1971 ADAC 1000km Nürburgring

The Nürburgring 1000 km race (now called the 6 Hours of Nürburgring) started in 1953.

Through the beginning history of the race, Maserati and Aston Martin featured strongly, with a switch to Ferrari in the early 1960’s, then to Porsche in the later part of that decade.

For the 1971 edition, Porsche had an extremely strong presence there, with a least 9 models represented – 917K, 910, 908/03 & /02, 907, 906, 911T & S, 914/6 – a real armada!

https://youtu.be/C-fj-OP_p7c

The only cars providing a real challenge to the Porsches were the Ferrari’s (models 512M & S, 312PB, Dino 246GT) and the Alfa Romeo’s (models T33/3 & /2, GTA).



The S.p.A. Ferrari SEFAC 312PB of Jacky Ickx/Clay Regazzoni took the pole grid post, followed by the Autodelta S.p.A. Alfa Romeo T33/3 of Rolf Stommelen/Nanni Galli and the International Martini Racing Team Porsche 908/3 of Vic Elford/Gérard Larrousse.


Acrylic on 12”x 10” (30.48cm x 25.4cm) canvas
© Paul Chenard 2015 – Original painting available.

Elford quickly took an early lead and, together with Larrousse, won the race, followed by the 908/3’s of Pedro Rodroguez/Jo Siffert and of Gijs van Lennep/Helmut Marko.

A very Porsche clean sweep … they took 7 of the top 10 places!

Porsche in Formula 1

When someone thinks of Formula 1, the Porsche name does not necessarily come to mind. That wasn’t always the case though.

In the late 1950’s, Porsche was finding success in the sports car and GT classes of racing, sometimes beating out the much more powerful teams. That was the case for the 1956 Targa Florio where the Porsche 550 of Umberto Maglioli and Huschke von Hanstein won the Sicilian race against the Maseratis and Ferraris.

In the late 1950’s, Porsche decided to try their hand in the 1500cc class F2 races with the Porsche 718. In 1961, the former F2 class became Formula 1, so Porsche went F1 racing with the 718.

It’s 1957 design showed itself as outdated, so Porsche produce a new car, the 804, for 1962.

Porsche 804 Formula 1, rear view, 1962
Pen&ink, paint markers and markers on gray archival paper
17"x 12" © Paul Chenard 2012
This original artwork is available, as are limited editions

American Dan Gurney brought Porsche their first and only Formula 1 win as a constructor, taking the French Grand Prix at at Rouen-Les-Essarts on July 8th. Gurney also finished 3rd at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on August 5th.

With the upcoming Formula 1 rule changes, Porsche decided to withdraw from Grand Prix racing in 1964 to focus on sports and endurance racing.

In 1983, Porsche returned to Formula 1 as an engine developer through TAG for McLaren and helped them win the 1984 and 1985 Constructors Championships.

Stirling Moss – 1959 Nürburgring 1000 km

L’art et l’automobile is one of North America’s oldest and best known gallery and auction house of vintage automobilia and art.

They current have a wonderful auction on the go, and they are featuring one of my artworks.

As my friends and clients know, I do an annual signed and numbered Holiday card, for which I create an original artwork.

My very first Holiday card original artwork is included in the current auction, and it also includes an artist proof of the limited edition card, issued in December 2008 to a very limited run of only 75 cards.

Prismacolor pencils on gray archival stock 18"x 7" 
© Paul Chenard 2008

The original artwork shows Sir Stirling Moss driving at 10/10ths on his way to phenomenal win of the 1959 Nürburgring 1000 km in an Aston Martin DBR1. He is being chased by second-place finisher Phil Hill in a Ferrari TR59.

This is an opportunity to pick the first of what is now an annual tradition.

Herbert Müller – Nürburgring 1971

At the 2007 Mosport Vintage Racing Festival, I had to honour of meeting Peter Felder, who was Swiss driver Herbert Müller’s best friend and race team manager. We’ve been friends ever since, and Peter has come to visit me a few times in Nova Scotia. Peter’s stories of his racing experiences are completely captivating; he was kind enough to write one of these down for me:

In 1971, Herbie decided to run one of his Ferrari 512 M’s in an InterSeries race at the Nürburgring. (Unfortunately, Pedro Rodriguez perished in one of his 512’s at the Norisring a few months earlier). In any case, Herbie had transmission problems in qualifying and subsequently started last. At the start, the last rows were still in the last corner before the start-finish line. A young, wealthy German driver in a McLaren M8C, not being used to the torque of a 427, he spun coming on to the starting straight, in the process crashing into Herbie’s 512. The red 512 became airborne, flew across the track upside down and hit the pit lane guardrail; the guardrail sliced into the car right behind the driver seat, which caused an immediate explosion. The car landed in the pit lane, still upside down and fully engulfed in burning fuel.

