Indy Lights Freedom 100, before going on to win her first race at the Kentucky Speedway.

In 2011 Pippa became the first British woman to qualify for the Indy 500, and she finished 20th after starting 32nd racing for Conquest Racing. She would go on to compete in a further seven Indy 500s with Dale Coyne Racing and Clauson-Marshall Racing.

During this time Pippa was recognized by the Susan G. Komen Foundation for her efforts in support of the fight against breast cancer. She was added to ‘The List’ alongside previous First Ladies Laura Bush and Betty M1 MOMENTUM

Ford, in addition to 29 other public figures.

Away from open-wheel racing, Pippa has competed in the Super Trofeo North America Lamborghini championship, Intercontinental GT, FARA and the World Racing League, notching up excellent results along the way.

One of the most notable results was at the fearsome Nürburgring 24 Hours, where she took class victory on her 2021 debut, alongside Carrie Schreiner, Christina Nielsen and Célia Martin in an Audi R8 LMS GT4 Evo. She has returned every year since, and finished on the class podium each time.

Earlier this year Pippa joined The Motor Guild’s Women In Racing panel discussion at M1 Concourse, which raised funds for the Shift Up Now Foundation. She offered coaching and training to female M1 members, and there are further events planned – take a look to see how you can get involved.

If you’d like to book some coaching from Pippa, contact the M1 Concourse instruction department at www.m1concourse.com/driving-schools. Read more about Shift Up Now at www.shiftupnow.org.

THIS PAGE Pippa has raced around the globe, and has recently lent her skills as a coach to female M1 members.

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MOMENTUM NEWS

Akula alternative There are already several Ginettas at M1, but none like this new 600bhp road-going V8 SAY HELLO TO THE GINETTA AKULA – the British company’s first dedicated road car in many years, built to celebrate 20 years under the stewardship of CEO Dr Lawrence Tomlinson. The first Akula concept machine was revealed back in 2019, and after five years of testing and development, it is ready to order.

But just what do you get?

Under the bonnet is a naturally aspirated 6.4-liter V8. Based on a Ginetta billetaluminum block with a titanium valvetrain, the engine produces 600bhp at 7200rpm and 494.15lb ft of torque at 5100rpm. Given that the car is formed from a lightweight carbon monocoque with carbon front and rear subframes, resulting in a curbweight of 2623.5lb, it is promising explosive performance: 2.9 seconds to 60mph and a top speed in excess of 180mph. The flat floor is also carbonfiber, with the wind tunnel-shaped front splitter, tuning vanes plus rear wing and diffuser optimized for high downforce. There’s also an integrated steel roll cage.

You’ll have a choice between a six-speed manual transmission with a triple-plate clutch, or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, while the power is marshaled to the road via a Ginetta limited-slip differential. In standard form, the braking system is made up of four-pot calipers and 360mm rotors front and rear, complete with ABS. An optional Race Pack provides carbon-ceramic rotors; the same pack also features six-point Ginetta racing safety harnesses and apparel, including a racing suit, boots, gloves and underwear.

Ginetta has carefully positioned most of the heavy mechanicals between the axles to aid agility; the engine is in the middle of the car, pushed right back behind the front axle. As a 28

result, the Akula has 50:50 weight distribution.

This has enabled the fitment of longer wishbones, to allow for greater freedom in suspension set-up. Drawing on experience from the Ginetta racing programs, the Akula features double wishbones front and rear with billet-aluminum uprights, two-way adjustable racing suspension and in-car adaptable electronic damping. The front and rear antiroll bars are mechanically adjustable, and the car rides on Pirelli P Zero tires.

Despite the clear motor sport inspiration, the Akula has a 100-liter fuel tank for a continent-crossing 450-mile range, a 473-liter boot for luggage and an electronically adjustable steering column and pedal box. The seats, meanwhile, are designed into the carbon monocoque, with bespoke molded padding for each driver’s shape. There’s also a Ginettadeveloped touchscreen, heated windscreen and even cup-holders. It’ll cost you around $359,850 plus taxes and shipping.

More details are available at www.ginetta.com.

FROM TOP Exciting new Ginetta Akula road car promises a 2.9-second 0-60mph sprint time and a top speed in excess of 180mph.

WORDS N AT H A N C H A D W I C K PHOTOGRAPHY G I N E T TA

M1 MOMENTUM

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A M E R I C A N S P E E D F E S T I VA L

EVENT PREVIEW

American Speed Festival OCTOBER 3-6, 2024

Flagship celebration of all things US motor sport will welcome NASCAR icons Richard Petty and the Fabulous Hudson Hornet – and much more

PHOTOGRAPHY M1 CONCOURSE / HAGERT Y / ALAMY

30

THE AMERICAN SPEED FESTIVAL IS one of the highlight events of the M1 Concourse calendar – and this year it is bigger and better than ever.

We’re celebrating one of American motor racing’s biggest icons – NASCAR superstar Richard Petty, to mark 75 years of the family name in auto racing. As the most decorated driver in the history of NASCAR, with 200 victories and seven championships to his name, he’s the perfect Master of Motorsports for our 2024 event. Some of Richard’s hottest rides will also be in attendance – including the 1970 Superbird originally built to lure him back to Plymouth.

We’ve also bringing history to life with the oldest-surviving NASCAR-winning car known to exist. Michigan collector Al Schultz will be demonstrating his 1952 Fabulous Hudson Hornet, which was inducted into the National Historic Vehicle Register in 2022.

We’ll be running classic stock cars, too, split into three eras: the disc-brake period up to the late 1960s; the 1971-1981 long-wheelbase M1 MOMENTUM

‘Some of Richard’s hottest rides will be in attendance – including the 1970 Superbird originally built to lure him back to Plymouth’

A M E R I C A N S P E E D F E S T I VA L

THIS SPREAD Stock cars, IndyCars and drift machines will be putting on spectacular displays, and race cars from every era will tackle M1 Concourse’s circuit.

M1 MOMENTUM

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A M E R I C A N S P E E D F E S T I VA L

THIS PAGE Visitors will be able to get up close and personal to heroes of the human and the automotive kind, while there are all sorts of fun activities for kids of all ages.

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M1 MOMENTUM

era; and the 1982-onwards aero generation.

We’ll be welcoming back Vintage Indy as well, who will be bringing along 20 cars from across the grand history of the sport – and with an open paddock, you’ll be able to get up close to these wheeled heroes and the dedicated enthusiasts who keep them running.

The event kicks off on Thursday with the Dine & Drive Starting Line breakfast at the Event Center, prior to the driving tour. From there we get out onto the road, across the rural outskirts of Detroit, and take in the early fall colors. We’ll stop to gain exclusive access to a private automotive collection and also have lunch. In the evening, the Club M1 VIP event will offer the chance to celebrate motor sports with an evening of comradery, conversation, wine, spirits and the finest cuisine.

The track action runs on Friday and Saturday, with the Speed Ring Competition providing all the thrills of being able to see race cars from every era tackle M1’s 1.5-mile course. The new-for-2024 Stiletto Shootout sees women drivers battle it out against the clock, while the guys will be doing the same in the ASF Challenge Cup. Friday sees the Garage Reveal, where M1’s otherwise private community of garage owners open their doors to allow glimpses of their collection. This rare opportunity is at extra cost, but it provides possible once-in-alifetime opportunities to see truly incredible cars, and the garages that house them.

Saturday night’s highlight is the Checkered Flag Ball, our premier charity dinner in aid of the Checkered Flag Foundation, which supports M1 Mobility for Pontiac. This wonderful charity aids residents’ access to community programs and services. The recipient of this year’s Master of Motorsports Award will, of course, be Richard Petty.

Sunday sees the Speed & Style Show take over M1, with the chance to see the finest race and performance road cars up close and in the metal (and carbonfiber!). If you’re feeling suitably inspired, you’ll also be able to book in a Race Track Experience, where professional M1 Concourse drivers take you for high-speed laps around our race circuit.

Add in a Family Fun Zone for children of all ages, food trucks from the likes of Chickadee, Green Lantern, Union 212, Batter Up and Sucree, and a plethora of great live music, and the American Speed Festival is set to be the best yet.

Find out more at www.m1concourse.com.

ASF 2024 ARTWORK

MOMENTUM NEWS

THIS YEAR’S ARTWORK FOR AMERICAN Speed Festival has once again been produced

by M1 Concourse’s Detroit-based artist in residence Nicolas Rousselet, known as Nico.

The artwork features the famous number 43 Richard Petty 1970 Plymouth Superbird that will be one of the stars of the Festival. This 200mph car was built by Plymouth specifically to lure Petty back into its NASCAR fold, after he had spent a year driving for rival Ford.

Essentially, the company added a distinctive nosecone and a huge wing onto its Road Runner in an effort to catch up with the Dodge Charger Daytona that had come out the previous fall. Plymouth campaigned the cars for the full 1970 season, before replacing them in 1971. Much more recently, the Petty car was immortalized in Pixar’s Cars animated movies.

Nico has captured the legendary NASCAR Superbird in his trademark artistic style, using impressionistic lines and colors to

Nico flies in Superbird art for ASF Petty Plymouth is the theme for M1 artist in residence Nicolas Rousselet’s American Speed Festival artwork WORDS D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E

THIS SPREAD Richard Petty’s No. 43 Plymouth Superbird gets the Nico treatment. The original painting will be auctioned at the Checkered Flag Ball, with proceeds benefiting M1 Mobility.

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M1 MOMENTUM

create a ‘moving’ fixed picture.

Nico was born in France to a visual artist and an automotive engineer, and he trained in Paris as an automotive designer. As such, it’s no surprise that his favorite subject has always been the car. For the 2023 American Speed Festival he produced artworks that represented 60 years of the Corvette, the successes of the Ford GT and 100 years of Le Mans. And in 2022 he focused on the Shelby Daytona Coupe to mark the celebration of designer Peter Brock’s work at the event.

Nico’s work has been shown in the Petersen Automotive Museum, and it is currently on display at M1 Concourse as well as in several art galleries and other venues including the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham, Mouche Gallery in LA, Le Garage in Tokyo, David Rosen Galleries in Miami, HMH Art Gallery in Spain and San Diego Automotive Museum.

More details at www.gallerymomentum.com.

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EVENT REPORT

Woodward Dream Show Supplementing the sprawling, legendary Woodward Dream Cruise, this event at M1 Concourse continues to grow and grow

W O R D S D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E PHOTOGRAPHY M1 CONCOURSE

36

MOST OF THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD has heard about the legendary Woodward Dream Cruise along Woodward Avenue – and in recent years this classic extravaganza been supplemented by a show at M1 Concourse that takes place before and during the Cruise.

Welcome, then, to the 2024 running of the Woodward Dream Show & Festival Presented

by Comerica, which takes place on the Friday and Saturday of the Cruise weekend. M1 Concourse, situated on Woodward, is of course perfectly placed for this, and so the show has grown each year.

Alongside the Dream Show at M1 there are also other related events, including Corvettes on Woodward – in 2024 running for the 20th year – and the much newer, louder Sick Powerfest and Roadkill Nights drag-racing event.

But, of course, the Woodward Dream Show & Festival itself has become extremely popular in its own right. This year, the event marked 60 years of the iconic Pontiac GTO, alongside music, pop culture and exhibits from the year of the GTO’s launch, 1964.

The parade of GTOs onto the M1 Concourse plaza was joined by one of the most famous GTOs of all, the Monkeemobile, which was built in 1966 by car customizer Dean Jeffries.

In that spirit, there was music across the two days from Beatles tribute act Shout, the Motown Revue Band and Keepin’ the Summer Alive, a Beach Boys covers band.

Inside the M1 Event Center there was a

W O O D WA R D D R E A M S H O W

fascinating GTO forum, a 1960s fashion show and a 1964 NASA display, exhibiting evocative sights and sounds from the time of the great Space Race that gripped the world during the 1960s. The Monkeemobile was displayed inside the Event Center, too, alongside other cars from the era, including the Janis Joplin psychedelic Porsche 356, a Herbie Beetle, the Cadillac Cyclone concept and more.

But in addition to the nostalgia, there were also plenty of very different attractions including Funny Cars – which performed a daily Cackle on the Concourse start-up – and a special display of Lowriders, which performed a daily Hop to the delight of the crowd.

As ever, the slot cars were a big hit with families, as was the giveaway of Hot Wheels cars to the first 500 kids to arrive at the stand.

Meanwhile car entrants were rewarded with a multitude of Show ’n’ Shine Awards during two end-of-the-day prize-givings.

Wary of the Michigan weather, M1 Concourse had erected a football field-size tent to house the tribute bands, a beer garden, food trucks, show cars and the free Hot Wheels models.

The Woodward Dream Show & Festival has already become a significant part of Michigan automotive culture. Be sure to book early for the August 2025 event.

See www.m1concourse.com/woodward-dreamshow-home for more information.

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‘The event marked 60 years of the iconic Pontiac GTO, alongside music, pop culture and exhibits from the year of the GTO’s launch, 1964’

THIS PAGE The Lowrider Hop was a big crowd-pleaser; GTO parade was led by the Monkeemobile (also see previous spread); prize-giving for the Show ’n’ Shine cars.

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EVENT REPORT

Sick Powerfest If you didn’t join us at our high-octane horsepower party, this is what you missed...

WORDS DEREK PUTNAM PHOTOGRAPHY M1 CONCOURSE

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FOR THE THIRD EDITION OF THE SICK Powerfest Powered by Dodge and M1 Concourse, the M1 facility in Pontiac was packed with cool cars and trucks, as well as a Manufacturer’s Midway.

The facility also witnessed Dodge Thrill Rides (including the drift rides and Hornet Offroad Experience), the Demon 170 Drag Launch Experience and the Sick World Burnout Championship. Finally, Matt Hagan’s National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) nitro Funny Car was fired up to cap off this epic Friday in early August 2024.

Sick Powerfest got underway first thing in the morning with a reveal to the press of the Next-Gen Dodge Charger, along with the uncovering of the Dodge Grudge Match vehicles that would see action at the later Roadkill Nights. Seven rides, including Tom Bailey’s Mexico-born Ram Charger, would match up for the chance to be crowned the Grudge Race champion for the fourth

running of the unique competition.

After the Sick Powerfest gates had opened to the Sick Spit Detailer Show-n-Shine contestants and general public, Dodge kicked things into high gear with a triple shot of enthusiast-based fun. Leading the way was the Dodge Drifting Experience on the main burnout pad, featuring Hellcat model Chargers with an open passenger seat for fans to jump in. Dodge also offered up the Hornet Offroad Experience on a dirt course at M1 Concourse. Driving simulators were part of the package at Dodge’s displays as well.

The unique Dodge Demon 170 Drag Launch Experience, an exclusive for Sick Powerfest, offered lucky passengers a chance to blast down the straightaway of M1 Concourse in a pair of Radford Racing School Demon 170 Challengers.

Following the national anthem, the Sick World Burnout Championship fired off with nearly 40 competitors on site to battle for a

share of the $25,000 pot and the coveted Sick orange Racequip helmets. This year, the competitors were sorted into one of two categories: the Open Class and the Pro Class.

The Open Class was the bigger of the two, and some solid competition made for one of the tightest finishes in Sick Powerfest history. ‘Rowdy Randy’ Torres would emerge the winner with his converted 1993 GMC Jimmy out of New York, while Billy Meyers and the Lil Frightening 2008 Ford Ranger picked up the second spot.

Extremely close competition separated the third, fourth and fifth spots by only one point in the final voting, with ‘Frankie J’ Jungnitsch putting his diesel 2006 Ford pick-up in third.

Meanwhile, Steve Metcalf in his 1969 Camaro captured his second straight top-five finish in fourth, and Kyle Nelson rounded out the top five.

The Pro Class also featured pretty tough competition, with nearly half the field made up of Australian rides. Craig Bailey would

THIS SPREAD Sick Powerfest’s smokin’ action featured the Imposter (above), Travis ‘Madman’ Meehan’s 1972 Rolls-Royce (left) and plenty of Dodge muscle.

rise to the top of the list, claiming the Sick orange helmet with his 2012 Holden Commodore Ute known as the Imposter.

Kyle Douglas came in a close second wheeling the Luxifer 1997 Toyota Hilux, and Mick Hinchy snagged third in his 2014 Commodore. Patty McLaughlin earned the fourth spot in a 1987 Commodore, and Travis ‘Madman’ Meehan rounded out the top five with his 1972 Rolls-Royce. It all made for a highly charged Sick Powerfest – and yet another great day out at M1 Concourse.

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EVENT REPORT

Roadkill Nights Powered

by Dodge After planning difficulties, the dragstrip action switched from Woodward Avenue to M1 Concourse, with great success for all

W O R D S M I K E G A L I M I , D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E PHOTOGRAPHY KEVIN DIOSSI

42

IN THE MANNER OF ALL THE BEST events, there were major changes made to the Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge format only days before it occurred. Would it happen?

Wouldn’t it? In the end, it was M1 Concourse that came to the rescue.

In previous years, Roadkill Nights has run its dragstrip on a specially closed section of Woodward Avenue, right outside the gates to M1 Concourse. Other elements of the event have taken place within the venue itself, including demonstrations and rides in vehicles supplied

by Dodge on the arena and the off-road course.

This year, though, there were 11th-hour problems obtaining final permissions to run the drag-racing segment of the event on the street. As a result, Roadkill Nights switched from a pop-up dragstrip on a public road with a fully prepared roadway, to a true no-prepstyle drag course with no traction compounds of any kind on the M1 Concourse track – although to protect the pristine surface, steel plates had to be used for the burnout boxes.

Because of this, the dragstrip times were initially slower than in previous years – but as the changes affected all the performances, the competition remained fair. And by the end of the event, once plenty of rubber had been laid down, the times were comparable to when the competitors ran on Woodward.

For spectators, the big advantage of the venue move was that viewpoints were improved and access to the pits was possible, adding an extra appeal. And, as it turned out, the drag-racing outcome remained the same as last year, with Jimmer Kline taking the Big Tire honors and Mikael Borggren capturing his third straight Small Tire victory.

The format at Roadkill Nights is simple: DOT tires adorn all four corners, and the measurement separating the two categories is 10.5 inches of width for each rear tire. Larger rubber goes into Big Tire, and narrower tires meeting the 10.5inch rule drop the entry into the Small Tire class.

