1949 24 heures du Mans

The 1949 24 heures du Mans marked the return to racing at the Circuit de la Sarthe after World War II.

There were 49 starters for the race, driving Delages, Frazer Nashs, Bentleys, HRGs, Aston Martins, Healeys, Simcas, Talbot-Lagos, and for the very first time, Ferraris.

Two Ferrari 166 MMs were entered, one being driven by the team of Luigi Chinetti and Peter Mitchell-Thomson (Lord Selsdon) and the other by Jean Lucas and Pierre Louis-Dreyfus.

The Ferrari of Chinetti and Lord Selsdon kept a stead pace near the front while the Ferrari of Lucas and Louis-Dreyfus crashed out early on lap 53.



Lord Selsdon was feeling quite ill at the time, managing a total of only 72 minutes of racing, so Luigi Chinetti did the lion’s share of the driving for the race.

Eight hours in, Chinetti pushed the Ferrari into the lead, which he kept to the end, nursing the car with a slipping clutch.

Amazingly, it was Luigi Chinetti 3rd Le Mans win, having also won in 1932 with Raymond Sommer and in 1934 with Philippe Étancelin.

It was also a landmark win for the fledgling Ferrari company, and a hint of the future domination that Ferrari would have on the race through the 1950’s and the early 1960’s.

Ferrari – A Heritage of Racing

Any automotive racing history artist documenting racing history through their art will be asked why there are so many Ferrari subjects featured.




A quick look at the Formula 1 history quickly explains the reason; Ferrari has been the Formula 1 Constructors Champion for a total of 16 times!!


The 2nd most wins comes from the Williams Team with 9 Constructors titles.



Ferrari also dominated sports/GT racing from the late 1940’s into the mid-1960’s.



Enzo Ferrari’s passion for racing is well-documented; his primary reason for selling road cars was the finance his racing endeavours.


That Ferrari passion runs deep in the hearts of us automotive artists too!!

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1978 Canadian Grand Prix

This coming weekend, it’s the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Canadian Grand Prix first became a Formula 1 event in 1967 with the race held at Mosport Park near Toronto, Ontario. Through the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s the race was shared between Mosport Park and the Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Québec.

As speeds built up, it was felt the Mosport and Mont-Tremblant were not safe enough, so for 1978, a new Formula 1 track was built in Montréal called Circuit Île Notre-Dame on the island of Notre-Dame.


Pen&ink and markers on 11.5"x 9" watercolour paper
© Paul Chenard 2013

For that inaugural race, Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, along with teammate Carlos Reutermann, were there racing Ferrari T3’s for Scuderia Ferrari.

Cold and wet weather greeted the teams for practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, and Villeneuve managed to get his car to 3rd place on the starting grid behind Jean-Pierre Jarier (Lotus) and Jody Scheckter (Wolf).

The rain was gone for race day, but it was bitterly cold and cloudy, not ideal racing conditions. Villeneuve stayed with the leaders from the start, and as they dropped out he moved up to take the lead, driving in a smooth and steady way.

He went on to win his first Grand Prix race in front of the home crowd on the new track, a real storybook ending!

After Gilles Villeneuve’s passing in 1982, the track was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his honour.

An Addiction to Writing Books

It’s been a few years since I published my first book “Silver Clouds: The 1934 Grand Prix Season”.

That first one was somewhat of a “bucket list” project, something that I thought I should do before moving on to the next life … there is a next life, isn’t there?

It wasn’t easy, but at the same time it was.

There were so many things to deal with ­– budget, research (so much research!!!), aesthetics, design, logistics, editing – real hard work, but overriding all of that was passion for the project, and a curiosity to see what the final result could and would be.

I wrote it, illustrated it, designed it, hand-assembled it, and self-published it. As I had no idea what would happen, I made it a limited edition, signed and numbered, of 50 copies.

It was never THE book on the 1934 season, it was MY book of the 1934 season, yet it did very well and sold out quickly as the reviews came in.

The book bug has been biting me ever since, so I’ve now written my second book.

I’ve taken a different track this time. Still wanting to self-publish (to maintain aesthetic control), I chose the go through Blurb books for all the book/magazine/catalogue options available to the writer/designer/artist. Their user-interface is also nothing short of brilliant!

This time, my new 10"x 8" hardcover book “Ferrari in Art” features the Ferrari motorsports art that I’ve created over the years, with descriptions and stories of the art and subject.



You can take a look at my new book offering by going to this link:
www.blurb.ca/bookstore/detail/6772551-ferrari-in-art

With each order, the buyer has a choice of 1 of 4 (10"x 8") Ferrari posters.

By the way, even though I have scratched that itch, there are still a few books in me waiting to get out …

My Summer “Vacation”

This past Summer, I travelled to the United Kingdom and Belgium to attend events and sketch what I found interesting.

I’ve been working at refining the idea of “live” sketching, where I sketch an interesting motorized vehicle on-the-spot, no matter what the context or situation.

The most interesting aspect of it is the not-knowing what will happen next, and be able to adapt to any changes, whatever they may be.

There are always spectators who have questions, or who want to chat, which I very much appreciate; it’s comforting as an artist to have so many people interested in what you do. There are also the professional photo-journalists who look for that different image to make their story-telling more unique.

