It's fifteen minutes of bliss even if the first part of this clip consists mainly of new BBC Formula 1 commenter Martin Brundle getting passed left and right at last fall's Goodwood revival. He's short shifting, he's missing gears, but who would not be nervous racing a car worth about $20 million on a track with mostly grass runoff?
Well, Mark Hales, that's who. In the second part of the clip, after the driver change, it's Hales who does the ass kicking, slicing through the traffic, seemingly without fear. Of course Hales is very familiar with this particular GTO and its owner, Nick Mason.
I always recommend Hales' great book Into the Red
if you are lucky enough to find one for a reasonable price. Remember to get the version with the CD!Don't miss the clip after the jump..
(ChaseCam via motorsportblog)
>end of post
Really great stuff.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really heard anything about the book, which i find rather disappointing, now hearing that it's so great, so i'm going to start looking for a copy.
The video, as always, is amazing (Mark Hales' driving). My hat off to him.
Ofcourse it helps that it's a 250 GTO... Oh what i would give to own one. *sigh*
Thanks again for the great post!
Cars of those days were so unstable under the braking... And heel and toe sounds fantastic! Thanks for the video!
ReplyDeleteWonderful!! Agreed about 'Into The Red' - a fantastic read. Mr Hales often shows up as part of the EVO magazine Car of the Year test team too. I make no excuses for being a Porschephile first and a member of the Tifosi second (possibly now the Alfisti, too!), but if you like sportscar racing you have to pick up a copy of "The Racing Porsches - A Technical Triumph" by Paul Frere, published in 1973. My dear old Mum found a copy for me this Christmas and it is really quite superb... technical yet very readable
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Brilliant! Thanks for another great post! It must be nice to be the Pink Floyd's drummer! ;@
ReplyDeleteThere's a really great article by Hales about this very Goodwood race in the latest issue of TrackDriver magazine. You can subscribe for free here: http://www.trackdriver.com/
ReplyDeleteHales reveals that the car was firing on 11 cylinders for the race. Brundle had no idea. The car was taken to the rolling road on the way home and found to be 56bhp down!
There's a new version of the book called Passion for Speed which came out recently and it includes a couple of new tests and a longer CD. Well worth buying!
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