If the vehicle is AWD/4WD, it is placed in Big Tire. Roadkill Nights officials use a timing system to log performances and select the Top 8 in each category. The heads-up bashes pay qualifying and semi-final money and runner-up cash, while each winner takes home $5000. The competitors are paired using a chip-draw method, instead of a formal ladder as in NHRA competition.

One of the regular stars of Roadkill Nights is Jimmer Kline’s unique ride. Many confuse it for a Chevrolet Nova, but in fact it is a 1966

‘From Top Fuel and Funny Car burnouts to Grudge Matches, Roadkill Nights continues to be one of the most unique events of the year’

Pontiac Acadian, which was only offered north of the border in Canada. It packs a 622ci Pontiac engine with a few stages of nitrous oxide. Kline took a few runs to get acclimated to the new launch pad, but once he got a handle on the tune-up, he went quicker and faster on each passing round.

His run to the winners’ circle was first challenged by the turbocharged F-150 of Shane Maley, who was easily dispatched when Kline dropped his Acadian into the 4.0-second zone on the track, which was shorter than an eighthmile. The team swapped the two Induction Solutions nitrous kits to leave softer, getting down the unprepared surface easier. From there, Kline got quicker and took down the ProCharger-blown 1969 Mustang of James Barnabei, finding himself in his second straight Roadkill Nights final round.

On the other side of the ladder, it was Michael Mislivec and his third-gen Trans Am, complete with a massive supercharger sticking out of the hood, making a run to the finals.

He sent both Demetrios Mersinos and John Paul Delisi packing, earning a spot in the finals. Kline continued his domination for the 43

ROADKILL NIGHTS

third run of eliminations, beating Mislivec with the quickest performance of the event, a 4.85, and taking home the big prize money for the second year in a row.

By now Mikael Borggren and his imposing 1987 Volvo need little introduction to the drag-racing community. He’s a member of the Hot Rod 200 MPH Club for Drag Week racers, has run in the 6.0s during Drag Week and has seen victory in the Modified category, and he can win a wide assortment of No Time/No Prep drag-racing events. And just to underline the fact, he won Small Tire at Roadkill Nights for the third straight time.

The Volvo showed up sitting low in the rear and high in the front, as Borggren tapped into the vast knowledge learned from back-ofthe-track racing. The goal in this game is to get the front end to transfer as much weight rearward to plant the back tires. And we must note that while many on the day resorted to slick rubber, the Volvo continues to boogie down the course on radial-type tires. Borggren’s path to the finals went through Dave Ward and Dave McKenna, both 44

PREVIOUS SPREAD Mike Mantel’s Little Red Fire Truck and Jimmer Kline’s green Pontiac Acadian THIS SPREAD Top Fuel cars, Dodge rides and the turbo LS-powered Volvo of Mikael Borggren.

of them formidable competitors who just didn’t have quite enough to beat him.

As Borggren worked his side of the ladder, Diehl was doing the same with his turbocharged New Edge Mustang. He kept a close eye on the surface, and was seen working on his car in front of the hotel, studying data and evaluating power-management strategies, late into the evening and early morning. His LS-powered Mustang sports a hefty single Bullseye turbo in the front grille, and it provided enough boost to overtake Jeffery Kalo and the feared twin-turbo Chevy S10 of Adam Hodson.

This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen the Diehl Brothers be successful in a MotorTrend event. They impressed in Street Race Small M1 MOMENTUM

Block Power Adder at the 2023 Hot Rod Drag Week competition, with Chris Merry behind the wheel of their LS-swapped 1994 Mustang.

Merry went on to finish third in the category.

The final was set between two Michigan heavyweight racers, both packing turbocharged engines and each running low 5.0s on the makeshift drag course. These two were the quickest cars in the Small Tire field, and it was a photo finish of sorts in the finals. Both racers ran within thousandths of a second of each other, the timing system showing that Borggren moved first and tripped the finishline beam slightly ahead of Diehl.

Roadkill Nights might have had a different racing strip this year but, thanks to M1 Concourse stepping up, the competition was equally exciting – and after eight hours of drag racing, we can call the result a success.

From Top Fuel and Funny Car burnouts to Grudge Match madness and heads-up competition, Roadkill Nights continues to be one of the most unique automotive enthusiast events of the year.

Thanks to www.motortrend.com.

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For 75 years the Petty name has been associated with motor sport at the highest level. Ever since Lee Petty founded Petty Engineering in the Reaper Shed, at the family home in Level Cross, North Carolina in 1949, the Petty name has been renowned for its tenacity. Lee was an early NASCAR pioneer, and he would go on to finish in the top five for its first 11 seasons. It would be the start of a racing dynasty that’s spanned 75 years through the Petty name, with King Richard at the forefront of it all. This year we’re honoring him at the American Speed Festival, so come with us as we head down memory lane and - more often than not - victory lane.

WORDS N AT H A N C H A D W I C K PHOTOGRAPHY ALAMY / REVS INSTITUTE

1937

RICHARD PETTY

1958-1959

Born Richard Lee Petty on July 2, 1937 at Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina to a racing family. His father, Lee Petty (pictured here in his no. 42 Pontiac), won the first Daytona 500 in 1959.

Richard Petty in numbers

Richard made his racing debut on July 18, 1958, just 16 days after his 21st birthday. Within 18 months he was crowned NASCAR Rookie of the Year, having notched up nine top ten finishes – six of those in the top five. He’s seen here in 1959.

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M1 MOMENTUM

Most Daytona 500 wins:

7

Most poles:

123

Most wins:

200

Most Cup Series championships:

7

(Tied with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt)

Most wins in a season:

27

Most consecutive wins:

10

Most starts:

1185

Most wins in a season:

7

(1967)

Driving career:

35 years

1960-1963 In 1960 Richard scooped his first win at the Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway, and was promoted to being the number one driver for the Petty team after father Lee was seriously injured at Daytona in 1961. By 1963 Richard had more success at Martinsville and Bridgehampton – and he would finish in second place in the championship in 1961, 1962 and 1963. He’s pictured here (right) with father Lee (center) and brother Maurice, part-time driver and engine builder for the team.

RICHARD PETTY

Armed with a Hemi-endowed Plymouth, Richard won his first Daytona 500 (seen here), having led for 184 of the 200 laps. A further nine victories meant Petty took his first Grand National Championship.

When NASCAR banned the Hemi engine, Chrysler and the Petty team moved into drag racing with a Barracuda bearing the name OUTLAWED. A crash at Southeastern Dragway, in Dallas, Georgia, led to the death of a child, further injuries and lawsuits (pictured), but the Pettys prevailed. A new Hemi Barracuda was built with 43 JR on the door, which led to class victory at the Bristol Spring Nationals. Richard would continue drag racing until 1966.

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1965 1966-1968

1964

With Chrysler back in NASCAR, the successes continued – in addition to taking the first win at the Middle Georgia Raceway in 1966, Richard broke the half-mile NASCAR record with a 82.023mph average. He also won his second Daytona 500, becoming the first driver to win the event twice.

In 1967, he won 27 out of 48 races, bringing his second Grand National Championship and the title of King Richard. Duly knighted, he took a further 16 victories in 1968. He is pictured here during practice for the '68 Atlanta 500.

M1 MOMENTUM

1969

Ford’s investment in the aerodynamically optimized Torino Talladega saw Richard switch to the Blue Oval.

Believing that his Plymouth wouldn’t be competitive on super-speedways, he had wanted to switch to the Dodge Daytona, but Chrysler’s suits demanded he stayed at Plymouth.

His time at Ford led to ten victories and second place in the championship.

1970 Plymouth finally provided a car worthy enough to compete in NASCAR – the superslippery Superbird, which was developed with NASA aerodynamicists to provide the edge on super-speedways thanks to its enormous rear wing. Richard was immediately on the pace, notching up four wins in the first quarter of the season, before disaster struck at Darlington (pictured here). After slicing a tire, he hit the pit wall hard, flipping the car several times. During the accident Richard’s head hit the floor a

number of times. This incident, along with Joe Weatherly’s fatal crash, prompted NASCAR to force teams to use a Petty-developed safety net for the driver’s-side window. After missing several races, Richard returned to the series at Michigan; despite 14 wins across the remaining races, he finished fourth in the championship.

RICHARD PETTY

1975

1973-1975

With the Superbird outlawed, Plymouth provided a brandnew Road Runner, and success soon followed. In addition to Richard's third Grand National Championship, he won his third Daytona by little more than a car length from Buddy Baker.

Chrysler pulled out of direct team support at the end of 1971, leaving the Petty team on the precipice. STP stepped in, but it would mean the end of the famous Petty Blue paint scheme, because STP demanded its orange hue. After an all-night negotiation, a mixed-color scheme was agreed, setting up a 28-year sponsorship agreement. Petty repaid the faith by taking his fourth NASCAR Cup Series title.

1972

1971

Richard moved to the Dodge Charger.

He would take the Daytona 500 for the fourth time in 1973, and the fuel-crisisenforced shorter Daytona 450 in 1974, on the way to his fifth Winston Cup Championship.

Another glorious year. Not only did Richard take his sixth Winston Cup with 13 victories – a record in the modern era, tied with Jeff Gordon – but he also won the World (now Coca-Cola) 600 for the first time.

53

1976-1978

RICHARD PETTY

54

last lap. A huge television audience saw Richard cruise through while Yarborough and Allison fought each other. It set up NASCAR for its meteoric rise to stardom. Richard went on to win the championship for the seventh and final time by a mere 11 points.

Richard began 1980 well, but a heavy crash at Pocono meant he would finish the year in fourth. He moved back to Dodge for 1981, yet the Mirada was too slow for the super-speedway.

He bought a Buick Regal for Daytona, and took the victory, but it was a rare highlight of a difficult year.

1981 was also a big moment

for Richard’s son Kyle – he would race Petty’s 43 number at Riverside, while Richard would take his father Lee’s number 42. Richard then moved to Pontiac for 1982 and, after a slow start, he took the Grand Prix to wins at Carolina and Charlotte in 1983.

engine had stalled.

Pearson had clipped another car but was still running – and despite the best efforts of Petty’s pit crew in trying to push the car to the line, Pearson was able to drive past Richard on the infield to victory.

Petty got the second-place finish.

1980-1983

1978-1979

After a difficult early 1978 with the Dodge Magnum, Richard left Chrysler and moved to General Motors, racing a secondhand Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the remainder of the year. In 1979, Petty won the infamous 1979 Daytona 500 – the first to be televised from start to finish, and with in-car cameras – after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison tangled on the

These were leaner years for the Petty team, although Richard finished second in the championship in 1976 and 1977.

However, this era will be most remembered for the finish of the 1976 Daytona 500. Petty tried to pass David Pearson at the exit of turn four, but snagged his rear bumper on Pearson’s front.

They both spun and hit the wall, with Richard just a few yards from the finish line, yet the

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Richard left the Petty team to race for Mike Curb, and during this time he took his 200th officially recognized victory – although really his 201st, counting a class victory in 1971. It was also his last, at the Firecracker 400 at Daytona.

After Doug Heveron crashed, Richard and Cale Yarborough raced to the line on what would be the final lap. In the end, Richard

56

took the win by just a fender’s length. He would later donate one of his race cars to the Smithsonian Institution – but only after it had been given the onceover by President Ronald Reagan.

Petty would compete at the highest level until the very end, and he was the sole stock car driver in the first class inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989. He retired at the end of the 1992 season. His last race, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, was memorable. On the 94th lap he got caught up in an accident, and the car caught fire. The pit crew worked to get it going again with just 20 laps to go, and two laps from the end Richard was able to complete his final race in 35th position. In the same year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George Bush.

M1 MOMENTUM

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT…

1986-1992

1984-1985

RICHARD PETTY

Since retiring from competitive driving, Richard was a part of Petty Enterprises until 2010, alongside son Kyle. He was also inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997, and into the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.

In 1998, the Richard Petty Museum was set up, originally located in Level Cross, North Carolina before moving to Randleman in 2003. In 2014 it returned to its original home near the Petty Garage and Richard’s home.

In 2006, Richard voiced Strip ‘The King’ Weathers in Cars, a character based on himself and the legendary 1970 Plymouth Superbird. He reprised the role in Cars 3. He starred in several further films, including Swing Vote alongside Kevin Costner.

In 2008 Petty Enterprises rebranded as Petty’s Garage, offering car parts, restorations and custom builds from the historical home of the family’s Petty Enterprises in Level Cross.

More on Petty’s Garage at https://pettys garage.com and the Richard Petty Museum at www.richardpettymuseum.com.

WORDS D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E PHOTOGRAPHY M AT T H O W E L L

DREAM GARAGE

A lifelong love of motor sport is reflected in Rick Ratliff’s most tasteful of garages at M1 Concourse 59

DREAM GARAGE

ABOVE AND OPPOSITE Rick Ratliff covered motor sport during his time as a newspaper reporter at the Detroit Free Press. His passion for motor sport shows in his garage at M1 Concourse, where both floors are tastefully decorated with well chosen pieces of racing memorabilia.

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M1 MOMENTUM

LEFT AND ABOVE Architect-designed wood-paneled ceiling and atmospheric lighting hide an industrial shell. Large couch is the perfect place for Rick to host his well attended book club, surrounded by trophies and other historic gems.

DREAM GARAGE

“I’D NEVER COLLECTED ANYTHING before,” says Rick Ratliff, as he shows us around his perfectly formed two-level garage at M1 Concourse, pointing out different pieces of memorabilia as we go. “And then I started collecting things. It began with die-cast cars, and odds and ends… and it just grew.”

This is the classic case of an M1 garage enabling a passion to flourish. Rick had always been a huge motor sport fan, and his single unit has given him the space to indulge in it, in quite a life-changing way. Now, the garage has become an evocative shrine to the golden age of racing – not just for Rick, but for friends and associates, too.

“I became aware of this place four years ago,” he says. “I was shown this unit; nobody had even driven a nail into the wall. It seemed the perfect opportunity for my fantasy. I approached the architect, Studio Detroit, and the team there understood exactly what I was talking about and came up with this set-up.”

It feels exactly right: downstairs is clean and functional, with the red-brick wall at the end adding warmth, while upstairs the woodpaneled ceiling and atmospheric lighting give no clue as to the industrial basis of the building.

It looks contemporary, but comfortable and welcoming, like a modern-day club room. Both floors are tastefully decorated with well chosen pieces of motor sport memorabilia.

This fascination for motor sport, and especially for Formula 1, comes despite Rick’s origins in the home of F1’s biggest rival: “I grew up in Indianapolis, so you might figure I’d be all about Offenhauser parts, that sort of thing. But what changed me completely was a friend’s 12th birthday party. We went to see Grand Prix, and I was captivated by the whole concept of this world in which people didn’t just go around ovals, they drove through the streets of exotic cities. It completely changed my attitude about what I was interested in.

“I was interested in F1 back when nobody in the States really cared anything about it. As a newspaper reporter for most of my career at the Detroit Free Press, I was general assignment

OPPOSITE Garage’s club-room feel lends itself to the remarkable collection of motor sport memorabilia Rick has amassed as part of a passion sparked by childhood exposure to then-exotic Formula 1 racing.

‘I was shown this unit; nobody had even driven a nail into the wall. It seemed the perfect opportunity for my fantasy’ M1 MOMENTUM

and feature writer. When we [Detroit] got the F1 race in 1982, nobody on the staff knew anything about F1 racing, so I was elevated. I got hot pit passes, and I had total access to the circuit. I met Colin Chapman, I interviewed Ayrton Senna, who was then a new player. I kept thinking when I went by the Ferrari pits that they were calling it in to Enzo at the end of the day. It was just another thing that fed this fascination.”

It was this lifetime interest that’s influenced the M1 garage’s aesthetic; not just what’s in it, but the way Rick uses it – although he started out simply decorating it with interesting pieces.

“Early on I thought I could never spend that much money on, you know, a Le Mans trophy or something like that, yet it’s kind of a disease.

But also, there really wasn’t a whole lot of competition for these things, so I was able to build the collection that you see. Early on, it was those little ashtrays, which were given to Peter Collins when he was a teenager.”

Now, there are gems everywhere you look, from F1 car nose cones to evocative images of racing drivers and fascinating trinkets such as the participation award from the organizers of the Targa Florio that was given to Mercedes-Benz race-team manager Alfred Neubauer – but with his name misspelt.

There’s also a picture of a solemn-looking Mike Hawthorn taken immediately after the end of the tragic 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours.

This is in stark contrast to the seemingly inappropriate pictures of him celebrating the win later on, which were circulated by an angry French media at the time.

Rick talks through the collection as we walk around… “I think artistically, I would say the 1954 trophy that was bestowed on Maurice Trintignant and José Froilán González at Le Mans. I think that’s the prettiest thing. After that, in terms of significance or the power to evoke something, I just think different things do that for me at different times.

“For example, Jochen Rindt’s race license from 1969; there he is, just wearing a suit and tie; he’s not wearing Nomex racing gear or 65

DREAM GARAGE

whatever. He just looks like a regular guy who walked into the office and did what he needed to do. I think there’s something poignant about Phil Hill’s jacket, too. He won that championship, and then he was treated pretty horribly by Enzo after that – that’s what crosses my mind when I look at it.”

Rick continues: “There’s the trophy that was won by Alberto Ascari for setting the fastest lap in Barcelona in the debut race of the D50 Lancia, which I’ve always thought was one of the most beautiful racing cars ever. And a few months later, he was dead. And the pit board…

I think of all those racers who would have seen that as they were going down the main straightaway of whatever race it was.

“The nose cone is off a Niki Lauda car [Brabham-Alfa Romeo] that ended up with the engine blowing on the critical corner. It spewed oil all over the track. But until that happened, he was very much in contention – and that was the year [1978] after Ferrari fired him. So it’s kind of cool that he came roaring back.”

Opening up the doors to the balcony to reveal a table and some unusual glassware, Rick explains: “This is something I didn’t even expect, but I can actually see the track from here. René Dreyfus and his brother started a restaurant in New York after his racing career, called the La Chanteclair. They would put these little pitchers or water bottles on the table – of course, they’re shaped like Bugatti radiators. So I got hold of one of those, too; I thought it was kind of cool.”