There are the changing weather conditions (especially in the UK and Belgium!); wind, rain, the movement of the sun … they all impact the final result.

Other things that impact the art, or more accurately, the artist, are the noises of racing engines being tuned, exhaust fumes that burn the eyes, flames coming out the exhaust pipes, or even the race car being moved.

Finally, there is the time crunch of trying to get 2 artworks done in one day, for which I don’t always have much control over.

Sometimes the car is racing within the 2 hours, so there is a minimum amount of the art-piece that needs to be finished. For a land speed record car at the Brooklands Reunion, I had to reset up 3 or 4 times to get the artwork finally finished.

Below are the 16 artworks that I created at these 5 events … my summer “Vacation” …

Silverstone Classic




Brooklands Reunion



Goodwood Revival





Spa Historic 6 Hours



Sywell Classic Pistons & Props

Ford wins in Ferrari’s Playground

History is made, most often, when the status quo is upset and turned on its ear.

The path that history takes is often formed from passion, anger, determination, and luck.

Ford was looking to stroke its international profile through racing, their “Total Performance” initiative. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday …

They approached the biggest player in international racing Ferrari with a purchase proposal, having heard though the grapevine that there might be an opportunity.

Ford’s offers were rebuked in a Ferrari nationalistic master-plan for Italian funding.

In the scorn of rejection, Ford vowed to win against Ferrari, at any cost.


Pen&ink and markers on watercolour paper
© Paul Chenard

The purse was opened wide, very wide indeed, but it did finally happen in the sweetest way possible … a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1966 24 heures du Mans with the Ford GT40s … better than a Hitchcock thriller, to the utter stunned silence of the crowd.

History was re-written …

Ford GT40 @ 50

50 years ago this year, one of the most iconic GT/sports racing cars appeared on the scene.

In the early 1960’s, Henry Ford II launched the “Total Performance” program, hoping that the race-winning image would push Ford automotive sales worldwide.

Though the campaign covered all matter of motor sports, Ford was particularly focused on the 24 Heures du Mans, which is considered one of the world’s most prestigious races.

Ford attempted to purchase Ferrari, who had won 6 times in a row (1960-1965), hoping that together, they could win Le Mans. Ferrari back out of negotiations, having used Ford’s bid as leverage for a deal with Fiat.

This enraged Ford, and he vowed to put all of his company’s resources into beating GT/sports Ferrari on tracks worldwide, with a primary focus on Le Mans.
Pen&ink and markers on light blue archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2013

The resulting British-designed/built race car was designated the GT40, GT standing for Grand Touring, and 40 representing its overall height of 40 inches.

After a few years of ironing the bugs out, Ford’s GT40’s took the first 3 spots in the 1966 running of Le Mans, racing Mark II’s.

In the 1967, Ford returned with the American-developed and built GT40 Mark IV’s, and took the first spot, famously driven by Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt.

By 1968, Ford decided that they had reached their goal, and shut the GT40 program down. John Wyer’s Gulf Racing team (J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.) took some of the GT40 Mark II’s and brought them to Le Mans in a high level of fit and finish.

They took the 1968 (drivers Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi), and 1969 (Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver) 24 Heures du Mans, both in the exact same car!

By 1970, the GT40 was just another obsolete race car, and Porsche took the Le Mans rei(g)ns. Today the GT4o is a highly respected collectable.

Gilles Villeneuve – 31 Years Ago …

31 years ago today, Formula 1 lost one of its most impassioned and exciting drivers, one we will never forget …


“… in equal cars – or sometimes in a lesser car – when I want someone to stay behind … I think he stays behind.”

My laser-cut Ferrari GTO

For my laser-cut stainless steel Ferrari GTO piece, I chose to show Mexican driver Pedro Rodriguez on his way to winning the 1963 3-Hour Continental race at Daytona. Rodriguez was racing 250 GTO #4219.

This race later became the now famous 24-Hours of Daytona.

My laser-cut GTO piece is power-coated stainless-steel, hand-painted with white highlights, is 25"x 10" (63.5cm x 25.4cm) and weighs 4 lbs.

It's been featured in Motor Sport (UK), Wheels Canada, Classic Motorsport (US) and Octane (UK) magazines.

I'm only doing a very limited edition of 10 copies. If you are interested in acquiring one, please contact me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com

Wheels.ca Gift Ideas

With the Holidays racing towards us at break-neck speed, gift ideas might be dancing in loved-ones heads.

I was very happy to see that Gary Grant of Wheels.ca has done a feature on gift ideas in the current Fall/Winter issue.

He has feature my large laser-cut stainless steel Ferrari GTO limited edition (of 10) art-piece.

Merci, Gary!

Motor Sport Magazine – November 2012

Started as the Brooklands Gazette in 1924, the title changed to the current Motor Sport in 1925.

It is one of the oldest automotive magazines on the planet, and is certainly one of the most respected.

I have the huge honour of having one of my art pieces featured in the “Desirables” section (page 125) of the November 2012 issue of this wonderful magazine.

They are featuring my new limited edition (of 10) laser-cut GTO sketch from stainless steel, which I had powder-coated red. I then hand-painted the white details directly on the piece.