Sunday, May 5, 2013

Two More Oldies Snapshots

I'm tossing my old car snapshots and scanning the best.  There are better pictures of the BRM already on the 'net, but here they are for what they're worth:

Graham Hill used a BRM P-57 1.5 liter V-8 to win the 1962 F-1 World Championship.  This one is in the C.H. Motor-
cars  (Collier) Collection in Naples,  FL.  The interesting thing about that collection is that most of the cars are icons of
road racing and meticulously restored to either 1) representative condition of their most significant season (like this
BRM) or 2) their condition as a particular race-winner or technical significance.  Much of the interior space of the
museum is dark, with baby spotlights focused on the cars.  This is a good way to protect them from exposure to UV
rays, but makes it hard to photograph them with a snapshot camera.

The Reynard-Honda used by Dario Franchitti to win the 1999 CART race at Road America.  This car/driver combo still
holds the absolute lap record at 144 m.p.h., set in qualifying.  The record has stood for 13 years, which also surpasses a
previous record: the 11 years between Mark Donahue's 123 mp.h. in a Porsche 917/30 Can-Am car and the 125 m.p.h.
of Mario Andretti's Lola T-800/Ford-Cosworth DFX.  The inaugural race at Road America, in 1955, was won by Phil
Hill in a Ferrari Monza sports car at 80 m.p.h.

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