We head back downstairs, to look at Rick’s Caterham 7 280 (so-named because it develops 140bhp and weighs half a British ton, so has a 280bhp power-to-weight ratio). Of course, it’s 66

ABOVE Targa Florio organizers gave this participation award to Mercedes-Benz race-team manager Alfred Neubauer.

Spot the ‘deliberate’ mistake...

‘I use this as a place to attract people who are like-minded about the history of racing. In fact, I run a book club out of M1’ M1 MOMENTUM

in classic 1960s Lotus livery, in homage to Rick’s heroes. He says: “I do take the Caterham out on the track here. I’m the slowest guy out there. I’ve only rarely felt the rear end coming around, and even then it was very easy to correct. There is a hairpin, and then the longest straightaway on the circuit follows the hairpin, so you really have to get it right in order to get up to speed.” (Since our meeting, Rick has also bought an Ariel Atom 4: “A lovely little thing.”)

“But that’s only part of the reason I’m here; it’s not the biggest part. I use this as a place to attract people who are like-minded about the history of racing. In fact, I run a book club out of M1. Our books are always about different topics to do with the history of racing or biographies of car designers or whatever.”

He continues: “The people who come to this book club are, in some cases, M1 garage owners, and in other cases, they’re not but they’re really interesting people. There’s the guy who designed the interior of the current Corvette.

He comes. A guy who won the Pulitzer Prize for business reporting, who wrote the book Comeback: The Fall & Rise of the American Automobile Industry about the effort of the auto companies in Detroit to return; he’s a member of our group. We all sit around on this couch, and we talk about the books. It’s very satisfying.

“We just read – or, in my case, re-read – the old Brock Yates biography of Enzo Ferrari.

And, I mean, it’s sort of amazing because, you know, Ascari and González and Trintignant and that Mille Miglia, which was the last one in which Tazio Nuvolari competed… it just kind of drew all this stuff together, and made me feel even more connected to what’s around me in here. It’s exactly what I wanted this garage for.”

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To see four of the 1960s Le Mans Corvettes in one place is special indeed – but that’s exactly what happened at M1 Concourse last year

VETTES AT LE MANS WORDS D AV I D L I L LY W H I T E

PHOTOGRAPHY M AT T H O W E L L

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LE MANS CORVETTES

FOR ANYONE WITH AN APPRECIATION of Corvette history, the sight of four early Le Mans cars at last year’s American Speed Festival would have sent a shiver down the spine. We may be used to seeing – and hearing!

– the thunderous Corvettes in the 24 Hours race now, but these cars were the true pioneers, and include the first-ever class winner.

So here they are: two of the four 1960 Le Mans entries, the sole 1962 contender and the only 1967 challenger. And what remarkable tales they have to tell.

First, we have to go back to the 1950s and the famed Briggs Cunningham. His immense family wealth had allowed him to compete at the highest levels in both yachting and motor racing, as a driver and as a team owner.

In fact, he had been a manufacturer, too, creating his own race cars during the 1950s for Le Mans such as the Cunningham C-2R, the class-winning C-4R, the C-5R and the C-6R – always with the aim of winning Le Mans with an American engine (mostly Chrysler Hemis).

By 1956, the best the Cunningham team had achieved was a fourth place and a first in class. For various reasons, Briggs opted instead to switch to running Jaguars at Le Mans and other races, again with reasonable but perhaps slightly disappointing results.

At around the same time, GM engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov – so often referred to as ‘the 70

‘We may be used to seeing – and hearing! – the thunderous Corvettes in the 24 Hours now, but these cars were the true pioneers’

THIS SPREAD The twin blue stripes denote the two Cunningham 1960 cars; the other no.1 is the ’62 car and the red, white and blue L88 is the ’67 entry.

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father of the Corvette’ – and Corvette race program manager Frank Burrell were doing their best to persuade General Motors into going to Le Mans with the Corvette. GM president Harlow Curtice was less keen, particularly because of the crash at La Sarthe in 1955. Although the race program progressed for a while, it was ultimately canceled.

When it came to the Corvette, though, Arkus-Duntov was not easily dissuaded. His history with the model had started when he had applied to join the ’Vette engineering team, having admired the look of the original incarnation but been underwhelmed by what was underneath. With his influence, the Corvette was transformed from a slow-selling six-cylinder boulevard cruiser to a true performance V8-engined sports car.

Never one to miss the opportunity to promote the Corvette, Arkus-Duntov and, it is thought, Burrell, chose not to be defeated by GM’s reluctance to race, but instead approached Briggs Cunningham to run Corvettes in the Le Mans 24 Hours instead.

Cunningham accepted – and in doing so effectively became the unofficial Works team for 1960, receiving support from Arkus-Duntov in particular. And so Corvettes finally made it to Le Mans, although Cunningham also ran a Jaguar E2A (effectively the link between the D-type and the forthcoming E-type).

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71

LE MANS CORVETTES

THE THREE 1960 LE MANS CORVETTES were bought new from Don Allen Chevrolet, each with every performance option available including 290bhp injected V8, close-ratio fourspeed transmission, Positraction limited-slip diff, quick-ratio steering, uprated suspension, heavy-duty brake linings and radio delete. It’s thought that the three cars cost a hefty (for the time) $11,730.24 in total. Meanwhile, Zora Arkus-Duntov had been working on engine modifications that would increase power but also maximize the motors’ longevity under racing conditions at Le Mans.

Each car was then added to with Stewart Warner gauges, a quick-release fuel cap, Halibrand knock-off wheels with Firestone racing tires, Koni competition shock absorbers, Bendix fuel pumps (a primary and a back-up), an additional front sway bar, a larger fuel tank, brake ducting from the grille area and a cooling duct directed at the driver through the footwell, as well as two seats from a Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft and Sebring side-exit exhausts.

Come race day, in June 1960, the three

72

Corvettes lined up in Cunningham’s famous white with twin blue stripes livery, numbered 1, 2 and 3. There was one other Corvette entry at Le Mans that year, entered by ‘Lucky’ Casner’s Camoradi team.

In Cunningham Corvette no. 1 was Briggs Cunningham himself, paired with Bill Kimberly. In car no. 2 were Dick Thompson and Fred Windridge, and in car no. 3 were John Fitch and Bob Grossman. None had an easy time of it, for within three hours of the race start a storm swept across the region; it continued for much of the first half of the event, drenching the track and causing accidents and mechanical failures.

As with many cars in the field, the Corvettes suffered. Not long after taking over from Cunningham, on lap 32, Kimberly rolled the no. 1 car, finishing its race before it had even completed four hours of competition.

Corvette no. 2 also went off the track, striking a sandbank – but it managed to limp back to the pits, where repairs to its right-front fender ensured it could continue. It had lost a lot of time and was running near the back of the pack, yet it continued until, excruciatingly, the engine expired after 207 laps and more than 20 hours of racing.

And so it was left to Corvette no. 3 to fly the Cunningham flag – but even this car nearly came to a disastrous end. Early in the race it pitted, and a mechanic mistakenly removed the radiator cap, of course causing the car to lose coolant. The race regulations stated that no fluids were allowed to be topped up before 25 laps had been completed – which they hadn’t.

Instead, the only way to keep no. 3 from overheating was to pack the intake manifold and engine block with ice from a cooler, to attempt to keep temperatures down before the radiator could be refilled after the required 25 laps. Incredibly it survived, but once again a Cunningham car had lost time due to bad luck.

All the same, Fitch and Grossman scythed through the pack at times even during the M1 MOMENTUM

THIS SPREAD Two of the three 1960 Le Mans Corvettes (all three still exist).

The seats were sourced from an aircraft.

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worst downpours, to finish eighth overall and first in class. It was an historic occasion – the first time a Corvette had run at Le Mans and finished first in class.

As was often the case in these situations, in the years following Le Mans the three cars disappeared into obscurity, viewed simply as obsolete former race fodder. The Cunningham team shipped the Corvettes back to the US from France, returned their race engines to Chevrolet and converted the cars back to road spec. They were sold on to new owners, who might never have known the models’ histories.

During the early 1990s, Valley Stream, NY-based Corvette specialist Kevin Mackay wrote to the Le Mans archives to request the chassis numbers of the three 1960 Le Mans machines – which he duly received some weeks later. Armed with this knowledge, Kevin M1 MOMENTUM

went on the search for the missing cars.

No. 1 turned up in 2012, having been bought from a junkyard in the 1970s and stored in asfounded condition ever since. Now it’s owned

by Jay Dewing, grandson of Briggs Cunningham.

Car no. 2 had initially been purchased by a National Zinc employee in New Jersey, before it was bought by Road & Track journalist Steve Smith. He later traded it with Vasek Polak for a Porsche Speedster – but in 1980 it was found in a California junkyard and rescued by Corvette historian Mike Pillsbury, who restored it to race spec. In the late 1990s it went to well known collector Bruce Meyer, who still owns it.

And the class-winning Corvette no. 3? With the VIN number now known, Kevin Mackay tracked it down on behalf of enthusiast Chip Miller, to owner James Walsh in St Louis. James had guessed his Corvette had a racing history, 73

LE MANS CORVETTES

but had no idea it was the Le Mans class winner. It took seven years to persuade Walsh to sell it to Miller, who then embarked on restoring the car to Le Mans specifications.

Sadly Chip passed away, but his family was determined to see the project through. Thanks to the efforts of son Lance, in 2010 Corvette no. 3 returned to Le Mans with original driver John Fitch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Corvettes to race at Le Mans.

Now this most important of all racing Corvettes is owned by Irwin Kroiz, renowned collector and owner of several historic Corvettes and prototypes.

BRIGGS CUNNINGHAM, DISAPPOINTED with eighth place at Le Mans, abandoned the Corvette project and later returned to La Sarthe during the 1960s with Jaguars again – but that wasn’t the end of Corvettes at Le Mans.

In 1962, the ’Vette you see here took on the 24-hour race, wearing white and blue livery that has caused confusion ever since, being

74

THIS SPREAD Back to 1962 Le Mans specification, the privateer entry did without a roll hoop and retained its passenger seat for the race.

‘Turner accidentally lifted the reverse lock-out handle while downshifting for the hard-right turn at the end of the Mulsanne Straight’

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so similar to the Cunningham style.

But this 1962 entry was nothing to do with Cunningham or General Motors. It was built in 1961 and sold by MK Smith Chevrolet in Chino, California to wealthy Californian businessman and racing enthusiast Hugh M Powell.

From new, the Corvette was white with a red interior and fitted with a hard-top, fuelinjected engine, Positraction rear axle and big brakes. Powell had the engine blueprinted in California using Carrillo conrods, before shipping the car to Modena, Italy, where it was fitted with a specially fabricated 37-gallon gas tank, body and chassis modifications, bug screen, mud flaps, electronic revcounter and Lucas foglamps. At the same time, the unusual blue racing strip was painted on.

Powell had competed in sports cars in 1961 with family friend Tony Settember, and the ambitious pair went on to attempt a stillborn joint project in Formula 1. Powell later raced in Can-Am in 1967 and 1969, but for the 1962 Le Mans he recruited Tony Settember again, alongside Jack Turner. The Corvette was entered at Le Mans under the name of Scuderia Scirocco USA/GB (of Modena). After a test run in a hillclimb event in Verona, Italy, which it won, the Chevrolet was shipped to France for the 24 Hours.

It was assigned pole position and the no. 1 racing number due simply to having the largest engine, at 327ci. Period images of the opening lap show it charging up the hill beyond the Dunlop Bridge just after the start, pursued by Ferrari 250 GTOs, Jaguar E-types and Maserati 151s (run by Briggs Cunningham, ironically).

Did it live up to its starting-grid position?

Well, almost. It was third in class after 13 and a half hours, when Jack Turner accidentally lifted the reverse lock-out handle while downshifting for the hard-right turn at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

Unsurprisingly, the transmission was badly damaged by this, but Turner limped the car back to the pits, where Tony Settember took over. He attempted to continue the race with just one gear (thought to have been third), but

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LE MANS CORVETTES

KLEMANTASKI COLLECTION

THIS SPREAD The 1967 Le Mans Corvette L88, in its original Sunray DX oil company sponsor livery – and, right, pit stop at Le Mans.

it wasn’t long before the engine expired due to a broken fuel-injection drive cable, which likely couldn’t cope with the extended high revs.

This privately entered Corvette had lasted 14 hours and 150 laps, to be classified 13th in position – so beating the Cunningham Maserati 151s, the factory-entered Aston Martin Project 212, both Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagatos and Ferrari’s 330 LMB. Following the race, the Corvette’s fuelinjection drive cable was repaired and the car driven to London. From there it returned to the US, where it was used as a street car for years. Its second owner was Edward Ropone, who had been a riding mechanic in the Indianapolis 500 from 1933 to 1937.

It was later bought by Roland Gorman from a used-car dealership near Travis Air Force Base in California. Gorman had realized the car was something special from the heavy duty brakes. Then, in 1987, it was purchased by acknowledged solid-axle Corvette authority Orin Dale Pearman, who set about researching its history and consequently restoring it to

‘To widespread acclaim, the L88 was driven from the airport near Paris to Le Mans, creating its own legend even before the race had begun’

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1962 Le Mans specification. Sadly, Pearman passed away in 2003, but by that point the work was 90 percent done, and it was completed six months later in Pearman’s honor by his nephew, Ken Hansen at Orindales Corvette Restorations. It’s now owned by enthusiast Steve Leitstein.

AND THAT WAS IT FOR CORVETTES AT Le Mans until 1967, when another privateer entry went for American glory at La Sarthe.

We can thank Zora Arkus-Duntov again for the L88 that spawned the 1967 Le Mans entry. This was GM’s high-performance, racebred 427 big-block for ’67, virtually forced into production by Arkus-Duntov, who spent the decade trying to push race-ready Corvettes into the model line-up.

The L88 boasted many competition parts such as the M22 transmission, large disc brakes and upgraded suspension, while the engine itself featured a new forged crank, 12.5:1 pistons, cold-air induction and alloy cylinder heads.

The L88 made its debut at Sebring in early 77

1967; shortly after, the L88 option was offered from the factory – the most powerful engine that would ever appear in a production model.

It’s said that race driver and car dealer Don Yenko helped convince Chevrolet to build the L88 package specifically so his Sunray DX oil company-sponsored team could go racing at Sebring. The expertise gained in Florida did much to help the team’s L88 – the car you see here – at Le Mans that same year.

Drivers Dick Guldstrand and Bob Bondurant were chosen for the job, with Don Yenko as back-up driver. With the GM factory still not officially supporting motor sport, the L88 was entered by Californian dealer Dana Chevrolet and sponsored by Sunray DX. The car was stock other than the extra safety equipment added to the standard production model, apparently at Chevrolet’s insistence. To widespread acclaim, it was driven on the road from the airport near Paris to Le Mans, creating its own legend even before the race had begun.

In the race, the L88 performed well initially, leading the GT class and breaking the record 78

for the fastest lap by a GT car – Dick Guldstrand hit 171.5mph on the Mulsanne Straight.

But in the 13th hour, after 167 laps, the engine failed, and once again the Corvette Le Mans dream was over. The L88 was returned to the US, to disappear into obscurity for a few years, just as all these ’Vettes seemed to have done.

It was discovered decades later in Vermont, still with its original interior and paint, by Corvette collector Ed Mueller. He had it restored, and it appeared at the 1987 Monterey Historics race meeting at Laguna Seca. In 1997 it was bought by renowned collector Harry Yeaggy, and it is now owned by another major American collector, Dana Mecum, the founder of Mecum Auctions.

Now, as with the other cars here, the L88 is a special part of the continuing history of Corvettes in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Special thanks to Corvette specialist and restorer Kevin Mackay (www.corvetterepair.com), who helped bring this collection together for American Speed Festival. Thanks also to Irwin Kroiz, Steve Leitstein and Mike Ardito for their assistance.

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THIS PAGE The Le Mans Corvettes line up ahead of their photography session during the American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse.

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AS ROAD-LEGAL TRACK CARS GO, WE all know a Porsche 911 GT3 is hard to beat.

But what if you wanted something a little different? Something that looks more sophisticated on the road, and yet still feels accomplished on the track?

You probably wouldn’t expect the answer to be an Aston Martin Vantage. After all, the outgoing model was great on the road, and good but not outstanding on the track. But then came the launch of the new Vantage earlier this year, and I found myself at Spain’s Circuito Monteblanco, which is as tight and twisty as the M1 Concourse circuit.

And my opinion changed.

Just before the launch, I borrowed a 2023 model of the ‘old’ Vantage to make sure I could remember how it felt. Ah yes… extremely quick, a little twitchy occasionally, and let down only by the dated interior styling and those odd glass gear-selector buttons that Aston clung onto for so long. Back in 2018, when that model was launched, the new E-diff had made a big difference to the traction and handling, but the amount of power and torque levels were never an issue. It was a rocketship.

Imagine my shock then, when it was revealed that the new, 2024 Vantage produces 655bhp and 590lb ft – a 30 percent power hike from the AMG 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 – to give a 202mph top speed and a 0-62mph time of 3.4 seconds. One of the engineers at the car’s launch joked that anyone asking for more muscle than this should be arrested (just remember that quote when the next specialedition Vantage or upgrade is announced).

Partly to cope with the big hike in power, but equally to further improve the precision of the

THIS SPREAD Aston proved itself on Circuito Monteblanco, which matches the M1 Concourse circuit for twists, turns and challenges.

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A S T O N M A R T I N VA N T A G E

‘One of the engineers at the car’s launch joked that anyone asking for more muscle than this should be arrested’

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A S T O N M A R T I N VA N T A G E

‘What you’ll see immediately is a more characterfullooking car. It’s tauter and more muscular’

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THIS SPREAD New Vantage’s AMG 4.0-liter V8 kicks out 655bhp and 590lb ft – a 30 percent power hike – to give a 202mph top speed and a 0-62mph time of 3.4 seconds.

handling, the aluminum structure is stiffer, especially at the back (by 29 percent) under cornering, thanks to much-increased bracing between the rear strut towers. The electric power-assisted steering has been tuned for greater feel, and the final-drive ratio has been lowered for punchier acceleration through the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, which itself is now faster shifting. The electronics controlling ride, handling and steering have been updated, taking advantage of new, faster processors.

