That moment when you realize you just stuffed a Lotus 49 at St.Devote.

Photo: Brando Cairone

A collective "nooooooooo" rose from all in the stands around St. Devote when Chris MacAllister stuffed his immaculate 1967 Lotus 49 into the barriers.   It happened on the first flying lap of practice for the 9th Monaco Historic Grand Prix on Friday.

Tough one for Mac Allister but you might not want to be is a member of his pit crew tonight as it looked to me the front right came off, just before the crash.

This particular car is of enormous historical importance:  it was in this car that the Ford Cosworth DFV engine made its debut, with a win at Zandvoort with Jim Clark.   Clark later drive this chassis to a win at Silverstone as well as in the US and Mexican Grand Prix.

Hopefully there are spares on hand to fix this amazing car before Sunday's race.

Jim Clark's Lotus 25

Beautiful

Jim Clark's Lotus 38 driven again at Indy!

Dario Franchitti had the chance to drive the fantastic asymmetrical 1965 Lotus 38/1 belonging to the Henry Ford Museum Racing in America collection.
Racing in America will be an first of its kind interactive educational exhibit within the Henry Ford Museum dedicated to preserving the history of American auto racing. Axis is proud to have been chosen as one of the features contributors to the Racing in America web site!

Racing in America


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9 Days in Summer

Keith Duckworth's knock-off ashtray next to his design table, how cool is that? Bummer cigs are bad for you now.

A "drama-mentary" about the birth of the legendary Ford Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve), the engine that changed the face of Formula 1.

The 3 liter eight eventually became a de facto spec powerplant, hugely succesful and favored by every "garagiste" team. Mosley and Ecclestone "grew up" in that era, maybe that explains their quest for a similar situation for today's F1.

And here is the rest of it.

The Quiet Champion

Quite a lively discussion about drivers and their talent in out Shanghai post below. Seemed like a good time to post a documentary about one of the legends... It's a full one hour show so make sure you have the time to enjoy it






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From Monza to Goodwood: a small world.

Some of our readers may remember an article I posted on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Jim Clark's last day at Hockenheim in 1967. You can find it here.

My question then was about the number 20 Lotus 43 you see in the picture, taken during the practice leading up to the 1966 Italian GP.

Records of the race show Jim Clark at Monza in 1966 indeed raced a Lotus 43 but with number 22. A Lotus number 20 is listed as driven by a privateer, "Geki" Russo and it was not a 43 but an older 33. I was confused but not for long, thanks to a special Axis reader....find out what happened

"I own the car! Jim drove the car in practice with # 20 , and raced it with # 22" read an email I received a few days after the post.

It turns out a gentleman from the UK has owned that very car for about four years and has been in the process of restoring it from the ground up. I include along with the contact from my archives, pictures of the car's chassis as it stands today.

The car will again see a racetrack again next year at the 2009 Goodwood Revival.

Many thanks to our reader and present custodian of this piece of Lotus and Clark legacy for clearing up this little mystery.

Small world indeed! Maybe an Axis field trip to the Revival will be in order in 2009!




If you study the contact sheets you will see all of the mid 1960s titans. Aside from Clark and "il Drake" Enzo Ferrari, you will see Colin Chapman, Jack Braham, Jackie Stewart, Lodovico Scarfiotti, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Ritchie Ginther, John Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini, Dan Gurney, Giancarlo Baghetti.

Anyone interested in obtaining prints please feel free to contact me ac@axisofoversteer.com

It was forty years ago today.

I don't have any direct recollections of Jim Clark (my first GP memory is of Bandini's accident in Monaco) but I do remember reading everything about him in those fantastic "Année Automobile" books my father used to have.

In my grandfather's archive I found these pictures from two season earlier at the Italian GP of 1966. If you look through the contacts, you will see most of the 1960's racing titans. It was the first appearance of the Eagle-Westlake v12 and the Honda v12, driven by Ritchie Ginther. Look carefully enough and you will see a pit sign for the fictional "Manetta-Ferrari" from the film "Grand Prix"!

If I can ask for some help from our readers: I always though that the racer with the black helmet in the number 20 Lotus 43 was Clark but the official results of the 1966 Italian GP list car number 20 as driven by Giacomo "Geki" Russo, who had rented an official Lotus car for the Italian Gran Prix (Can you imagine? The ultimate arrive and drive) .
However the same results list Russo in a Lotus 33 like the number 24 (Peter Arundell). Can anyone clear up the confusion? Russo must have looked very much like Clark, similar hair and build.




Video tribute by "Juihi" from New Zealand