ALMS/IMSA Historic GTP - Elkhart Lake pictures

[Muzza]

Some pictures of last weekend race.

This is a Nissan R90C driven by Henry Camperdam.

[Muzza]

A Porsche 962C driven by Joe Graziano.

[Muzza]

Another Porsche 962C, this one driven by Aaron Hsu. Aaron overtook the pole positioned Charlie Agg's Nissan R90C at the start and was having a great fight with him for the lead until the car hit head gasket problems.

[Muzza]

This is the very fast Nissan R90C driven by Charlie Agg. Agg scored the pole position and cruised to the victory after Aaron Hsu's Porsche 962C abandoned.

[Muzza]

Powered by a 6,3-liter Chevrolet engine, Ron Ciaravella's Spice thundered through Elkhart Lake long straights. The car qualified well in third place, but did not fulfil the expected performance in the race.

[mickj]

Muzza
Excellant pics. Trade the girlfriend in and go to RA on the 21st July..HA HA

[Adam43]

Great pictures. Wow. I must get to see some Group C this year. Last years race at the Silverstone Historic Festival was fantastic. Brought back memories of watching it for real...

[paulzinho]

Brilliant pictures, REAL racing cars.

Can't do much better than that.

[Muzza]

Steve Southard drove his ex-Bob Akin Porsche 962 with a black stripe painted over the number of the car, remembering the late Akin, recently killed in a Historic GTP qualifying session in Road Atlanta.

Bob is missed by us all.

[Muzza]

MickJ,

Man, if I only could go to Elkhart Lake in two weeks... Let me tell you that my girlfriend found a sticker with the following content in the official Road America merchandise shop: "We interrupt this marriage for the start of the racing season"... She almost bought it (I think I should have bought it!)

This is a lovely Rondeau M-382C, driven by Steve Simpson.

It looks like a guppy fish (especially that one with the VSD livery!)

[Muzza]

Hello, Adam Ashmore,

Sadly, I never saw a Group C race. I grew up in Brazil, and sportscar racing was something completely unknown there. Since I move abroad - quite many years ago - I am trying to make up for the lost time, but sadly it will never be the same...

I just love the sound of rotary engines. What a pity I could not record the notes sung by the Kudzu-Mazda DG3 driven by Dennis Spencer, but I keep them very much alive in my mind, as my ears are still buzzing from last weekend!

[Muzza]

All shapes, all colours, all engine sizes. That's what racing should be.

The pack storms through the Thunder Valley, between Canada Corner and the Billy Mitchell Bridge.

[Muzza]

Dear Paulinho,

Especially for you, Le Mans memories: a beautiful Porsche 962C, driven by Alec Hsu.

Regards to your Dad!

[zealot]

Muzza

Dump your girlfriend and take me to Elkhart Lake with you (we can pick up more chicks at the track)!

[paulzinho]

Thanks Muzza!!

Love those Porsches!

*drools*

[Muzza]

Hey, Zealot,

That was a great posting, man - we may hang out with the Hawaiian Tropic girls... (oops, I hope Lori does not read this).

While we wait for those red bikinis, what about a shot of Arthur Valdez rare BMW GTP?

Cheers!

[djb]

Very good shots there Muzza. Looks like you had great access to great vantage points. The variation of sounds must have been fantastic, 'tis a pity indeed that we can' t hear them!
Like you said, all shapes, colours and sounds. Enjoyed looking at them.

[mickj]

Muzza
Another GREAT lot of pics, the Thunder Valley trees hold the noise and make the ears ring.
I hope a lot of you forum people get to visit RA, start saving now. I am for another trip. Its a nice area and the people are nice to.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by Muzza
All shapes, all colours, all engine sizes. That's what racing should be.

Spot on! Variety is the spice of life.

Those cars are the best. Thanks for all the pictures.

If it's OK I'll throw a couple in too.

XJR11 from the Silverstone Historic festival last year.

[Adam43]

A Porsche. Unfortunatly stationary.

[paulzinho]

*drools some more*

I want these cars back!

They are flippin brilliant! And that Porsche on the grass, imagine putting the power down!