Simon Newton, Aston Martin’s director of vehicle performance, said that quicker processors are making a huge difference to how the Aston engineers are able to control traction and suspension, having much more effect in those areas than on engine response.

More about that in a moment…

What you’ll see immediately, though, is a more characterful-looking car. It’s tauter and more muscular, with additional styling features such as side strakes on the front wings and the more sculptured rear bumper. The Vantage has also gained frameless door windows and mirrors; the latter give a much better rearwards view, and look slicker, too.

The biggest difference, however, is the front end, which features a 38 percent-larger grille and extra intakes under the new, more interesting-looking matrix LED headlights.

Turns out that the bigger grille was needed to cool the more powerful engine. To allow the increase in size while keeping the styling balance correct, the Vantage has been widened by 30mm. Understandable, but this is a sports car, and I’m not sure we needed it to grow.

Was it worth the increase?

On Circuito Monteblanco, the Vantage’s M1 MOMENTUM

power was almost a liability. Acceleration between corners was ballistic, especially down the 1km straight, at the end of which the speed could be brought back down just as rapidly by the huge carbon-ceramic discs. If I had been braver, there’s no doubt I would have been able to brake even later.

Usually, after a few laps in just about any road car, most drivers start to lust for just a bit more muscle and a lot more braking power.

Even after four full sessions on the track in the new Vantage, however, I never felt like that.

The Aston now has five drive modes, affecting engine and transmission response, along with firmness of suspension. There’s Rain, Sports, Sports+ and Track, plus an individual custom setting that owners can tailor to their own tastes.

Predictably, Sports didn’t feel aggressive enough on track. On the Sports+ setting, the Vantage coped well with Circuito Monteblanco’s bumps and ripples, while in Track mode it was sharper but more likely to be thrown off line.

The car has a new trick, though, and that’s a traction-control adjustment that can be dialed in between one and nine to alter intervention.

I got brave/stupid enough to try ‘8’, and was rewarded with a few heroic-looking slides followed by a near-spin. I quickly turned it back to ‘5’… Normal service – mostly understeer – was resumed. Less extreme adjustments to the setting followed, and proved just how good the feature can be.

Aston Martin’s Le Mans class-winning driver Darren Turner was on hand at the track, ostensibly to drive the new Formula 1 pace car Vantage and guide drivers around for their first few laps. Yet he was soon chatting about the road machine, too, and how perfectly the electronics hold the car just on line without feeling too cosseting or crude in its application.

There was one corner, a long, fast left-hander, through which Darren described how well the Aston would hold its line almost against the odds; trying it faster after talking with him, I could see what he meant. Five years ago, this level of subtlety in the stability control wouldn’t have been possible. None of us wants to feel that our cars are holding us back around the track, but when there’s this much power it’s reassuring to know we have some amount of electronic protection; on the appropriate settings, the Vantage feels exactly right on the circuit.

Both Darren and Simon Newton explained 85

THIS PAGE Honed exterior styling is complemented by a transformed interior, with excellent seats, high-quality switchgear and haptic buttons.

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that there’s been much more information flow – both ways – between the development of the road car and the now highly successful GT3 race machines. It really shows. That might not have bode well for the Vantage on the road, of course, but actually the car is an improvement again over the outgoing model.

There is never a problem with power delivery: the torque is seamlessly immense, and the lower overall gearing helps to improve the response still more, aided and abetted by a faster-changing transmission.

As ever with modern cars, it’s the ride that’s likely to be most on the edge. Increased power usually requires firmer suspension to keep things controllable, but the new Vantage just about gets away with it: once again, the response of the active suspension must have a lot to do with this.

On the road in Sport setting, the ride is firm; in Sport+, it’s very firm but never uncomfortable.

The biggest complaint is that there’s a lot of tire noise over particularly rough surfaces, but the grip from the custom-designed Michelins is outstanding. There was never a time in my road drive when grip through corners was a problem – and if there had been, I probably should have been arrested. But rain in Spain thankfully never came during my stint on the Vantage launch, so I can’t yet tell you how twitchy or not the new model will be on slippery surfaces.

I’d predict that the electronics will do much to keep it in shape, even with all that power.

During my test I had time to appreciate the transformation of the interior, which does bring M1 MOMENTUM

home just how unresolved the outgoing Vantage’s cabin looks. The seats are excellent, the highquality switchgear and haptic buttons in place of touchscreen controls (just like the DB12’s) come as a huge relief, and the center console is a pleasure to look at. When you stop, another look around the car will soon remind you of this model’s more characterful styling, from that new nose to the revised, more aggressive tail.

Last year, Aston Martin made much of its planned move both upmarket and along the performance scale, aiming for Bentley standards of luxury as a brand, while giving levels of performance only a little behind those of Ferrari.

It seemed an unrealistic aim initially, but on this trajectory, with the DB12 and the new Vantage, it’s looking more likely. The new Vanquish later this year will really show that intent.

Would the Vantage make a good trackonly car? Maybe. But as a more comfortable alternative to a supercar, which is also great fun and extremely competent on the circuit, it’s just about right.

‘Torque is seamlessly immense, and the lower overall gearing helps to improve the response still more’

GOING FOR A SPIN Nearly six decades ago Chrysler ended its brave new Turbine Car project, later scrapping all but nine of the 55 built. We look back on what might have been

WORDS RICHARD BREMNER PHOTOGRAPHY STUART COLLINS

CHRYSLER TURBINE

“I CRIED A BIT,” ADMITS CHRYSLER retiree Bill Carry as he describes the deliberate destruction of 46 hand-built, Ghia-bodied rarities – a hellish scrapyard scene he witnessed in the winter of 1967. “The forklift arms drove through the windows, whether they were open or not. Then a man took an axe to the fuel tank, drained the gas and poured it all over the interior to make sure all the organic materials would burn. Then they lifted the car into a furnace for 20 minutes, before taking it out and putting it in the crusher. It would come out of there as flat as a pancake.”

So ended one of the bravest new-car programs a manufacturer has ever pursued, and with it a genuine challenge to the piston engine’s domination of the auto industry.

Carry was one of five service engineers who were given the extraordinary task of looking after the 50 customer Chrysler Corporation Gas Turbine Cars – there was no snappier name – that the marque lent to selected motorists for research. His job took him the length and breadth of the US, sorting the surprisingly few problems the models suffered.

These days, Carry often helps tend to the three survivors – of nine in total – that still belong to 90

Chrysler. And he still looks a little upset years after the event, as he describes the wasteful annihilation of these wonderful cars.

You might think that looking after 50 jetengined prototypes would have been a frantic job, given how technologically ambitious they were. After all, the turbines idled at 22,000rpm, span up to more than double that and, when you stand by the car you see here, the volume of heat issuing from beneath its chrometrimmed rear valance is enough to dry your laundry in five minutes. Yet, after some early difficulties, the Turbine turned out to be a very reliable machine. And there’s further proof of that fact today, all these decades after the car’s birth, as Chrysler wheels out the copper-hued, vinyl-roofed ’63 Turbine to spend its day whooshing about a leafy campus near Detroit in 80ºF temperatures. It gives no trouble other than a mild electrical tremor, which isn’t serious enough to stop it doing glorious duty.

The Chrysler gas-turbine program was born at a time of brave engineering optimism, at the start of the space age and well before legislation – and the unfortunate realities of the automobile’s mass popularity – began to bite. The thinking behind it was a product M1 MOMENTUM

‘Brave engineering optimism, at the start of the space age and well before legislation began to bite’ of the jet age and all the fondly held fantasies that the era inspired, but it was also a serious project, just as it had been for Rover, which almost launched its P6 with a gas-turbine engine in 1961. The 50 Ghia-bodied Chrysler coupes were the culmination of more than 15 years of development work – some of which was publicly demonstrated with modified production cars, some of it secret.

“Chrysler got involved because it liked engineering things,” explains Carry. The company had already worked on aircraft engines, its gas-turbine program beginning during World War Two amid much industry skepticism. And for good reason. The various

CHRYSLER TURBINE

components had to survive temperatures of 1700ºF, plus deliver performance and fuel consumption comparable to a conventional powerplant’s, and all without generating unacceptable noise. Further hurdles included a lack of engine braking, major throttle lag and high exhaust-gas temperatures, along with the need to develop affordable metals that could withstand the heat. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the gas turbine had to be light, compact, easy to maintain and costcompetitive with piston engines. All of which underlines the scale of Chrysler’s achievement.

Although the speeds at which a gas turbine runs – the rev limit for this car peaks at 44,617rpm – seem fearsome, and the heat gusting from its rear end conjures thoughts of near-instant immolation, the turbine is a relatively simple thing and safer than it sounds.

It works like this: air is drawn into a compressor, which quadruples its pressure.

The compressed air is heated as it passes through the front halves of two regenerators, and it then enters the burner, where fuel is sprayed and combusted at 1700ºF. The hot gases rush through the compressor-drive turbine and then through the power-drive turbine, causing it to rotate and drive the rear wheels of the car. In a sense, it’s like propelling a car by a giant turbocharger. The gases then pass through the rear halves of the regenerators, where they lose much of their remaining heat.

Chrysler’s first gas-turbine engines did not feature regenerators, which were a breakthrough piece of technology that not only reduced exhaust-gas temperatures to acceptable levels (below those of a piston engine), but also massively improved fuel consumption. The manufacturer’s generator development came in the early 1950s, and by 1959 the company had built a secondgeneration engine that featured a more costeffective blend of heat-resistant metals.

That, as with the third-generation engine, was trialled in cross-country tests in a variety of models including a Dodge Dart that featured a variable-nozzle inlet, improving economy, response and engine braking. Two turbineengined Darts visited more than 90 US cities to test consumer reaction, before Chrysler embarked on its ambitious – and hugely expensive – scheme to trial a number of specially built gas-turbine cars with more than 200 customers throughout the US. It’s hard to imagine something so adventurous

THIS SPREAD Not nearly as crazy as the initial idea sounded, the sleek, jukeboxstyled Chrysler Turbine was the height of 1960s engineering and creativity.

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occurring in these litigious times, but in early 1962 Chrysler announced that it would build 50-75 examples, which would be loaned to 203 ‘typical motorists’ – 20 of them women – who would drive the cars for three months in return for keeping detailed records.

These weren’t merely re-engined versions of one of the company’s contemporary models, either. Instead, the bodies were unique, created for Chrysler by Italian coachbuilder Ghia.

Carry reckons those shells cost $300,000 each: “They were beautifully made – Ghia did quality work.” The Turbine was styled by Elwood Engel, who had recently decamped to Chrysler from Ford, where he had designed the Thunderbird – and you can see something of that car in the Chrysler. The Turbine was announced at the New York Auto Show on May 14, 1963 as the Chrysler Corporation Gas Turbine Car. All 50 of the customer models were painted the same Turbine Bronze, with a black vinyl roof, although one of the additional five development prototypes was finished entirely in white and would become the star of dire 1964 Hollywood film The Lively Set. The bodies were monocoque, but there was a subframe at the front that could be dropped 92

with the suspension to access the gas turbine.

“We could change an engine in three hours,” says Carry. Amazingly, the transmission – a conventional three-speed automatic, less torque converter – the engine and the powersteering pump shared the same automatic transmission fluid, which never needed changing because no burnt contaminants ever polluted it. This, and the engine’s simplicity, would have allowed these Chryslers the potential to rack up massive mileages, had their lives not ended prematurely.

The anticipation of a drive in one of the survivors is heightened by the fabulous interior design, which is rompingly indulgent. Utterly unmissable are the metallic orange leather seats, the orange carpets and, spearing the entire length of the cabin, a transmission tunnel whose ends resemble turbine impellers.

The tunnel also carries the modest little transmission shifter, chrome rotary knobs bearing rocket-like fins for the wipers and lights, plus the heating and ventilation controls.

There’s no air-conditioning, though. “That would have made it more complicated,” says Carry, without a hint of irony.

Ahead there’s an orange and silver steering M1 MOMENTUM

THIS SPREAD Virtues of Chrysler’s Turbine technology included a lack of complication, low maintenance and an ability to run on many different fuels. Still, it wasn’t enough...

CHRYSLER TURBINE

wheel that fronts an impressive, triple-dial instrument binnacle. It features a rev counter that runs to 60,000rpm, turbine and inlet-tract temperature gauges, a speedometer reading up to 120mph and, more prosaically, a clock, an ammeter and a fuel gauge.

But the real drama starts when Carry indicates that it’s time to fire the car up, a phrase that takes on new meaning here. Grasp the shift lever, push it into the Park/Start position, turn and release the key, and watch the inlet temperature rise to 1700ºF and the revs climb to 18,000rpm. It sounds like a giant vacuum cleaner – or, if you were hearing it on a dark and lonely night, an alien spacecraft.

With the turbine idling at 22,000rpm, gingerly pull up the joystick on the tunnel, engage ‘D’ for drive, squeeze lightly on the accelerator, and you’re whirring into the past. Although it feels as if it should be the future. In fact, you feel both at once: the Turbine’s spindle-thin wheel, slender pillars, brittle plastics and gently loping suspension zing you back to 1963, while the futureworld hum of its engine propels you toward

some point that has yet to arrive.

“It drives like a regular car, which was the point,” says Carry. And it does. Given its age – and the uneasy feeling that it might double as a vinyl-roofed incendiary device – the Chrysler takes a while to push, but you eventually discover that it’s perfectly happy at the 50mph-plus that’s possible on these leafy lanes, that its steering is more precise than you’d expect, that its stoppers aren’t too infirm, and that it feels pretty solid and together. Emboldened, you tread the accelerator harder and the car gathers pace, but with a kind of whooshing flabbiness that must be the lag in the system. The throttle response is about as sharp as a marshmallow but, in the Chrysler’s defense, its age and rarity mean we’re not extracting all that the engine can give.

There’s something bizarrely restful about loafing along in this orange bundle of drama, and it’s impossible not to marvel at the noises the car makes, the way it goes and, indeed, the fact that it goes at all. But from late 1964, when the 55th Turbine was completed, to January 18, 1966, when the consumer test program ended, there would have been 50 of these cars plying every

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Why gas turbine?

Mad though the idea of installing a jet engine into a car sounds, Chrysler’s engineers cited plenty of compelling virtues for gas turbines, ranging from the powerplants’ lack of complication and low maintenance, to their ability to run on anything from peanut oil to Chanel No. 5 – as well as more conventional petrol and kerosene.

The president of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars – successfully – on tequila.

The engine had a fifth as many moving parts as a piston unit – 60 rather than 300 – with the turbine spinning on elementary sleeve bearings for vibration-free running. Its simplicity offered the potential for long life, and because no combustion contaminants enter the engine lubricant, no oil changes were considered necessary.

“It’s basically simple,” says Bill Carry.

“It’s smooth and, as long as the bearings get oil, it’s fine. But if it overheats, the engine is damaged very fast.”

The ’63 Turbine’s engine generated 130bhp and an instant 425lb ft of torque at stall speed, making it good for 0-60mph in 12 seconds at an ambient temperature of 85ºF – it would sprint quicker if the air was cooler and more dense. The absence of a distributor and points, the solitary start-up spark plug and the lack of coolant eased maintenance, while the exhaust produced no carbon monoxide, no unburnt carbon and no raw hydrocarbons. But it did generate nitrogen oxides, and the challenge of limiting them helped kill the program.

Gas-turbine engines weren’t too economical, either, turning in just 17mpg in the Chrysler’s case, and a lot less in town because of the high idle speed.

CHRYSLER TURBINE

corner of the US, gathering vital data. High altitude troubled the combined starter-generator, for instance, while failing to follow the correct start-up procedure could wreck an engine in seconds. But troubles were remarkably few for such a bold experiment. More than 1.1 million test miles were accumulated by the 50 cars, and the operational down-time stood at only four percent – plus some of that was down to waiting for engineers, and occasionally parts, to arrive.

By then Chrysler was planning to sell a car to hand-picked customers, and had a fifth-gen engine to go into it. A dramatic new coupe body was designed for it by Engel, but the project was suddenly aborted, killing Chrysler’s ambitions to commercialize gas-turbine cars in the process. Why? New government emissions regulations were coming into force in the mid’60s with the Clean Air Act, and Chrysler was not confident that it could engineer the turbine to meet the nitrogen oxide limits. More than that, its best engineers were needed to get the company’s piston engines to comply.

But the program didn’t die completely. The new coupe body would appear, re-engined and rebadged, as the 1966 Dodge Charger. Chrysler went on to develop a sixth-generation gas turbine, which did meet NOx regulations, and installed it in a ’66 Coronet, although it was never shown. A smaller, lighter seventh-gen unit was produced in the early ’70s, when the firm received an Environmental Protection Agency grant for further development, and a specialbodied turbine LeBaron was built in 1977 as a prelude to a production run. But by then Chrysler was in dire financial straits and about to be bailed out by the government. A condition of that deal was that gas-turbine mass production be abandoned because it was too risky.

So this once-promising engine, with its high thermal efficiency, low friction, low maintenance, long life and flexible fuel benefits, was parked up, sunk by its high consumption, the cost of its precision parts and the rise of fuel-cell cars such as Honda’s experimental FCX, which in an echo of the Chrysler program was leased to selected consumers. All now appear to have been superseded by EVs, which have been around since the dawn of the automobile age.

What goes around, comes around; maybe we haven’t seen the last of the gas-turbine car...

Thanks to Mark E Olson at www.turbinecar.com.

You can see a Chrysler Turbine at the local Stahls Automotive Foundation – see elsewhere in this issue for a focus on this fabulous car museum.

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‘Once-promising engine was parked up, sunk by its high consumption and the cost of its precision parts’

THIS PAGE Rompingly indulgent interior design incorporates metallic orange leather trim, orange carpets and a full-length transmission tunnel with impeller styling.

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A WHOLE SLOT OF LOVE 96

Passion drove David Beattie to create Slot Mods. Nearly two decades on he’s built tracks for motor-racing glitterati and corporations alike – and now he’s bringing his skills to M1 Concourse with two tracks for the X Center

WORDS N AT H A N C H A D W I C K

M1 MOMENTUM

SLOT CARS

THIS SPREAD The attention to detail on Slot Mods’ bespoke creations is superb, whether they’re more modest-sized tracks or so-called ‘mega builds’.

