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Real Vintage Racing

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CameraMAN certainly had a preoccupation with tail-ends and headlights! Certainly made me want a >>Miss<< Corvette!!

Some Big Name Drivers at the end too!
 
Randy Forbes said:
CameraMAN certainly had a preoccupation with tail-ends and headlights! Certainly made me want me want a >>Miss<< Corvette!!

Some Big Name Drivers at the end too!
Click to expand...

Yeah, Stirling Moss seemed to be a big Corvette fancier:

325242_307870212585594_100000878549171_896192_1591870677_o.jpg
 
[h=2]Re: Real Vintage Racing[/h]
CameraMAN certainly had a preoccupation with tail-ends and headlights! Certainly made me want me want a >>Miss<< Corvette!!

Some Big ends too! :lol:
​
 
DerekJ said:
Is that a race or an auto test! Were they racing on ice! That is unbelievable, Ive never seen so many 'offs'.
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Derek,

I always enjoy seeing these early days of U.S. amateur sports car racing. Things were certainly a lot simpler then, with the racers driving their cars to the tracks, removing the bumpers, taping up their headlights and having a go. Certainly today's vintage/historical racers are prepared to a much higher level and tire technology is far improved. Like the saying goes, "I remember when the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny." Safety precautions were much looser and I doubt any track would ever let these '59 cars out on a course today. I also think it was much easier for a driver to get on track than today. I went on vacation to Southern California with my parents about the time these movies were shot and the clothing styles and California lifestyle sure brings back a lot of memories.
 
Those were the days........when sex was safe.........and driving was dangerous. How things have changed!
 
BoyRacer said:
Those were the days........when sex was safe.........and driving was dangerous. How things have changed!
Click to expand...

NAW!!: These days about the same as they were then here in Losangeles.------:playful:
 
Rick -

Great find....Did anyone else notice Steve McQueen and his Lotus 11, #33 about 7.20 minutes in?

View attachment 37769
 
The film is definitely edited to show lots of spins, etc. but judging by how many of the clips were shot from the same vantage points in what seems like the same sessions, the cleaning up of fluid spills--either during or between the sessions--does not seem to have been a priority. Maybe kitty litter had not yet been invented. To their credit most of the drivers seemed to have remembered the "When You Spin--Both Feet In" rule as there were only a few times when guys would snap back onto the track, etc.

I must take issue with Rick's statement that not a lot of the cars could now gain entrance to events--they could assuming they had proper safety gear including real roll bars with proper bracing, etc. Most of those pieces of pipe look downright scary!
 
Michael Oritt said:
I must take issue with Rick's statement that not a lot of the cars could now gain entrance to events--they could assuming they had proper safety gear including real roll bars with proper bracing, etc. Most of those pieces of pipe look downright scary!
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Mike,

I think we totally agree, it was the safety equipment to which I was mainly referring. OTOH, and you can speak to this far better than me. Today's vintage racers are prepared to a much higher state of tune than back in the day and a lot of these '59 racers would be running at the back of the pack today if they didn't get some performance improvements.
 
I just realized my last post on this thread was wrong when I said "driving" instead of "racing". I meant to say ...... When sex was safe and racing was dangerous. How things have changed. Today we race car drivers have aircraft style fuel cells, dual master cylinder braking systems, 5 or 6 point restraints, 3 layer kevlar (or whatever else) fire protection driver's suits, Snell rated driver's helmets, roll bars and/or full roll cages, on board fire suppression systems and many other safety features that are routinely checked by the scrutineers before we are allowed on the track.
With sex today we have AIDS, and herpes and other things I can't even spell ........that I don't recall hearing about back in the day when racing was dangerous and sex was safe.
 
Agreed Rick, though the term "performance improvement" can vary greatly depending upon one's willingness to spend big bucks in attempting to gain an advantage and of course the sharpness of a tech inspector's eye.
 
When seen the line through the corners seemed to vary widely. Many of the spinners seemed to come in hot, tight, and then want to somehow keep that and not go wide. Great style and driving though, love the cars and girls, though they were all my mothers age I'm sure! SoCal in the 60's and 70's when I grew up was much the same. Riverside and Ontario were our haunts. Just watching and wishing we were able to compete. By then the cars were already much more specialized and expensive.
Chris...
 
just realized my last post on this thread was wrong when I said "driving" instead of "racing". I meant to say ...... When sex was safe and racing was dangerous. How things have changed.

Nope either way things are about the same here in LA.--:highly_amused:
 
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