Can-Am Cars in Detail


Book Description

The original Canadian-American Challenge Cup series lasted only 8 1/2 seasons, from 1966 into 1974, but what ground-shaking, car-shaping years those were. With minimal rules and lavish prize money, the Can-Am attracted top-flight teams and superstar drivers. It also encouraged innovation, and racing's most inventive minds brought out novel and astounding ideas. Chaparral, Lola, McLaren, Porsche and Shadow are among 22 of these epic machines revisited through stunning studio photography by Peter Harholdt and vivid descriptions by Pete Lyons, long considered the dean of Can-Am journalists.--Publisher's description.




Can-Am 50th Anniversary


Book Description

Forget the rule book and relive one of the most exciting race series ever with Can-Am 50th Anniversary! The first rule of Can-Am: There are no rules. Or at least damn few rules. The bodywork had to enclose the wheels and there had to be something that loosely resembled a passenger seat--if your passenger was a badly misshapen human or perhaps a lab monkey. Otherwise, set your racing mind free. No limits to engine options or output, no restrictions on aerodynamic aids or body shape. It was as close to unrestricted road racing as racing had ever gotten or would ever get again. And it was fantastic. From its introduction in 1966 to the end of its classic period in 1974, North America's Can-Am series was the most exciting, technologically advanced, and star-studded racing series of the day. Its essentially rules-free formula attracted everyone from crazed backyard engineers to specialists like McLaren, Chaparral, Shadow, and Lola to manufacturers like Ford, Ferrari, Chevrolet, and Porsche. Top drivers including Mario Andretti, Jackie Stewart, Parnelli Jones, Bruce McLaren, Denis Hulme, Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Jim Hall, Jody Scheckter, Chris Amon, George Follmer and John Surtees competed on tracks across the US and Canada taking time off from Formula One schedules and other duties to drive in Can-Am because the racing and the cars were so exciting. Can-Am 50th Anniversary offers a heavily illustrated look back at what is arguably the greatest race series ever to grace the roadracing circuits of North America. Photographer Pete Biro was Goodyear Tire’s official photographer and followed the series throughout the entire run from 1966-'74. The vast majority of the book’s images are unpublished or long out of circulation. Biro brings his unique perspective and his close relationship with the drivers, team owners, and constructors to bear on the captions while former AutoWeek editor George Levy provides an exciting text reflecting the thrill of Can-Am racing.




The Illustrated History of Triumph Sports and Racing Cars


Book Description

The Triumph Motor Company is known around the world for its iconic sports cars. The hugely popular TR series, Spitfires, and GT-6s represent the quintessential British sports car; rugged good looks were combined with performance and economy at a price everyone could afford. These sports cars are always in demand and prized by British car collectors, racers, and open-air motoring enthusiasts. Triumph understood the connection between competition success and sales success and was able to parlay rally and road racing wins into the best-selling sports cars in the world, particularly in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. The Works competition cars notched victories at Le Mans, Sebring, the Monte Carlo rally, and many others and inspired privateers to take their cars to the track. Every model came from a bloodline of racing. Triumph historian G. William Krause reviews every model in the sports car lineup. He covers the history, design evolution, and performance specifications from the first sports cars in the 1930s through the final cars built in 1981. Throughout Triumph's history a number of pivotal moments could have significantly changed the company's fortunes. This book also looks at the "what if" cars that never made it into production, including photos. Although they have not been built for more than three decades, their mark on sports car history is undeniable. Whether you're a fan of the spartan brutes of the 1950s or the refined comfort and performance of the last TRs, you will find the backstory of your favorites here. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial}




David Kimble's Cutaways


Book Description

For enthusiasts reading magazines such as Motor Trend, Road & Track, and others, David Kimble is no stranger. His brilliant cutaway artwork has been gracing the pages of those publications for years. Whether he illustrated engines, transmissions, full-car chassis, sports cars, race cars, or classics, his cutaway artwork revealed, in excruciating detail, things that a camera lens could never capture. In David Kimble's Cutaways: The Techniques and the Stories Behind the Art, Kimble reveals the secrets, techniques, procedures, and the dedication to craft that is required to produce these amazing illustrations. He covers the step-by-step procedures while producing fresh artwork for this book featuring a McLaren Can-Am car as well as a vintage Harley-Davidson. Although the procedures covered here are unique to Kimble, and pretty much a pipe dream to mere mortals, this title provides an inside look into how he does it. Also included are the stories and tales of how it all started, traveling the world to illustrate cars, behind the scenes with manufacturers, the Corvette years, as well as a gallery of many illustrations. Never before has David Kimble provided a look into his cutaway "skunkworks," or shared the procedures for bringing these beautiful technical illustrations to life. This book is a must-have for any automotive or art fan.