IT’S OFTEN SAID THAT INSPIRATION comes at the darkest moments, and for David Beattie, the man behind Slot Mods, that was certainly the case: “I was going out on a limb in the worst economy since the Great Depression.”

It takes guts to set up any company, but starting a slot-car firm during the 2008onwards economic slump takes gumption.

However, David was no stranger to the hobby, having raced slot cars with his seven brothers in his youth. The spark, however, came from rediscovering the hobby in his 30s in around 2007. This led to a Christmas gift from his wife, found in an Hammacher Schlemmer catalog.

“I got really into it, and then I went to a slotcar store and met [slot-car aficionado]Jimmy Attard,” he explains. “He was really my mentor, because not only is he a real slot-car enthusiast, but he’s a talented artist. I don’t believe I’d be

‘I surrounded myself with good people in the slot-car club culture who helped bring my track to fruition’ M1 MOMENTUM

here today at this level, with the attention to detail, if I hadn’t had the experience of working side by side with him.”

David’s own track took around two years to build. “I surrounded myself with good people in the slot-car club culture who helped bring my track to fruition, and eventually I began hosting races at night,” he says.

At the time he was working for a company that made large exhibits for auto shows, but as the recession bit the work started to dry up, and he was forced to lay off staff.

“I knew once those people were gone, [the bosses] would come for me,” he says. “So I started thinking, I really enjoy slot-car racing, other people enjoy slot-car racing – so I founded the Slot Mods company in the last six months of my employment.”

After placing advertisements in the local 97

SLOT CARS

THIS PAGE Slot Mods is building two bespoke tracks for M1 Concourse’s forthcoming X Center.

Michigan press, he came to the attention of Jim Farley, who at the time was the president of Ford’s global marketing. “I had no idea who he was, so I quickly had to Google him,” David laughs. “He wanted a Laguna Seca circuit for his basement – he had met his wife out in Monterey, and they used to sit on the hillside and watch races out there.”

News that David was building a track for Farley spread, garnering him media attention.

In 2011, such was the buzz that he was invited out to Pebble Beach. David produced a stunning track for the organizers’ VIP tent that became a must-see for celebrities and motor-racing heroes alike – even the late Sir Stirling Moss expressed his love for David’s recreation of the Pebble track.

“Stirling was a big slot-car enthusiast – there’s a great video of him and his father on the floor racing,” David says. “I hand him the controller and he says ‘great job’. Stirling Moss racing on a slot-car track I made: that’s kinda huge.”

It also grabbed the attention of Jay Leno, and by the end of the event interest was at fever pitch when the track was auctioned by Gooding & Co. “I was outside, racing cars with celebrities such as Rob Lowe, Heidi Klum, Derek Bell, Geoffrey Rush and Jeremy Piven,” he chuckles. “I had to call my wife: ‘You won’t believe what’s going on here.’”

At the auction, the track more than doubled its estimate – and this soon caught the attention of Zak Brown, now of McLaren, but back then running a motor sport ad agency. This was the critical point, because via Zak’s connections 98

‘I was outside, racing cars with celebrities such as Rob Lowe, Heidi Klum, Derek Bell, Geoffrey Rush and Jeremy Piven’ more people got to know of David’s creations.

Since then Slot Mods has become an internet sensation, with tracks built into glassfiber Porsche 917s and Chevrolet Camaros, a working representation of Fiat’s Lingotto factory and many more besides. Bobby Rahal is a customer, along with many private collectors, and the likes of Audi, Samsung and Mattel have also commissioned David. He’s built a track for Formula 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix as well – and now he’s building two for M1 Concourse’s forthcoming X Center.

“One track will tell the story of the Pontiac Triangle: back in the days before Motor City got its name, there were over 23 car manufacturers,” David says. “You’ll see the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, at one time the largest truck maker; next to that we have a toll gate that used to be on Woodward. Then the Detroit Weatherproof Body Company, the Cooley General Store, the Strassburg Farm, the Cartercar Water Tower M1 MOMENTUM

and the Rapid Powerhouse Building.”

David’s also keen to point out the Indian Trail Road. “The Indians would plant trees and make them bend and go up, so they knew where to go – the Americans didn’t know that,” he chuckles. “There’s just a few of these trees left on Woodward, so it’s cool to see them there.”

The track will also feature integrated cameras so people can see these buildings on a large screen. “It’ll help tell the true history of Pontiac before General Motors bought up all the little car firms,” David explains. The project is allowing him to flex his full creative muscles – including building GMC Motorhomes from scratch.

The other track pays tribute to iconic elements from racetracks around the globe, from Monza’s banking to the Laguna Seca marshal tower, and the Le Mans pits to Road America’s Carousel and Corvette Bridge. “We’re making great progress – and there are other people at M1 who have contacted me to do track builds at their condos and garages,” he says.

Although David is adept at tackling what he calls huge ‘mega builds’, he still enjoys building smaller tracks with a budget of around $50,000. “There are opportunities to do 6ft by 12ft tracks that fit perfectly into these units.”

At the end of the day, he still relishes slot-car racing, despite getting to a major race meet only twice a year. However, every track is play-tested before it leaves the workshops. “We’ll be in the middle of the work day and I’ll just say ‘keep racing, I want the track to be broken in!’”

You can find out more at www.slotmods.com.

SLOT CARS

THIS PAGE Slot Mods tracks sometimes replicate historic venues – see Monza, right, and Nürburgring, bottom – or use elements of the greatest circuits.

FERRARI CHALLENGE AT 30 American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse marks three decades of the Ferrari Challenge North America – the world’s most successful spec GT series

WORDS N AT H A N C H A D W I C K

PHOTOGRAPHY FERRARI

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FOR 30 EXCITING YEARS, THE FERRARI Challenge North America has brought a dream opportunity to racetracks across the US and beyond – the chance to drive one of Maranello’s finest cars on the limit on some of the world’s best circuits.

It’s a series that has gone from strength to strength, with demand for the Challenge being so high that Ferrari can only just keep up with the amount of cars required. For Ronnie Vogel, Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale’s motor sports vicepresident, it’s been a long-term passion, having been around sports car racing since his youth.

Ronnie’s close associates the Hayim family acquired Ferrari of Long Island in 2004, and then set up Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale in 2007. Ronnie and the Hayims saw a great opportunity to get involved via their Ferrari dealerships. “The Ferrari Challenge was a nice series, but it was very small,” he remembers.

“It was a relatively compact grid – always south of 20 cars, sometimes closer to ten. Now M1 MOMENTUM

there are 100 cars each weekend.”

In that time, the Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale team has run championship-winning drivers in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016, and won the Team Championship year after year between 2008 and 2016; the finest hour was scooping the World Championship title in 2016.

In 2016, Joe Cauley and his father Jeff, the team behind Cauley Ferrari of Detroit, joined the grid. “We ordered a new 488 Challenge from Ferrari North America for inventory, and upon its arrival we hosted a motor sports night,” Joe explains. “We linked up with a race team out of Florida, which was already established in the Ferrari Challenge series, to help run our program as an ‘Arrive and Drive’ for the clients, making it very easy for them to have fun. We quickly got someone to buy that first car, and it snowballed from there.”

The orders kept coming, without impacting the ‘day job’. “488 Challenge race cars would sell upon arrival, and some even in transit,”

THIS SPREAD The Ferrari Challenge North America is a dream opportunity to drive a Maranello car on the limit on some of the best circuits in the world.

‘Demand for the Challenge is so high, Ferrari can only just keep up with the amount of cars required’

30 YEARS OF FERRARI CHALLENGE

Joe says. “Our partnership with HP-Tech Motorsports has allowed us to present a full racing program without impacting our workshop by robbing critical resources.”

Over the years the machinery has developed immensely. “Going to the 458 was the biggest transition, due to the dual-clutch ’box,” Ronnie Vogel says. “It was a steep learning curve.”

At the time, Ferrari was keen to keep the Challenge cars looking like road machinery, he explains – but that’s all changed now. “When we were running the 458 we had no aero package, and so it was less like a racing car and thus less intimidating for gentleman drivers,” he says. “Now the 296 Challenge is basically a full-blown GT3 race car – they are incredibly technologically advanced.”

Joe agrees: “In some cases the Challenge cars can exceed the performance of the GT3 professional models due to the pro series’ BOP (Balance of Power) restrictions. The brand-new 296 Challenge is an incredible machine, and the drivers have all been extremely impressed with the car’s braking capabilities. You can drive much deeper into the corners than in the 488 Challenge EVO.” The series has developed into the most successful spec GT racing series in the world.

“The paddock looks like an IMSA weekend,” Ronnie smiles. “There is great camaraderie and a family feeling – it’s a fun experience.

You are competing, but you’re also with friends, who will be anyone in the paddock: drivers,

102

‘There’s great camaraderie and a family feeling – it’s a fun experience. You’re competing, but you’re also with friends’

THIS PAGE Ferrari Challenge North America isn’t only about cars, it’s about personalities, too. Drivers, team managers, coaches and engineers... and, of course, you get to drive a Ferrari at Daytona, as below.

M1 MOMENTUM

coaches, team managers and engineers.”

Joe concurs: “Ferrari North America’s really been raising the bar on the client experience and hospitality, as well as the quality of racing.”

Both Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale and Cauley Ferrari of Detroit have helped drivers go on to develop extensive motor-racing careers beyond the Challenge series. Says Ronnie: “Henrik Hedman started with us in a 458, then went to LMP2 and LMP1; he won at Le Mans and the Daytona 24 Hours. He has just taken delivery of a 296 GT3, which we’re running.”

For Joe, his success story is M1 garage owner Jay Schreibman. “Jay started with the Ferrari Corso Pilota driving programs, and graduated up to the Ferrari Challenge in a 488 Challenge, which later became the 488 Challenge EVO; he then began to do 488 GT3 races in Europe,” Joe says. “The next step was the Corse Clienti program with his 599 XX EVO and the Club Competizioni GT program with his 488 GT Modificata. He’s now running a new 296 GT3 in the SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America series.”

After nearly two decades in the sport, Ronnie is still deeply enthused by Challenge racing. “The 2025 schedule is the best it’s ever had with the tracks it has selected – it really has a nice spread across the country, with some of the most iconic race tracks,” he says.

“Each event is something to look forward to.”

We’re celebrating three decades of Ferrari Challenge North America at the American Speed Festival.

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PENSKE KID

Racing go-to guy Jay Signore has had a front-row seat to Penske Racing’s ventures and adventures since the early 1970s, including USAC, CART, IndyCar, Trans-Am, Sports Cars, NASCAR, Formula 1 and the singlemarque IROC series. Here he recalls the highlights

WORDS M AT T S T O N E PHOTOGRAPHY M AT T H O W E L L / A L A M Y / R E V S I N S T I T U T E

J AY S I G N O R E I N T E R V I E W

JAY SIGNORE (SAY SIG-NOREE) WAS born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1937. He was originally on an engineering and/or educationdriven career path, yet he says racing “got in the way”. In the immediate post-World War Two era, he initially felt interest for the relatively new phenom of organized stock car racing (NASCAR, which was founded in 1948) – but that quickly evolved when he met then wife Betty. He recalls: “I was driving a beat-up old pick-up at the time, and she showed up in an Alfa Romeo.” Consequently, stock car racing took a back seat in terms of Jay’s enthusiast interests, and sports car racing it would be.

It was in the Northeastern US Sports Car Club of America racing circles that he competed with a young Elva Courier driver named Mark Donohue, beginning in around 1960-61. Having so much in common, the two became close friends. It was through Donohue that Signore met and got to know Roger Penske, who at the time was also a competent racing car driver.

“I first met Roger when Mark and I were

106

THIS SPREAD Working buddies: Penske (center, in blue jacket) and Signore (far right) at the 1977 IROC round at Daytona International Speedway.

‘It was through Donohue that Signore met and got to know Penske, who at the time was also a competent racing car driver’

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doing SCCA club racing with Elvas,” Jay says.

His father was a mechanic, so he grew up around cars, and also did some short-track stock car racing as a young enthusiast.

Veteran motor sport journalist Gordon Kirby later quoted Signore: “Roger was racing his Porsche RSK and other cars at the time.

Maybe ten years later, Mark had won the Can-Am championship and Roger was getting involved in power-boat racing. He asked me to look at his boat in Kissimmee, Florida.

Roger came to New Jersey for a race, and we helped him with the boat. After the race, he asked me to take the boat to Fond du Lac in Wisconsin for the next race, so I worked with him that summer on his boat.”

Penske was setting up his own racing concern based in Reading, Pennsylvania, near his burgeoning Chevrolet dealership. Roger offered Jay a job in 1972. This meant a move from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, something Mrs Signore ultimately wasn’t enamored with.

By this time, Penske had his considerably skilled hand in a lot of race-car building, and

RIGHT Jay shares with writer Matt Stone his fond memories of a long and fulfilling life at the sharp end of motor sport.

‘Signore “productionized” the IROC race shops with technicians, fabricators, mechanics and other experts’ entrants into a variety of racing series such as USAC Championship (Indy) Cars as well as the SCCA Trans-Am and Can-Am series, earning multiple championships in both, not to mention NASCAR, and other pro-level sports car series.

In 1973, Roger joined forces with advertising/ marketing/television/promotion/sponsorship wizard Mike Phelps, along with Riverside International Raceway president (and retired NFL Linebacker) Les Richter, to found the International Race of Champions (IROC) series. Each season, this would pit a dozen of the world’s top racing drivers against each other on road-course tracks in identically specced cars, all built and maintained by the series, to theoretically divine the best of the best regardless of car type.

The first season, 1973-74, was contested in Porsche factory-developed and -constructed 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 machines, then later on two generations of Chevrolet Camaro, a couple of different Dodge models, and finally Pontiac Firebirds. Signore was knee-deep in all of it, being the fleet of racers’ primary ‘shepherd’. In the beginning, Jay wasn’t a principal of the series, but as times and lives evolved, Richter retired and Phelps moved along to pursue other interests, and Signore 108

Inimitable IROC

The IROC series, which marked its 50th anniversary in Fall 2023, was contested for 26 seasons over a 30-year period.

It helped spawn other spec series such as Porsche’s various Supercup trials, and perhaps even the notion of Spec Miata. During the IROC era, there were plenty of on-track incursions (some quite spectacular), yet relatively few injuries – and, commendably, no driver (or other) fatalities.

Signore retired in 2007 to his original home state of New Jersey; although no longer taking an active role in the administration of Penske Racing, he often travels and makes speakingengagement appearances with the team.

A foundational premise of the IROC series, indeed one of the most important among all these tenets, was to ensure that the cars were as equal as could be humanly made possible. This meant immaculate preparation during the cars’ building stage, as well as all of the testing, development, practice and behind-the-wheel time being administered in such a way as to prevent cheating or any other unfair advantage. That is why cars were rotated among drivers between races, and access to them was strictly limited and controlled. As the incomparable Dan Gurney once said: “There are two kinds of racers: cheaters and losers.”

We asked Jay Signore whether the series’ management ever knew of any particular instance(s) or time(s) in which a driver somehow cheated in order to ‘maximize their odds’. He said he could recall only one occasion, with one driver, who they were convinced was cheating

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– and how they approached him about it.

The drama unfolded during the first IROC season at the Riverside International Raceway, which ran the Porsche Carrera RSR 3.0 IROC spec machines.

Jay recalls: “There was one driver [whose name we won’t mention in order to protect the alleged guilty] who we were sure had found a way to jumpwire the rev-limiter in the name of higher rpm on the long straights.

You could just see it and hear it – he was faster than everyone else at certain places on the track, and you could hear the higher scream of the motor every time he went by us.

“So IROC principal Les Richter and I approached him, with me at one door and Les at the other, when he’d just come off the track and was still strapped into his seat. We asked him how he’d done it, to which he replied: ‘Done what?’ We explained what we felt was happening, since the rev-limiter box could be accessed from inside the car and rendered temporarily inoperative by jumping a couple of electric circuits together with a length of wire and a few electrical connectors or clamps. He vehemently denied the accusation, and afterwards we searched the car and checked for any physical signs of wire tampering.”

Perhaps they should have also searched the pockets in his driving suit?

Prior to this popular driver’s passing, Signore approached him on the casual and said: “C’mon, man, how’d you do it?” To which the driver again staunchly denied the accusation – noting that: “Well, you didn’t catch me, so I didn’t do it…”

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LEFT Signore at the 2023 American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse with the Penske Collection’s famous Donohue IROC Porsche.

Who said what?

Some of the biggest names in American motor sport left fingerprints on the IROC series. Here are just some of the comments they made along the way: Les Richter, founding IROC principal “Signore knew and understood what a surface plate was, and what a gearshift was, and how to use them. He’s done a great job with the series, and just made it all happen.”

‘You understood with clarity the job, the goals and the expectations, with no ambiguity or games’ became the series’ president and general manager in 1984. He was now responsible for the evolution into the different brands of cars, additional track locations (now to include some oval racing), and ever-more complex arrangements for sponsorship, advertising and television contracts.

In order to ensure that the cars were identical and consistent from a speed and performance standpoint, Signore ‘productionized’ the IROC race shops with approximately 25 technicians, fabricators, mechanics and other experts working virtually full time fettling the fleet: “We tried to ensure that the same techs were doing the same functions on each car all the time, in order to eliminate variables.” In other

110

words, if one tech or team was responsible for welding, that was virtually all they did. If another group was made up of engine builders, they stuck to that – and it was the same for chassis and suspension calibration.

Roger Penske is very well known for his extremely strong work ethic, and for being highly detail oriented, expecting the same of all of his people – or “human capital”, as he calls his employees. Whenever someone comments about how lucky he is to have won so many races and championships, he purportedly has replied something along the lines of “the harder we work, the luckier we get”. He doesn’t demand excellence; he motivates, inspires and expects it.

So did this level of drive and expectation, and Penske’s involvement in so many business and racing series, make it more difficult, or easier, to work for him than for the average boss or team owner. Signore recalls: “Actually, it made things easier, because you understood with clarity the job, the goals and the expectations, with no ambiguity or games. It wasn’t always easy – a lot of long days, long nights and long miles on the road – but everyone was united in our goals, and we worked toward those ends.”