The following is what Herbie told me afterwards in the hospital:

“There was a tremendous crash … I knew that I was flying through the air because I saw the blue sky behind the pits … and I knew that the car was on fire...and I though ‘This is not going to be good’. I braced myself waiting for some kind of impact, which is what happened … twice! All I was worried about was not to hit my head anywhere … then the car came to a stop … and I immediately release my seatbelt and since I didn’t know that I landed upside down, I fell into the burning fuel. I turned myself around … tried to kick open the door … no go … considered knocking out the windshield … didn’t work … so I tried the other door … and it opened enough for me to get through … and I knew that I was on fire … tried to figure out where to run … (and here comes the kicker) you know those Germans … I remember seeing a couple of fancy Mercedes cars on display next to the tower, so I thought … if I run towards the cars, somebody will try to save me so I don’t blow up the Mercs!”

Herbie and I had a lot of laughs about this whole ordeal.

Regrettably I was with him on May 24^th 1981, or ten years later, at the same track, when he crashed into Bobby Rahal’s crashed, stationary, Coca Cola sponsored, Bob Aiken owned 935.

Later that day I went to the Adenau hospital … but this time, we could not laugh together.

1934 Eifelrennen Formule Libre

At the Nurburgring track, bad weather delayed this important race by a few hours.

Mercedes-Benz was making its first official entry into the Grand Prix season at this event after extensive testing and adjustment of the new W25.

Team manager Alfred Neubauer was feeling the pressure to succeed in their homeland. Their star driver had not yet fully recovered enough from his 1933 Monaco crash to participate so Mercedes brought in a new driver Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch, along with Luigi Fagioli to drive their new racer.

Pen&ink, markers, and pencil on archival white stock 12”x 9” 
© Paul Chenard 2010

Original art & limited editions available.
Auto Union had Hans Stuck, Hermann zu Leiningen and August "Bubi" Momberger to drive their Type A.

Scuderia Ferrari had Louis Chiron and Mario Tadini driving the Alfa Romeo P3. Bugatti had no entries in the race, and nor did Maserati.

Three classes of cars were racing together, flagged off one class after another, a total of forty-four cars in all.

Italian Fagioli took an early lead until he was ordered by team manager Neubauer to let his German teammate von Brauchitsch by. Later in the pits for fueling, Fagioli argued furiously with Neubauer over this. He started off again, but with only one lap remaining in the race, he pulled over and abandoned his race car in protest.

With two Auto Unions out of the race, Stuck had taken the sole remaining Type A to a sizeable lead over von Brauchitsch. Some believed he would go non-stop and win the race. He finally did have to come in for fuel and tires, and the Mercedes driver took the lead, which he would keep to the checkered flag.

The win was a stunning debut for both the Mercedes-Benz team and their new driver.

1959 Nürburgring 1000 km Race

Prismacolor pencils on gray archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2008

In 1959, Sir Stirling Moss convinced Aston Martin Company owner Sir David Brown to lend him an Aston Martin DBR1 sports car to participate in the Nürburgring 1000 km. Brown’s only real goal for 1959 was to win at Le Mans, so allowed only one car to go.

Moss was completely convinced that he could repeat his previous year’s win there, against some strong Ferrari opposition.

Driving at 10/10ths for the whole race, Moss did indeed reel in his second consecutive Aston Martin win at Nürburgring, with the assistance of his co-driver Jack Fairman.

In the illustration, Sir Stirling Moss gets ahead of second place winner Phil Hill; Moss’ win gave Aston Martin the additional points required to clinch the World GT Championship.

Maserati 250F - A Masterpiece of Speed & Beauty

Polistil-Tonka 1/16 1980's (Italy), Matchbox Models of Yesteryear #Y10-4 1/36 1980's (England), Mercury #52 1/43 1950's (Italy), Solido Ré-edition 1990's (France)

If you ask knowledgeable Grand Prix (or general racing) historians what is the greatest race car of all time, 9 out of 10 would say the Maserati 250F.

Conceived with little funding, but much enthusiasm, dedication and know-how, the 250F was built along fairly conventional lines, but with an incredible visual aesthetic. The car looks fast just siting there, and with it's balanced light chassis and powerful inline 6-cylinder engine, it was!

It's first victory came in 1954 at Aintree in the capable hands of Sir Stirling Moss, and it's last major win came in the legendary 1957 German Grand Prix at Nürburgring in the hands of the Argentinean master Juan Manuel Fangio, giving him his last of five World Championship titles.

The image above includes the Maserati 250F diecasts in my collection. Below, I've included a few of sketches I did of Fangio driving the rolling masterpiece, the heart of the masterpiece, and a paper model I created.





Fangio at Nürburgring 1957, pencil on paper
© Paul Chenard 2006
Charles McCabe Collection


Fangio at Monaco 1957, pen & ink on paper © Paul Chenard 2006


Prismacolor and pencils on red archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2008

Paper model that I created using Adobe Illustrator on a Mac
© Paul Chenard 2001

Juan Manuel Fangio in a Maserati 250F, Nurburgring 1957

Pencil on paper 9"x 6" © Paul Chenard 2006
Charles McCabe Collection

In my opinion, Fangio was the greatest Grand Prix driver there ever was. His brilliance was opitomized in his maestro drive of the 1957 German GP.