Inside Shelby American


Book Description

In the late 1950s, a young John Morton was transfixed with sports car racing. His dreams of competition eventually led him to enroll, in 1962, in the Shelby School of High Performance Driving. In a bold moment after the last class, Morton asked Carroll Shelby if he might come to work for the newly formed Shelby American. The answer was “Yes, here's a broom.” Thus ended Morton's college career and began his long racing career. Over the next three years, Morton would be a firsthand witness to the evolution of one of the most iconic sports car builders and racing teams of the 1960s. Inside Shelby American is his personal account of a company overflowing with talent, from designer Pete Brock to fabricator extraordinare Phil Remington to drivers like Dan Gurney, Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, and Phil Hill. The cars were equally captivating: AC Cobra, Mustang GT350, Ford GT, Daytona Coupe. In this book, Morton’s story is intertwined with the memories of other Shelby staffers of the period, revealing through historic photography and an untold perspective the rousing story of America’s most legendary racer and car builder.




McLaren


Book Description

McLaren: The Engine Company is the previously untold story of McLaren Engines, an American company founded in 1969 by Bruce McLaren and his partners to build engines for McLaren's legendary Can-Am and Indy Cars. From this base in suburban Detroit were born the mighty big-block Chevrolet V8s that powered the iconic orange cars to two of their five consecutive Cam-Am championships. McLaren's busy dyno rooms also spawned the howling turbo Offenhausers that put Mark Donahue and Johnny Rutherford in Victory Lane at Indianapolis three times between 1972 and 1976. For decades this non-descript shop was the hotbed of horsepower for factories and top independents alike. McLaren Engines developed the turbocharged Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine that powered Indy cars for both Team McLaren and Penske Racing. It rendered BMW's turbo engine for U.S. IMSA racing that later became BMW's Formula 1 weapon. The long list of race engines developed here powered Buick Indy and IMSA cars, BMW GTP cars, Cadillac LeMans prototypes, Porsche Trans-Am 944s and David Hobbs' F5000 single seaters. There were McLaren-built big-block turbo V8s for offshore boat racing and even a Cosworth-Vega engine for American dirt tracks! Author Roger Meiners combines his life-long passion for motor racing and technology with his historian's sensibilities to make the engines, cars, and key personalities come alive within this book's pages. Ride along with Meiners as he uncovers little-known details of the company's transition from a race shop to an engineering company, developing lust-worthy performance cars such as the sensational 1987 Buick GNX, the 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo, the FR500 Ford Mustang concept, and other projects that the public never saw. Today the company, known as McLaren Engineering, is a subsidiary of Canada-based Linamar Corporation, and is sought after by global automakers for its unrivaled testing, development and manufacturing capability.







Porsche 911 Road Cars


Book Description

One of the worlds most coveted high-performance sports cars, the Porsche 911 has undergone numerous mechanical and cosmetic changes, evolving a sports roadster into the very complex machine it is today. Follow the evolution of Porsches popular 911 as best-selling author/photographer Dennis Adler traces its history and reveals the many changes in its body and engine. Filled with Adlers stunning photographs, plus photos Porsche's archives, ads, brochures, and technical drawings.




The Chequered Past


Book Description

In the forty-year period between 1951 and 1991, Canadian sports car competition underwent a massive change, transforming itself from an amateur recreational pastime to a commercialized profession and from an individual sport to a spectacle for mass consumption. The Chequered Past is the story of the struggle over power and purpose within the Canadian auto sport that led to this transformation. The first comprehensive history of sports car racing and rallying in Canada, The Chequered Past traces the efforts of the national governing body - the Canadian Auto Sport Clubs (CASC) - to bring its sports car competition up to a 'world class' level, and to manage the consequences of those efforts in the second half of the twentieth century. David Charters traces the social origins of the sport and the major trends that shaped it: professionalism, technological change, rising costs, and the influence of commercial sponsors. Charters argues that while early enthusiasts set the sport on a course toward professionalism that would eventually produce world-class Canadian events and racers, that course would also ultimately change the purpose of the sport: from personal recreation to mass entertainment. As technological innovations drove up the costs of competing at the top ranks, racers were forced to rely on sponsors, who commercialized and ultimately gained control of the sport. The end result, Charters argues, was the marginalization of the amateur competitor and of the CASC itself. Based on extensive research into the CASC's records and dozens of interviews with former competitors and officials, The Chequered Past opens a window into the rich but virtually unknown history of the auto sport, and claims for it a place in Canadian sports history.




Never Too Fast


Book Description

This book details the story of Paul Tracy and his rise through racing’s minor leagues, setting and breaking records as he went. At 17 he was racing cars with twice the horsepower of the family cars his friends were just learning to drive. Veteran team managers and drivers knew they were seeing someone special on the track: a quiet kid with the looks of a boy scout and the desire of a champion. Soon Tracy dominated kart racing, won at Can-Am racing, and ruled Indy Lights. He then stormed into the Championship Auto Racing Team circuit, racing wheel to wheel with Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti. In those early races, even driving an underpowered car, Tracy proved he could run with the big boys. But Paul Tracy’s success has come with its share of hardships. His aggressive driving style on the cart circuit has made almost as many enemies as fans. He’s been criticized, penalized, and vilified both on and off the track. Nevertheless, two things remain consistent—his desire to drive fast, and his desire to win.