M1 MOMENTUM

Rick Mears, four-time Indy 500 winner “They did a tremendous job with IROC; when Jay took management control of it, the cars became mechanically a lot closer and much more competitive with each other.”

Dale Jarrett, three-time Daytona 500 winner, and 1999 NASCAR champion “The Signores weren’t just people you worked for, or with, just as managers of the series; they were your friends.”

Ray Evernham, multiple NASCAR championship-winning crew chief (below) “It’s a tremendous job to get these cars as technically close as they were. I was involved with the building and prepping of them several times, and we often had them within 5/100th of a second of each other in lap times.”

WHAT HAS M1 CONCOURSE DONE FOR THE LOCAL AREA?

YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED…

A DECADE AGO, WHEN M1 CONCOURSE’S development started on an 87-acre brownfield site, questions circulated as to how an ‘experiential automotive destination’ would fit into an otherwise blighted setting. Would the City of Pontiac see benefits beyond property and payroll tax revenues? More than a playground for well tuned cars, how attuned to townies would M1 be?

In the national setting, M1 Concourse has become one of the preeminent garage-andperformance-track communities, and its influence extends to newer ‘country club’ tracks from the APEX Motor Club outside Phoenix, AZ to the new Flatrock Motorsports Park in TN. A happy circumstance for the locals in Pontiac is how M1 Concourse has proven to be so much more than lap times and 112

The integration of M1 Concourse into the Pontiac community is a seamless fit and leads to reciprocating benefits for all involved WORDS RONALD AHRENS PHOTOGRAPHY M1 CONCOURSE

M1 MOMENTUM

M1 CONCOURSE IN THE COMMUNITY

cacklefests. It has exceeded hopes and – for those who dared – expectations. In addition to M1 being integral to driving the turnaround of the highly visible but blighted southern gateway to the City of Pontiac, partnerships have developed with local nonprofits, while M1 has also served as a catalyst for new ventures. The net effect is that M1 sets the tone in social and cultural integration for those other tracks.

One who took early note of the venture was Robbie Buhl, a scion of the distinguished Detroit family who competed eight times in the Indianapolis 500. In 2015, Robbie and his brother Tom formed Buhl Sport Detroit, a three-pronged motor sports and drivingexperience effort. Buhl says that as a car guy, he was immediately intrigued with M1.

“Originally, it was a GM plant,” Buhl says in a phone conversation. “You’re like: ‘Wow, they’re going to build garages and a track?’” He felt his enthusiasm swell, and was impatient for track time without necessarily foreseeing linkups with nearby organizations. But since then, he’s observed M1 become a multi-dimensional success. “If you talk about what it’s done for the area and the community, it’s really amazing.”

Indeed, M1 Concourse presents a panoply of community-engagement opportunities, one being the M1 Cycling Classic held each July.

Additionally, from April through October, M1 hosts a monthly Cars & Coffee event on the first Saturday, and extends the opportunity for local civic organizations and nonprofits to display at the event to promote Pontiac. And there’s more. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has awarded M1 a Citizen Citation for welcoming OSCO’s motor unit to the track for ongoing opportunities to develop advanced rider skills.

And the Sheriff PAL (Police Activities League) has received support from M1 ever since 2015.

The M1 outreach effort also has members doing an annual community clean-up of Art Dunlap Park, just to the west of the facility; M1 funded the resurfacing of the basketball courts, and provides ongoing replacement of the basketball nets, with one M1 garage community member donating $25,000 in seed money for park redevelopment. It’s not a bad result considering the doomy outlook in 2009, when manufacturing ended at Pontiac West Assembly after a full century of activity. Then came the hopeless situation that existed after General Motors’ bankruptcy of 2009.

Bruce Rasher saw possibilities, though. The United States Bankruptcy Court created

‘Partnerships have developed with local nonprofits, while M1 has also served as a catalyst for new ventures’ RACER Trust (Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response), and as RACER’s redevelopment manager, Rasher accepted the challenge of finding a buyer for Pontiac West and other properties abandoned after GM’s collapse.

Rasher notes that Pontiac was the town with the largest number of properties assumed by RACER – roughly 750 acres of land and 8.1 million square feet of buildings. Now, only some small parcels “here and there” remain available around town, he says, and M1 Concourse is the flagship for successful redevelopment. “We are so pleased at how well M1 has taken off, and how well it fits into the automotive fabric of the culture of Michigan.”

The 2023 Oakland County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority project portfolio update listed the award-winning M1 Concourse project, creating a new tax base of nearly $12.5 million compared to the tax base of only $412,710 before the development of M1.

One of Robbie Buhl’s initiatives is Teen Street Skills, an advanced driver-training course for young drivers. The program came to M1 for two days in June, welcoming 32 kids for half-day sessions on the large arena.

“Even though our program has nothing to do with racing, it’s still a very cool place to come to, with the garages and the track right there,” Buhl says. Reserving several enrollment slots for students from the Pontiac School District is “our give-back” after being accommodated by M1. “We’ve done that the past couple years, where we have select spots held back for them. It truly is the best thing we can do to help young drivers be aware behind the wheel and get them more confidence. I truly believe that, and it should be for everybody.”

If it’s starting to look like all smoky burnouts and fortunate synergies, Terry Connolly counters with the word “symbiosis”. Connolly serves as chairman of the Pontiac Transportation

Museum at 250 W Pike St, a mile and a half from M1. Under development since 2017 in the former Crofoot Elementary School building, the museum opened discreetly on May 16, 2024, and celebrated its grand opening on July 27.

“I do everything from clean bathrooms to fix roof leaks – it’s kind of a labor of love for me,” says Connolly, a retired GM engineer. “I think doing it [museum development], and getting the patronage for it, becomes a lot more straightforward with M1’s role.”

Connolly began to notice a greater outreach

by M1 to the Pontiac community around three years ago. He was accustomed to exhibiting museum properties at M1 events, but around this time, something changed at the big shows.

M1 chief executive Tim McGrane started to evince preferment by bringing important visitors to see the museum’s exhibit first.

“I think he was profoundly influenced when I took a 1908 Rapid truck down there to show,” Connolly says. “That’s exactly the site where Rapid [Motor Vehicle Company] came to the fore. You’d talk to the visitors and say: ‘Well, yeah, that’s a Rapid truck,’ and they’d sort of shrug their shoulders. You’d tell them: ‘It was built here.’ They’d shrug their shoulders, and you’d say: ‘No, right here where you are standing.’ Then people started to take notice.”

Besides the natural complements between M1 and the museum, Connolly sees a benefit to Pontiac’s shopkeepers, who yearn for more foot traffic. “Here’s where we and M1 can team up well,” he says. “M1 brings in a lot of visitors, many for the first time in south-east Michigan.

We’ve got to draw them into Pontiac. I think the museum can do that in pairing with M1.”

Connolly’s idea about reciprocity is echoed by M1 co-owner Roger Zlotoff, who finds himself thinking of past and current outreach programs such as a tennis day for Pontiac middleschoolers, the Thanksgiving gift-basket program in partnership with Dream Centers of Michigan, and the Checkered Flag Challenge that raises funds to support basic transportation where one-fifth of community residents lack cars.

“Once we were open as a business, we always felt a responsibility to contribute to the quality of life in Pontiac.” Zlotoff explains. His recent push is bringing the Spirit of Sisterhood to Pontiac. Founded in Detroit, it’s an all-volunteer nonprofit devoted to direct giving to women in need. Cash gifts cover car repairs, winter coats, school supplies for kids and other essentials.

“The dollars are small, but the impact is 115

asymmetrical,” he says. “M1 Concourse and its owners have started to fund Spirit of Sisterhood to expand its reach from Detroit to Pontiac to assist women who need a helping hand.”

Along with the annual hands-on clean-up effort at Art Dunlap Park, M1 members have also volunteered to help fund, assemble and distribute the Dream Centers of Michigan Thanksgiving food boxes throughout Pontiac.

“Last year, we gave away about 1200 boxes to the community, with M1 providing half of those boxes,” says Dream Centers executive director Antoine Jackson, who was looking forward to a fast-track ride when the M1 Event Center hosted the organization’s annual fundraiser in September. “As we continue our work with M1, we want to explore what additional community-engagement opportunities exist, where we can collaboratively work on behalf of the residents to address their needs.” Over the past six years, M1 Concourse and the M1 Garage Owners’ Community have donated over $170,000 to the Dream Centers in support of the Thanksgiving gift-basket program.

Some amazing nuances emerge with M1’s integration into a culture that sprang forth more than 100 years ago upon the advent of 116

‘Mobility program gives thousands of free rides, delivering people to afterschool programs, shops and medical appointments’

M1 MOMENTUM

large-scale manufacturing. Dustin McClellan’s grandfather came to Pontiac to find industrial employment, and he worked at the Pontiac West site. McClellan, who is the founder and CEO of the Pontiac Community Foundation (PCF), finds “a lot of nostalgia, a lot of rich history there”, and expresses satisfaction in the emergence of a new and productive organization in the community.

M1’s signature philanthropic event is the Checkered Flag Ball. October’s fourth annual edition raised funds to support M1 Mobility in partnership with McClellan’s PCF. The mobility program uses four vans to give thousands of free rides per year, delivering Pontiac residents to after-school programs, shops and medical appointments. M1 Mobility is a natural extension of M1 Concourse, and the mobility undertaking leads McClellan to view M1 as part of the fiber of the community.

“It’s been a joy to get to know both the ownership and the leadership of M1, and to work with them strategically,” he says.

On October 30, Angels Night, M1 Concourse will be the host venue for the Oakland County Sheriff’s 13th Annual Trunk or Treat for the residents of the City of Pontiac.

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THIS PAGE Brothers David R Wilson (left) and Charles B Wilson organized the Wilson Foundry & Machine Company in Pontiac in 1914, to manufacture car cylinder castings as well as other foundry business.

LOCAL HISTORY

THE WILSON BROTHERS LEAD THE WAY IN 1914 CHARLES B WILSON AND HIS brother David organized the Wilson Foundry & Machine Company in Pontiac, to manufacture automobile cylinder castings and conduct a general foundry business. They took over some of the buildings that had been Flanders Manufacturing in the south part of ‘The Triangle’. Both brothers had been working at the Ferro Machine & Foundry Company in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the leading foundries in the US at the time. Charles had been works manager at Ferro, and David had been sales manager. Prior to that, Charles had worked for eight years for Olds Motor Works as manager of the Detroit and Lansing plants. David had worked as a machinist in Akron, Ohio.

Come the summer of 1915, the brothers acquired ten more acres in The Triangle and began to add to the existing plant. As well as a machine shop, a new foundry was created, which was equal in size to the one acquired from the Flanders group. The expansion was spurred by a contract Wilson had with the

Picking up with Wilson Foundry & Machine in the history of Pontiac’s automotive ‘Triangle’ – the site of M1 Concourse today WORDS C A R O L EG B O

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Willys-Overland Company of Toledo, for milled parts for motors for two of the company’s vehicle models.

In 1919 the Wilson brothers secured all the property on the south side of Wilson Avenue, and they began to construct a new plant measuring 100 by 800 feet in dimension. By now they had also purchased the plant of the Monroe Motor Car company, once the home of Welch Motors, on the east side of Saginaw.

This building was adapted for use in “recreational work and the welfare activities of the company”, a very new concept for industry.

It included a large lunch room and a bowling alley. The building was also used as an assembly plant for the Moline tractor motor.

During that same year, the company also erected two temporary buildings nearby to serve as dormitories for its workers. This move was in response to a severe housing shortage in the city of Pontiac. In 1923, permanent dormitories were added. Wilson was fast becoming a massive complex.

119

LOCAL HISTORY

JOINING THE WILLYS-OVERLAND COMPANY By 1921 Wilson Foundry & Machine had become a subsidiary of the Willys-Overland Company, and in December of that year the decision was made to move machinery from the engine plant of that company in Elyria, Ohio to Pontiac. A Detroit Free Press article from January 1922 described the move: “The achievement is considered an industrial record as the removal of the plant did not begin until the middle of December.

A hundred carloads of machinery were moved, installed and put into operation, and an aluminum foundry was moved bodily from the Toledo plant and set up in the Wilson Foundry & Machine plant.”

In 1923 Wilson Foundry & Machine expanded once again, with the addition of more buildings and equipment that cost around half a million dollars – the equivalent today of over nine million dollars. This expansion was made in order to increase the output of Knight motors for the WillysOverland company. By then the company was making these powerplants, as well as Overland engines. By summer 1924 Wilson had grown from a melting capacity of 12 tons daily in 1913 to 500 tons daily, and from a labor force of 143 to that of 3575.

By 1925 Willys-Overland had absorbed the entire output of engines made in the Wilson plant. All Willys-Knight motors and many Overland engines were built, tested and assembled there, and the workforce had grown to more than 4600. This same year the company expanded again, by making additions to existing buildings and enlarging the motor testing area and boiler space. A specially constructed elevator arrangement with conveyors was also added to carry parts from the first floor and basement to all departments.

In July 1925 the company purchased the land, plant and equipment of the Michigan Drop Forge, once part of the Flanders group.

In that year Wilson was described as “the most modern factory in the world, whose output is devoted exclusively to the manufacture 120

and assembly of automobile engines”.

By fall of 1926, the labor force of Wilson had grown to 5500. It had added all the tire molds used by the Fisk Rubber Company and the Federal Rubber Company to its manufacturing list. The daily output of the foundry’s aluminum division had increased to 50,000 pounds, and the daily production of gray iron had risen to 1000 tons. The buildings covered 46 acres of ground, most of which was in The Triangle. There were 31 acres of floor space.

SPORTS TEAMS, AN ORCHESTRA AND A SMALL FARM By 1920, factories in Pontiac had begun actively encouraging athletics among their employees, and the Wilson Foundry & Machine Company was a leader in this effort. The firm created an athletic park where baseball, soccer and football were played, and there were Wilson squads organized for all three sports. The Wilson baseball team became one of the best factory outfits in Michigan.

Wilson promoted music as well as athletics.

Musicians in the employment of the company maintained a 30-piece orchestra, which played for factory social events and also in the cafeteria during lunch. Beginning in 1917 and lasting for a couple of years, the company ran a small farm that included six acres of potatoes, an acre and a half of beans and garden lots for employees. The company provided the labor and seed for the small farm, and donated use of the land.

TOWARD A MORE DIVERSE WORKFORCE

THIS PAGE The Wilson Foundry’s swift expansion in the early 1920s saw the addition of new buildings and facilities to produce motors for its WillysOverland parent company. A successful baseball team was among the many sports, music and social programs set up for workers.

M1 MOMENTUM

Although they were a clear minority, women were employed by Wilson Foundry & Machine.

Data from the Annual Reports of the Michigan Department of Labor for 1917 and 1919 provide evidence of this (below).

Unfortunately no data has yet been found Year

Males employed

Females employed

1917

1214

46

1919

1236

163

LOCAL HISTORY

listing the specific jobs these women were doing. However, various publications of the Wilson Foundry do refer frequently to female workers. For example, in describing its training program, the company stated: “The training program offers beginners, every man and woman engaged in production, opportunity for advancement.”

African-Americans were also part of the Wilson labor force. Many of these Black workers were part of the Great Migration of Blacks from the South to the cities of the North, which began in the early 1900s. These were people looking for jobs, a better life and an escape from the segregation of the South. Many found their way to Pontiac. One of them, Dawse Gordon, was a minister from Tennessee. In 1914 he, his wife and their children migrated to Pontiac, where Dawse found a job in the Wilson Foundry just after it opened. After serving in World War I, his son Lemuel followed in his father’s footsteps, taking a job in the foundry.

Wilson also actively recruited Blacks in the South, beginning about 1916. In his book on the history of Pontiac, historian Esmo Woods describes how the firm’s Lee Rollins and Tom Manning actively recruited in the South. He shares the words of Robert Hoover, who recalled his experience: “About 25 men came up with me from Nashville. Tom Manning brought us here on a train to work at Wilson Foundry.”

The motivation for these efforts likely had

little to do with social justice or racial equality.

Instead it was the result of a lack of workers.

The foundry was expanding quickly, and workers were needed. In addition, with its conditions of extreme heat, foundry work was considered much harder than regular factory work. Many workers preferred work in Pontiac factories to that of Wilson Foundry. As a result, the foundry became one of the first local firms to hire African-Americans, and Pontiac’s largest Black neighborhoods began to develop within walking distance.

African-American workers found themselves working side by side with Mexican-American workers at the Wilson Foundry. As with many of their African-American co-workers, the Mexican-Americans had come to Pontiac looking for jobs and a better life. In the fall of 1926, there were 500 living in the city.

Two hundred of them were employed at the Wilson Foundry & Machine Company, working mainly in unskilled jobs.

European immigrants were also drawn to Pontiac looking for jobs. During the 1920s, a section of the city located near the Wilson Foundry was made up almost entirely of European immigrants. Families living here were Polish, Greek, Italian, German and other nationalities. Names in the census reflected this area’s cultural character. On Wilson Street could be found the Rutkowski, Dipzinski, Kolaski and Godoshian families. Census records also reveal another pattern: many of the people, the men in particular, were working at Wilson.

GM BEGINS TO GOBBLE UP WILSON

THIS PAGE By the mid-1920s, the Wilson Foundry complex covered 46 acres of ground – which were mainly situated inside The Triangle – incorporating 31 acres of floor space. The labor force had grown to 5500, although much of the work was extremely hot, noisy and dirty.

M1 MOMENTUM

It often seems that companies such as Wilson Foundry & Machine will last forever, but that is never the case. Beginning in the late 1930s, General Motors began to buy up Wilson buildings. By 1947 Wilson was surrounded by GM, and when the Wilson Company closed in the mid-1950s GM bought what remained. Left behind, however, was a legacy of expansion, massive production, a diverse workforce… and a very successful baseball team.

The story of this historic site continues in issue 6.

