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| Photo:Tom Linke |
paraphrasing die große Sabine...
Here is Maximilian Werner driving the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan to the top qualifying spot in the 2 seater 1960/61 class at the 2013 Oldtimer Grand Prix on the Nürburgring GP circuit last week.
(h/t Kevin York!)
Dear God, that sounds glorious!
ReplyDeleteAwkward seating position though.
awesomeness
ReplyDeleteThe guy is going to lose his knees someday if he keeps them up at the steering column.
ReplyDeleteGreat driving, but his downshifting was painful to watch. Does he not know it is better to double clutch when downshifting these older Ferrari gearboxes?
All I can say is that, being he out-qualified Alex Buncombe, he knows what he's doing in there...
ReplyDeleteI remember being at PIR on Ferrari track days, listening to the men who owned Ferrari's of the same era. Double clutching was what they had to do to be fast.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't believe me, believe Phil Hill from an article he wrote for Road and Track: http://www.roadandtrack.com/racing/ferrari-gto-history
"I can't, however, be as enthusiastic about the gearbox, which has Porsche baulking-ring type synchros. This change may have been an advantage to the younger drivers (and customers) who weren't adept at proper double-clutch downshifting, but the synchros slowed the entire gear-changing process. In comparison with other Ferrari racing transmissions, the GTO's long throws and heavy feel seemed a step backward.
That gearbox, however, was the only thing about the GTO that wasn't a pleasure. Looking at the stark interior now, the car looks slightly unfinished, but in 1962 we couldn't have cared less. Here was a GT that had quickly taken us out of the era in which a driver was constantly balancing a car's virtues against its vices, to that time when the basic vices were gone and our only job was to make maximum use of the virtues. A GT with handling that had neither difficult understeer nor treacherous oversteer, and that was, best of all perhaps, predictable and confident."
Can I admit that I teared a little at the awesomeness of it all?
ReplyDeleteMax Werner has been driving the Breadvan for a number of years, and he knows what he is doing. If anything, the car seems faster everytime I see a new onboard video of it. Compare with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Pr3Yhu3nY