[mickj]

Muzza
I see you are from Brazil. Have you heard of or seen the Fittipaldi Beetle that could lap faster that a Ford GT40 and a Lola T70. Emerson & Wilson built it. It had 2 vw motors mated together midships, the top 6 inches of windscreen was a big airscoop that fed into 4 tubes to feed air to each bank of cylinders. 1 evil looking race car.

[paulzinho]

Mick, have you got a pic of this beast at all?

[Muzza]

Hello Adam Ashmore, MickJ and Paulzinho,

Adam, great pictures. You pictured two cars that are true legends. A factory Porsche 956, in Rothmans livery, is as close to Darth Vader as a racing car can be.

Mickj, the Fittipaldi brothers - Emerson and the elder Wilsinho - were involved with motorsport since their early teens, pushed by their father, Wilson "Barão" Fittipaldi ("The Baron"), a sports journalist and sometime racer (by the way, what a man - a character on himself).

Even before they could have a driver's license, they were manufacturing hand-made steering wheels that became the thing to be amongst young daredevils. Wilsinho and Emerson's business tact - hiring people, promoting products - and the support of their fanatic family propelled them forward and forward.

By their late teens, around 1967, Formula Vee was blooming around the world. In Brazil, a place where the Volkswagen Beetle (nicknamed "Fusca") reigned absolute for decades in the automobile industry, this low-cost formula was the first stepping stone for many successful drivers, from José Carlos Pace to Nelson Piquet. Wilson and Emerson were immediately lured to F-Vee. More than that, they decided to build their own chassis, the Fitti-V, which went on to completely dominate the category. These guys were not even twenty by then!

Racing was a pretty much amateur activity those years, and the "F Brothers" were driving all sorts of machinery, from single-seaters to karts to touring cars. They were surely talented and skilled. Wilson, and shortly later Emerson too, were hired by the highly respected Escuderia Dacon. Dacon - still in business, today a flagship Porsche dealer in São Paulo - was dominating long distance races with modified Volkswagen Karmann Ghias (remember them, those cute roadsters?), replacing the original engine by a Porsche 911 powerplant.

After winning races with Dacon, Wilsinho and Emerson took the idea and move the bar higher. They built a beautiful prototype with tubular spaceframe and a neat bodywork, and called it Fitti-Porsche. The car was as fast as it was pretty, and completely dominated the 1968 edition of the Mil Milhas Brasileiras (Brazilian 1000 Miles, still the most important race there), just to fail a few laps shy to the chequered flag, when the car broke (the alternator, if I am not mistake, gave away).

Motorsport in Brazil was plenty of crazy ideas like the "Twin VW" MickJ mentioned. People must be creative when they haven' got much money, I feel. There were several two-engine cars, a sort of desperate way of increasing horsepower, rather common those years.

Another team buit a prototype with two DKW engines (yes, those two-stroke East Germany cars), that had two throttles and two clutch pedals. I am not even going to comment how aero development was done then, but I remember seeing several cars with wings that would make them eligible for the "World of Outlaws" races in the US today (I mean, the wings were sometimes larger than the cars, and I am not kidding).

I do not recall the extent of the involvement of the Fittipaldi brothers in that dual-engine VW, but I remember the car (most of my motorsport library is back in Brazil, so unfortunately I cannot check it). The car was extremely fast, but also explosion-prone. The compression rate was kicked sky-high, and the engines last for a few laps only. But while it stood on track, oh boy, what a fast machine that was...

Cheers, and thanks for bring me back these memories.

[mickj]

Paulzinho
I dont know how this will turn out,here goes details as follows on Fittipaldi beast
http//silverstone.fortunecity.com/mercedes/340/comp/fc12.htm Its on Shoptalkforums "conversion perversions" section under heading "for those thinking midengine"
I'm sorry I dont know how to link it across. I have had trial runs , but being aged I cannot get my brain around details yet. Maybe someone can bring it across please..Thanks.
Muzza I hope your motorsport library is under lock and key and safe, as my mother years ago threw a bit of mine out. It went to the rubbish tip. Thanks for info on the Fittipaldi brothers and others.