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THIS SPREAD From a utilitarian 1963 VW Microbus and luxurious 1907 Pope-Toledo Type XV Touring to a stunning collection of pre-WW2 marques, the collection is superb.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE STAHLS AUTOMOTIVE FOUNDATION When you live in the heart of Motor City, a love of old cars is almost inevitable. But Ted Stahl’s collection reveals what happens when that passion turns into an obsession WORDS AND PHOTOGR APHY MICHAEL MILNE

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STAHLS AUTOMOTIVE FOUNDATION IS one of the most fascinating car museums you’ve probably never heard of. Tucked away on a business park just 35 miles north-east of downtown Detroit, it’s a must-see for Motor City visitors. But it’ll take some planning: the museum is only open on Tuesdays and the first Saturday of the month. It’s worth the effort, though, to see a display of more than 80 cars (out of a collection of 120-plus), from an 1899 De Dion-Bouton tricycle to a 1967 Pontiac GTO convertible.

The museum was created by local guy Ted Stahl. In 1990, he and his wife Mary bought a 1930 Ford Model A Roadster Deluxe to restore with their kids. That led to another car, then

another… and soon Stahl owned a museum’s worth of classics. His hobby is the public’s gain, because a remarkable selection is now on show.

Perhaps he was inspired by the family story behind the 1939 Ford midget racer on display in the lobby: a gift to William Clay Ford on his 14th birthday – the legal age to drive at the time – the single-seater was designed by Ford’s grandfather Henry and father Edsel.

The cars are divided into seven categories: Veteran Era; Brass Era; Vintage; Pre-war; Postwar; Performance; and Movie Cars. There’s also an incredible selection of antique music machines that provide a charming vintage soundtrack to your visit. They range from a

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

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LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

STAHLS AUTOMOTIVE FOUNDATION Address 56516 North Bay Drive, Chesterfield, Michigan 48051, US Where On the outskirts of Detroit How much Free entry, donations welcomed Opening hours Tuesdays, 1:00pm-4:00pm; first Saturday of the month, 11:00am-4:00pm Tel 586 749 1078 Web www.stahlsauto.com

Wurlitzer theatre organ to a massive Gaudin dance-hall organ – the latter so large that the four gold statues flanking the facade look downright Lilliputian at 9ft tall.

All the cars are laid out in a roughly chronological order, beginning at around the turn of the previous century with a corner devoted to General Motors co-founder William Durant, whom Stahl admired for his legendary resilience. Among the models in Durant Corner is a 1910 Buick Model F, which features a twocylinder powerplant mounted underneath the body, rather than in the engine bay.

The rare 1904 Oldsmobile Model N ‘French Front’ Touring Runabout was so named for the front grille’s rectangular shape – mimicking the cars coming out of France at the time – in place of the iconic Curved Dash frontal treatment, despite the engine remaining under the seat.

The Model N boasted another Oldsmobile first, with a steering wheel rather than a tiller.

Nearby is a real oddity: a 1904 Cyklon Cyklonette Trike. This German three-wheeler was a challenge to drive because the throttle, mixture and ignition controls are all mounted on the tiller. In a lesson for manufacturers to come, the 1907 Pope-Toledo XV Touring was built in Connecticut without regard for whether there was enough demand for such a high-end vehicle (it cost the equivalent of $200k today). Within 124

five years the company was bankrupt, and only a handful of these prestigious cars survive.

The museum really shines with its collection of pre-World War Two marques. The Harley Earl-styled LaSalle Roadster Series 50 Model 350 was 1934’s only LaSalle convertible. Seven years earlier, GM had launched its Art and Color Section, which became influential in new-car design – this striking model was one of the results. The tall, slender grille was a nod to contemporary British Land Speed Record cars.

Another forward-thinking design is the 1936 Hudson Terraplane Deluxe Series 61, featuring aviation-inspired Art Deco styling. The 1936 Mercedes-Benz 320 drophead has its original 3.2-liter straight-six and optional ‘autobahn gearing’ – an overdrive operated by a separate gearlever on the floor – but the cream of the ’30s crop is the 1934 Duesenberg Model J. Sitting at the pinnacle of US automotive excellence, it boasts a mighty 265bhp straight-eight.

In the post-war display, a 1948 Tucker and Tatra are kindred spirits with their threeheadlamp faces and rear-engined set-ups. The nearby 1954 Kaiser Darrin was an acquired taste, however, despite its then-revolutionary glassfiber body, ‘pursed lips’ grille and sliding doors.

The difference between the US and Germany’s post-war car styling is rendered in stark contrast with a display featuring a leviathan 1958 Ford M1 MOMENTUM

Fairlane 500 Skyliner with retractable hardtop parked next to a diminutive 1958 Zündapp Janus, which looks as if it would fit in the Ford’s trunk. The Zündapp is often mistaken for an Isetta but, unlike the BMW threewheeler, it has two doors – one at each end – and seats that fold to turn it into a camper.

Despite that nifty feature, the Janus didn’t sell enough units and the project was abandoned.

For taking a road trip in style, the two-tone 1963 Volkswagen Type 2 23-window Super Deluxe Microbus would have met mid-century needs, with a nifty split windscreen that opened to provide ventilation. Stahls’ example is trailing a matching 1967 Eriba Puck caravan, too. Opposite is a 1951 Kaiser Traveler, which earned its moniker by being America’s first hatchback – the trunk and rear window hinged up to provide easy access to the luggage area.

For transportation inclinations that are more nautical in nature, the German 1964 Amphicar 770 could ride the waves in style. Its Triumph Herald-sourced four-cylinder engine gave it a top speed of 7mph on the water and 70mph on land, hence its ‘770’ designation.

While most museums are of the look-butdon’t-touch variety, Stahls provides four cars for visitors to get behind the wheel for a photo opportunity, including a 1910 Ford Model T fire truck and (for a tight squeeze) a ’61 Isetta.

Celebrating the very best of the classic and collector car world

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DESIRABLES

WDS Mustang T-shirt 126 M1 Concourse products 128 New products 132 Books 134 Watches

Looking for a fresh new wardrobe or gifts for the petrolhead in your life (or for yourself, of course...)?

Check out the latest M1 temptations here

W O R D S N AT H A N C H A D W I C K PHOTOGRAPHY M1 CONCOURSE

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M1 MOMENTUM

Embrace simplicity and style with our fresh Woodward classic white T-shirt.

Featuring a simple M1 logo at the front, and a tribute to the Ford Mustang on the back, it’s available in sizes XS to XXXXL. Get the look for just $30. shop.m1concourse.com

DESIRABLES

M1 CONCOURSE PRODUCTS

Rootless Medium Roast coffee

Produced in collaboration with the Rootless Coffee Co. of Flint, Michigan, the Medium Roast coffee from the Brazilian Cerrado region offers hints of hazelnut, milk chocolate, granola and raisin. A 12oz bag costs $18. shop.m1concourse.com

Car Club exclusive tumbler

Crafted from stainless steel, this 20oz tumbler ensures durability and superior insulation to keep your drinks at the perfect temperature. Personalizable with your name, it’s available in red or black for $25. shop.m1concourse.com

WDS 1964 GTO T-shirt

Celebrate a classic era of automotive history with our exclusive 1964 GTO T-shirt, paying tribute to the car that truly changed the game back in the day (check out the feature in M1 Momentum issue 4). The T-shirt is available in sizes XS to XXXXL, and costs $30. shop.m1concourse.com

M1 Concourse baseball caps

We have a vast range of baseball caps; whatever your flavor of vehicle, we have something for your head that references your heartland automotive pride.

Prices start at $29.95. shop.m1concourse.com M1 MOMENTUM

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NEW PRODUCTS Mopar Sunday Golf magnetic towel

Made from microfiber fabric with a waffle knit, this towel is perfect for wiping your brow when working in the garage on a warm day. Simply attach the built-in magnet to a metal surface to keep it off a messy floor. It costs $74.95. wearmopar.com

Kremer-Porsche K8 Spyder

Shinola + Benchmade pocket knife

This Mini Crooked River knife combines a traditional shape with modern technology to provide a hunting knife that should last a lifetime.

It measures 3.4in in length and weighs just 3.29oz.

It costs $325. shinola.com

This 1:43-scale model recreates the winning Kremer-Porsche K8 Spyder from the 1995 Daytona 24 Hours. Based on the 962, the K8 was a development of the successful Interserie K7 model, but this time using a small, 3.0-liter flat-six. Despite qualifying poorly, the team of Giovanni Lavaggi, Jürgen Lässig, Marco Werner and Christophe Bouchut prevailed to win by five laps. It costs $70. shop.porsche.com

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M1 MOMENTUM

CMC MercedesBenz 600 Pullman Landaulet

Based on the MercedesBenz 600 Pullman Landaulet owned by Formula 1 star Didier Pironi,

this metallic beige model features a functional softtop and, if you look closely, even a TV set. Beautifully detailed in 1:18-scale form, it costs $999.99. cmc-modelcars.de

DESIRABLES

Revell Pontiac GTO

As the Pontiac GTO celebrates its 60th birthday this year, why not build your own model?

This Judge kit features 63 precise parts, including optional Judge decals

and a rear spoiler; you can even choose from four different decal color schemes. You can also elect to fit a Ram Air bonnet and tachometer, and fit standard or Hurst T-handle foot shifters. It costs $38.47. revell.de

Ferrari poker kit

This poker kit comes in a foldable wooden case with carbonfiber coating on the exterior and leather on the interior. Inside there are eight sets of matte ceramic chips in a variety of colors, plus five dice and two decks of cards customized with the Ferrari logo. It costs $7000. store. ferrari.com

Detroit city map

This 12in x 18in city map has been generated from real data points to recreate Detroit’s most recognizable areas. It’s been designed M1 MOMENTUM

with 100 per cent vectorbased data for superb detail. Pictured is jewel + black, although other colors are available. It costs $29.99. puredetroit.com 129

DESIRABLES

NEW PRODUCTS

Chevrolet Apache Truck 1000piece puzzle

Bentley GT3-R bronze sculpture

Painted by Greg Giordano, this 19.25in x 26.5in puzzle has all you could ask for: dogs, fresh fruit and an Apache truck to drive them home in. It costs $22. gmcompanystore.com

CMR Ford GT40

This detailed model recreates the Ford GT40 driven to second place at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours

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Relive the highs of the Bentley Continental’s GT3 program with this hand-crafted tribute to the road car it inspired. The GT3-R was the Continental turned up to 11, and this detailed sculpture evokes

by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme – a controversial story, as depicted by Ford v Ferrari. It costs $280.69. model-universe.com

M1 MOMENTUM

its uncompromising nature well. Made out of pure bronze, it’s mounted on a black granite plinth.

It cost $2430.39. shop. bentleymotors.com

Tod’s for Automobili Lamborghini loafers

This tie-up between Lamborghini and Tod’s sees the Italian car maker’s vibrant style attached to these hand-made driving shoes.

Tod’s rubber ‘pebbles’ have been reinterpreted by Lamborghini’s design team. The shoes feature a leather upper with tubular construction, and a rubber heel. You can choose from seven colors, available in sizes 7 to 16.

They cost $895. automobililamborghini. tods.com

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Austinpedalcars.com Showroom situated at Bicester Heritage, England - viewings by appointment

DESIRABLES

BOOKS

One Last Turn

DE TOMASO: RISE AND FALL The story of one of the auto industry’s biggest characters is equally fascinating, funny and shocking

The automotive industry is one that’s full of characters... and then there are Characters. Ecclestone, Briatore, Iacocca – figures who traverse the high wire at the upper echelons of the business, loved, hated and loved to be hated in equal measures.

Paolo Tumminelli’s 276-page, $99 book was written without the assistance of the de Tomaso family – and, as the author readily points out, there are many myths, legends and half-truths, many of them part of Alejandro de Tomaso’s theater. The reality may be lost to history. It was a life lived as fast as the cars that bore his name, thus making a comprehensive biography all but impossible. However, this tome’s independence does mean that we get a fuller picture of de Tomaso the man than might have been ‘authorized’ otherwise.

Written with a dry and somewhat irreverent sense of humor, this book has proven very divisive. Whatever your opinion on the words might be, it’s backed up with excellent period photography. Largely charting Alejandro’s movements on European and American soil, it’s a true rollercoaster, discussing the reasons for Henry Ford II’s sudden 1960s desire for all things Italian, a feud with Carroll Shelby, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Lee Iacocca, among many other tales. Everything finally culminated in a stress-induced stroke in 1993, which subsequently saw Maserati sold and the de Tomaso name attached to several projects that spent the last ten years of the founder’s life wandering in the doldrums. It’s all here, and it reads in the manner of pulp fiction – there’s tragedy and triumph, and everything in between.

For many, it is the Pantera and Maserati stories for which de Tomaso is best known, and both these stories are epic sagas that will leave you reeling at their originator’s sheer chutzpah, if not warming to him. Then again, the man himself didn’t care one jot about ruffling feathers as long as the job got done. You get the sense he rather reveled in it…

Tumminelli’s personal viewpoint on some of the Maseratis produced during de Tomaso’s tenure is somewhat unnecessary, and some captions are in questionable taste. However, these minor gripes don’t detract from a rip-roaring riot of a read that’ll have you fascinated, shocked and chuckling at the same time. Will it change your opinion of Alejandro de Tomaso?

Probably not, but you’ll be glad to have come along for the ride. waft.be 132

M1 MOMENTUM

This book pays tribute to the men behind the glamor with personal memories of the Can-Am era’s mechanics, tuners and crews. It’s a timely celebration of their efforts. The mechanics’ lot is not one of glitz and glamor, although it is full of incident and casual meetings, from Enzo Ferrari handing out scarves and watches, to hitching a ride with Bruce McLaren across the cockpit of an M6A to check out the rear suspension. An engaging 400-page read, and excellent value at $135. daltonwatson.com

Giorgetto & Fabrizio Giugiaro: Masterpieces of Style

Freshly updated to include the Giugiaro family’s new work under GFG Style up to 2023, this is a welcome overview of a family name responsible for some of the world’s most extraordinary supercar shapes and, at the same time, some of

the world’s biggestselling cars. Beginning with Giorgetto, the story follows him from a chance meeting with Nuccio Bertone through a varied career that’s seen him design cars for virtually every manufacturer across the globe. Fabrizio’s life is also covered in detail, with notable success rightfully championed.

Well illustrated across 264 pages, it costs $60. giorgionadaeditore.it

Formula 1 - Car By Car 2000-2009

Wind back 20 years, and F1 seems to be in a familiar place – a dominant driver and team, awkward missteps from rivals and off-track politics and intrigue.

Even Ford was in the game, via the ill-fated Jaguar project. Peter Higham’s 304-page, $64 book profiles every season, and team from each season, providing a good overview of how the sport progressed during turbulent times in the wider car industry.

While certain subjects – McLaren Spygate, for example – deserve a more thorough investigation, this is a great jumping off point. evropublishing.com

DESIRABLES

TEXAS LEGEND: JIM HALL AND HIS CHAPARRALS Tenacity, ingenuity and drive: a journey from tragedy to the world stage

Porsche Decades

Gaze at any slippery-shaped Formula 1 car, or even any road-going hypercar, and you’ll see the influence of Jim Hall. Just look at the innovations he introduced with his Chaparrals in the 1960s: composite chassis, side-mounted radiators, semi-automatic gearboxes, driveradjustable wings and net downforce. All are concepts he brought to bear on the racing world, so it’s no wonder many motor sport designers cite him as an early inspiration.

This 484-page official biography, written by George Levy, charts Hall’s ascent to the top of the motor sport world, but it is a story beset with tragedy. By the age of just 18, in five years he’d lost his mother to cancer and then his father, sister, stepmother and stepsister to an airplane crash.

It’s hard not to get the sense that although these experiences were horrific, Hall’s coping method was to focus on the next task, giving him the drive to succeed. A year later he attended his first race, and pretty soon he began working for Carroll Shelby’s dealership. The young Hall soon absorbed not only the driving experiences of the world’s best sports cars, but also how to lead a team.

Growing frustrated with having his racing efforts put in check by driving customer machinery that was out of date by as much as a year, he decided to build his own. Although he is more famous for the cars he produced, this book rightly points to his great success, particularly the 1965 season, where he led all but two of the 20 races he entered, winning ten.

In 1966 he came to Europe with the 2D, and won at the Nürburgring, but it was the 2E that changed everything. Designed for the SCCA CanadianAmerican Challenge Cup, its six innovations revolutionized motor sport design, most notably the high rear wing, but also in-car adjustability of said wing and side-mounted air intakes. However, there was more on the way – the ground-effect 2J Can-Am car. It was undoubtedly controversial, prompting lobbying from Lola and McLaren, and an FIA ban. For Hall, it felt like he and all his innovations had been banned. He’d go on sabbatical for a few years, but his return in single-seaters led to even more success.

Beautifully illustrated with 486 photos and car-by-car illustrations of the genius behind the cars, this book is great value at $80. It’s a truly rich reading experience, full of insight from Hall himself, but also from those who drove for him and helped make his vision a reality. evropublishing.com M1 MOMENTUM

The past 24 months have seen a host of Porsche books – unsurprisingly given the brand’s popularity and recent birthday celebrations.

Jay Gillotti’s 356-page book may not break the mold in terms of content, but it does provide a colorfully illustrated and well presented starting point for anyone wanting to take a deeper look at the marque. It’s also refreshing to see all models celebrated. While more bespoke imagery would have been good for $135, this US-leaning take is a welcome addition to the Porsche canon. daltonwatson.com

Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT / GTV / GTV6

The GT and GTV are among the most beloved 1970s and ’80s Alfas.

Umberto Di Paolo’s 350-page, $96 book is extensively researched, and features rarely seen archival documents that track development and

technological innovations. The car was highly successful in motor sport, in both circuit racing and on rally stages, and the book contains so many exciting images – particularly of the South African Autodelta cars – that you can almost hear the Busso V6 howl through the pages. eaurougepublishing.com

Sold!

Charlie Ross is one of the auction world’s most beloved figures – and if you’re a fan of the dry English wit on display with gavel in hand, you’ll find much to enjoy in this autobiography. Written in collaboration with brother Stewart, it charts Charlie’s rise from aspiring dentist through to chicken auctioneer. From there, this 256-page book takes you through the trials, tribulations and belly laughs, right up to his status as Gooding & Co’s go-to gavel man.

Along the way there are celebrities, sportsmen and a vivid demo as to why Limeys working in the US should always get a visa. It’s packed full of entertaining stories and asides; price with US delivery available upon request. bleanbooks.co.uk 133

DESIRABLES

Omologato Classic Timer Maranello ’61

WATCHES

This timepiece is designed to evoke memories of the infamous 1961 season, when Scuderia Ferrari fought back against British rivals to take the Formula 1 World Championship with the Sharknose 156. The stainless-steel case weighs a mere 95g, measures 41mm in diameter and is 11.5mm thick. Inside, there’s a Japanese Miyota 9122 automatic movement.

The dial is hand-assembled and has raised indexes with polished steel hands and markers. It comes with an Italian leather strap, and costs $932.55. omologatowatches.com

Audemars Piguet Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph

One of three new takes on the Offshore model, the Selfwinding Chronograph features a 43mm stainlesssteel case and a ceramic pusher and crown. Its smoked bronze ‘mega tapisserie’-patterned dial features white goldapplied hour markers, covering AP’s automatic caliber 4401, a column-wheel flyback chronograph caliber. The

watch is water resistant to 328ft, and has a power reserve of up to 70 hours.

It wears a brown alligator strap with a stainless-steel pin buckle, and come with an additional rubber strap.

The price is $41,600. audemarspiguet.com

Herbelin Cap Camarat Diver

The latest take on the Cap Camarat line is a self-winding divers’ watch.

Water resistant to 656ft, its 42mm stainless-steel case is coated with Diamond-Like Carbon, accentuating the matt-black dial and its horizontal stamped pattern. The watch features a bidirectional rotating internal diving gauge, and provides 41 hours’ battery life.

The price is $1428. herbelin.com

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Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 Limited Edition

Limited to only 1961 examples, this is the fourth release of Mido’s popular Ocean Star Decompression Timer series. The 40.5mm case has been coated in a deep, glossy PVD treatment.

Inside, the watch contains M1 MOMENTUM

the Mido Caliber 80, which is based on the ETA C07.621, a Swatch Group movement also used in many Hamilton automatics. It comes with three different straps, all with quick-release spring bars. It has a power reserve of 80 hours, and is water resistant to 656ft.

It costs $1480. midowatches.com

Photo courtesy of John D’Angelo

Building what drives you forward

AUCH Construction

Pontiac, MI

248-334-2000

auchconstruction.com

YOUR TICKET TO ADVENTURE.

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SLW BUYING GUIDE

MERCEDES-BENZ

Elegant and glamorous with classic German reliability, this open-top cruiser packs a punch, too

W 113 W O R D S N AT H A N C H A D W I C K P H O T O G R A P H Y M E R C E D ES - B E N Z

BUYING GUIDE

Model history 1963 230 SL production begins. 2.3-liter six-cylinder matched to four-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

1966 250 SL arrives with 2.5 straight-six; same power but slightly more torque.

Rear discs as standard, bigger fuel tank, option of all three ’boxes, extracost limited-slip diff. Five-speed manual made available for 230 SL.

1967 230 SL production ceases. 250 SL get collapsible steering wheel among other cabin tweaks, to meet stricter US safety laws. 280 SL arrives in December with 2.8 straight-six; most are auto – only 882 are manual. California Coupé 2+2 option launched, with removable hard-top.

1968 250 SL production ceases.

ALTHOUGH THE 300 SL WAS THE ROADgoing start to the famous Mercedes-Benz SL line, it was the W 113 that really set the template for the legendary model. Chic yet solid, the ‘Pagoda’ is an icon of the marque.

As well as looking the part, this incarnation of the SL was an innovative machine. It had fuel injection, aluminum door shells and hood, disc brakes and the option of power steering.

Its refinement, elegant body, exquisite build quality and decent performance meant it soon gained favor with the rich and famous, and it became a collector favorite. Thinking of buying a 230 SL, 250 SL or 280 SL now?

Our buying guide will help.

ENGINE AND GEARBOX The engines are dependable if well maintained, but be patient when starting up – Pagodas take two or three revolutions to kick into life. Faulty mechanical fuel injection can be costly to replace. Listen out for engine bangs or splutters; the injectors could be blocked or rusty.

Once started, the motor should warm up quickly. If not, the thermostat may have been 138

removed to disguise an overheating problem.

Hot running can also be caused by head-gasket issues, of which misfires are another symptom.

If the temperature continues to climb once the car is warm, the radiator could be clogged. It is essential to use quality antifreeze at the correct level; the engine block is steel, while the head is aluminum, so internal corrosion is a risk. Also, the viscous fan sometimes doesn’t kick in.

On the move, blue smoke is a sign of worn valve-stem seals. The oil should be replaced every 3000 miles to prevent internal wear and prolong engine life. Regular changes also help keep the fuel-injection pump in good order.

The closer water galleries in the bored-out 280 make it slightly more prone to overheating.

Meanwhile, the 230 is more revvy because it’s a five-bearing crank, not a seven-bearing unit as with the others, so it’s not quite as refined.

Most Pagodas have automatic transmissions.

Both the auto and the four-speed manual are resilient, but they aren’t immune to wear or issues. Ensure the pressure settings on the auto are set up properly, otherwise the ’boxes will become ‘grumpy’, changing too early or too

1971 280 SL production ceases.

Specifications Engine Power Top speed 0-60mph Economy

2.3-liter inline-six 148bhp (claimed) 124mph 10.5 seconds 25mpg (est)

Engine Power Top speed 0-60mph Economy

2.5-liter inline-six 148bhp 124mph 9.5 seconds (est) 25mpg (est)

Engine Power Top speed 0-60mph Economy

2.8-liter inline-six 168bhp 124mph 8.5 seconds (est) 25mpg (est)

late. The manual shouldn’t be especially noisy, jump out of gear or offer a crunchy, tough shift.

Prospective owners should also check for gearbox leaks; if the oil runs low, damage to the internals is inevitable. If either type of ’box does need refurbishing, the job is relatively straightforward but expensive.

Propshaft couplings and universal joints do wear out. A thudding sound from the rear can indicate this, but it could also point to failing differential mountings, which are expensive to sort out. The prop center bearing can also wear, and a whiny diff probably means a costly rebuild.

SUSPENSION AND BRAKES Dampers can wear out, so look for weeping on the struts as well as an unrefined ride. The suspension’s kingpins, trunnions and nipples all need regular lubrication, ideally every 3000 miles. On the bright side, replacements are relatively affordable. Play in the wheels when the car is jacked up indicates problems.

Power steering was a popular option on the Pagoda. The car handles far better with this fitted, but you should take care to look for

ABOVE The SL Pagoda makes for a perfect boulevard cruiser – but for rainy days the soft-top is high quality and there’s usually a hard-top, too.

hydraulic leaks. Brakes were discs all round, other than on the 230 SL, which had rear drums. Check the condition of the lines; if these have perished or are leaking, it will affect the car’s stopping power.

BODYWORK AND INTERIOR

‘Refinement, elegant body, exquisite build quality and decent performance meant it soon gained favor with the rich and famous’ M1 MOMENTUM

The SL was famous for its superb build quality and attention to detail. Panel gaps should be uniform and tight. Many panels were stamped with the build number. Cross-referencing this is a good way to determine vehicle originality.

Finding a sound body is crucial. The SL’s monocoque is prone to rusting, and cars that seem immaculate on the outside can still have structural corrosion. The sills, trunk floor, floorpan, chassis rails and members, wheelarches and jacking points are all common areas for rot, so do look underneath the car – and under the carpets, too. The aluminum hood, door skins and trunk top can also corrode.

Wearing 44 pounds of paint from the factory, Pagodas were known for their high-quality finish. To see whether yours still has its original paint, check the ‘notches’ on the insides of the 139

BUYING GUIDE

headlights; if missing, the car has probably been to a body shop. If you’re looking for an original example, check for paint runs from the factory. The inside of the hood was always body-colored, and the inside of the trunk was black. Paint runs are a good indication that the panels are authentic to that car.

Most SLs had the Pagoda hard-top. Check its condition and the state of the mounting points. Also ensure that the soft-top is crisp and watertight. The chrome tool to secure the fabric roof in place often goes missing, only to be replaced by a less desirable alternative. If originality is a concern, ensure it’s present.

Cabin parts availability is good, but they can be costly to buy and fit. Check that the gauges and electrical systems work. The heater handles are plastic, and can become brittle and snap.

Trim was either MB-Tex vinyl or leather. Be wary that some owners may think their car has hide upholstery when it is in fact vinyl. Leather often has more patina than its vinyl counterpart.

Carpets have been replaced in many cars. A stitched trim around the gear gaiter is a telltale sign; the factory trim was rubber. Carpets had a different pile to those from later years – if you’re looking at a ‘concours’ car, make sure it has carpets from the right era.

Wooden dash-top trim can deteriorate, and the top of the windscreen can often be scratched from fitting the hard-top.

‘Savings made by buying at the cheaper end of the scale can pale in comparison to the expense of restoration’ Which to buy

BELOW Availability of cabin spares is good, but they can be costly. Original trim was either MB-Tex vinyl or leather.

The Mercedes-Benz W 113 Pagoda was once considered an affordable classic, but these days you should expect to pay a considerable sum for a good example. The savings made by buying a car at the cheaper end of the scale can pale in comparison to the expense of restoring it to its former glory.

Spend as much as you can to secure a decent example and avoid future expense. The priority should be a rust-free car with a high level of originality and an unambiguous history. Experts believe the 280 is the best version, because this model has softer suspension and is a little more responsive and refined. It’s also the most desirable variant among collectors.

Values 230 SL Concours Excellent Good Fair

$165,000 $105,000 $58,700 $38,300

250 SL Concours Excellent Good Fair

$161,000 $99,200 $62,500 $39,400

280 SL Concours Excellent Good Fair

$231,000 $150,000 $83,100 $52,800

Averages of a spread of years/mileages.

More on www.hagerty.com. MercedesBenz Club of America at www.mbca.org is also a great source of information.

140

2 0 2BOOKING 5 TOURS NOW GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED July, 2025 5 Day Tour

LE MANS CLASSIC & NORMANDY June/July, 2025 8 Day Tour Steve Austin, Owner & Tour Director

GOODWOOD REVIVAL & ENGLAND September, 2025 9 Day Tour

Photo courtesy of Mathieu Bonneville

Website: www.steveaustinsautomobiliaandtravel.com

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Email: steveaustin@colton.com

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AUTOMOBILIA COLLECTING MICHIGAN’S PETROLIANA Keep it local for the greatest selection of our great state’s best gas and oil merchandise

WORDS AND PHOTOGR APHY A ARON HOP

142

FOR COLLECTORS OF MOST THINGS, a local flavor usually creeps into their displays.

For an automotive fan from Indiana, perhaps a prevalence of Studebaker (South Bend) appears; for pottery collectors from Ohio, an affinity for Roseville is possible; and a Minnesotan agricultural aficionado may focus on Minneapolis-Moline (Minneapolis).

Gas and oil collectors often pursue brands with roots in their home state. By ‘staying local’ you can often turn up opportunities to collect items that are more budget savvy and space friendly, such as pencils, maps and matchbooks, in addition to more prevalent collectables such as signs and globes. Being born and raised in Michigan, there are a handful of companies that always catch my eye, and we’ll take a look at a few of them here.

Dixie Distributors was founded in Ann Arbor in 1927 as an association of independent oil jobbers. The blue-and-yellow combination seen on most Dixie memorabilia is appealing, and the catchy Power to Pass slogan is easy to remember and implies that Dixie’s gasoline offered added pep and speed. The brand grew

quickly throughout a large part of the country, until the gasoline shortages of World War Two took their toll. As a side note, these items are also quite popular with Southern collectors, who are attracted to the Dixie name.

Leonard Refineries’ 1930s roots run deep into the oil fields around Alma. Leonard is highly sought after by collectors, because it was prolific in its marketing and small, giveaway items. While its signs and cans are rare, and its globes even more so, maps and other ‘smalls’ are more common. Leonard also sponsored the Michigan Outdoors weekly TV show hosted by outdoors icon Mort Neff, as well as produced Go Guides, which highlighted different

AUTOMOBILIA

activities and attractions throughout the state.

As such, this company was not only founded in Michigan, it was focused on Michigan, too.

Old Dutch Refining Co., from Muskegon, was founded in 1928 with roughly 30 stations scattered up and down the Lake Michigan coastline. There are areas in West Michigan that were settled and developed by immigrants from the Netherlands, and one assumes the choice of name and logo was tied into this heritage. Old Dutch collectables range from quite uncommon to downright scarce, but the globe and can shown on this spread are good examples of the brand’s popular logo.

Speedway Petroleum Corporation comes from Detroit, and was founded by the Sucher family in 1938. Speedway’s early imagery featured stylized race cars and checkered-flag graphics, but the branding later evolved into a simpler red/white/blue logo with no graphics. The quart can shown is quite uncommon and valuable, but the matchbook shares similar graphics while being much more affordable, and is a good example of a nice ‘go-with’ piece to have within a larger collection. Speedway was sold to Marathon around 1960, but after a brief hiatus the name was brought back. Speedway stations can be found across Michigan to this day.

While only a few of the dozens of Michigan gasoline marketers over the years have been mentioned here, these are good examples of how collectors can expand or focus the scope of their displays. As a bonus, often these small

local pieces can still be found at antique shops or flea markets close to home.

Thanks to Automobilia Resource – more details at www.automobiliaresource.com.

THIS SPREAD Dixie Ethyl gas-pump globe, circa 1950s; estimated value $1500.

Speedway 79 Gasoline matchbook, circa 1940s; estimated value $20.

Dixie Power to Pass sign, single-sided metal sign with wood frame, circa 1940s; estimated value $5000.

Leonard Going Places in Michigan guide, circa August 1958; estimated value $20.

Leonard Michigan road map, circa 1950s; estimated value $20.

Old Dutch Motor Oil quart can, circa 1940s; estimated value $750.

Old Dutch gas-pump globe, circa 1950s; estimated value $5000.

Speedway Motor Oil quart can, circa 1940s; estimated value $1000.

143

Track tips Staying fit for the track The right kind of exercise is key to race fitness. So what training should you be doing?

WORDS SAM HANCOCK PHOTOGRAPHY PORSCHE

AT THE PEAK OF MY PHYSICAL PREPARATION FOR the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, I once trained for a total of ten hours in a single day; four intense workouts of two-and-a-half hours each, with roughly four hours off in between. Starting at 3pm and finishing at approximately the same time the following afternoon, the idea was to replicate the stints I might have to drive in the race, in order to prepare both mind and body for the challenge ahead.

Psychologically, the idea was a roaring success. Having proven to myself that I could get out of bed in the dead of night to run 15 or so miles, having already swum, cycled and weight-lifted my way through similar sessions just a few hours earlier, made me feel invincible, as though I could handle anything the world’s greatest endurance race might throw at me.

Physiologically, however, it was a disaster.

In my infinite wisdom I scheduled this selfannihilation just a few days before traveling to Le Mans, and I arrived with a stinking cold.

So much for the fitness gains...

Twelve years on, it’s hard to relate to this version of myself. The physical demands of my now predominantly Historic racing schedule are far less than those of the World Endurance Championship. It’s fair to say the training pedal has gradually lifted with each passing year, and the snug fit of my race suits confirms that I can no longer ‘get away with it’. As such, I recently decided it was time to get back into a proper training regimen and shed some excess ballast.

But what kind of fitness does a driver require for Historic motor sport anyway? Many of the races are short in duration, and the forces generated by older machinery are nowhere 144

near those of contemporary kit. Does fitness even matter? It’s a reasonable question, and depends largely on your ability, the cars you drive and your race-stint lengths.

While 1950s or 1960s models, for example, might not have much adhesion by modern standards, driven properly they often require an even greater work rate at the wheel. Over a long stint this can become tiring, especially when trying to deftly balance the car on the throttle and retain a light grip on the wheel while bracing against lateral cornering loads. A few laps in a Cobra around, say, a chilly Lime Rock may be effortless, but an hour or more in the baking heat of Arizona can soon catch up with you.

Of course, some cars, some circuits, are more tiring than others. But the key is to acknowledge the subtle changes that can occur as even low levels of fatigue set in – something I witness often from the passenger seat while driver coaching.

First, the body tenses to counter the forces.

Grip tightens, wrists stiffen, elbows lock, shoulders shrug and teeth grit. Inputs become less precise, more aggressive, body temperature rises and brows bead. Soon, mistakes appear as if from nowhere, pace slows and frustration sets in.

This further increases the mental overload, and physical fatigue quickly follows. It’s a vicious circle.

Inexperienced drivers are, of course, more susceptible to this than old hands, who use far less of their mental capacity to keep a car on the road. But while a seasoned racer may get away with a lack of athleticism in some Historic categories, there are plenty of other classes that will test even a decorated champion.

Historic F1, Group C and relatively modern Endurance Legends cars, for example, can all be M1 MOMENTUM

extremely physical if driven to their limits. High downforce, huge mechanical grip and, for the sports cars at least, the hot, closed cockpits, all place significant demands on the driver.

Slowing the pace a little can dramatically reduce the forces, but who wants to do that?

The ill-prepared, however, may eventually have no choice. Unable to cope with the cornering loads during a long race, the hips start twisting, knees lean excessively, the steering loads up and, sooner or later, the neck gives in. Easing off offers the only respite. So, how to avoid such pace-sapping fate? Well, dusting off my old training diaries, I can summarize thus: To prepare most drivers for just about anything Historic competition is likely to throw at them, a primary foundation of cardiovascular fitness – complemented by a strong core, excellent flexibility and, where necessary, a conditioned neck – is necessary. It doesn’t really matter how you achieve this – running, cycling, swimming, whatever – as long as you focus on endurance over speed or brute strength. You don’t need to dead-lift twice your bodyweight, nor run 100 meters in 12 seconds.

You just need to be able to keep your heart rate down while at the wheel, such that the brain remains able to compute the high-speed scenery unfolding ahead.

I used to wear a heart-rate monitor while racing, and at my fittest I remember averaging about 125bpm over a two-hour stint in a prototype. These days, I would be happy with anything under 150bpm.

Now, where did I put my trainers?

Sam is a professional racing driver and coach.

See www.samhancock.com.

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