1962 Targa Florio

The 1962 Targa Florio, the 46th edition of the famous sports/GT race, ran on 72 kms of perilous public roads through Sicily on May 6.

In the preceding years, it seemed to be a battle between the Porsches and the Ferraris.

For 1962, Scuderia Ferrari raced their Dino 246 SP (No.152), driven by Willy Mairesse, Olivier Gendebien and Ricardo Rodriguez, and their Dino 196 SP (No.120), raced Giancarlo Baghetti and Lorenzo Bandini.


Ricardo Rodriguez confidently racing the Ferrari Dino 246 SP
Pen & ink and markers on 12"x 9" watercolour paper
© Paul Chenard 2016

Ferrari No.152 finished the 10 laps in first place, taking it in 7hrs2mins56secs, followed by No.120 12 minutes later in second place.

Scuderia Ferrari would have to wait till 1965 to get those winner’s laurels back.

1956 Mille Miglia

Few races in the world were as difficult and dangerous as the Mille Miglia.

The race took place on public roads through Italy, starting in the northern town of Brescia, where it weaved it’s way down the western coast to Rome, crossed over to and up the eastern coast to finish again in Brescia.

It ran non-stop over the length of the day, and for 1956, totalled 992.332 miles (1597 kms) in full distance.

Historically, other than a few exceptions, the race was mostly won in Alfa Romeo’s. Alfa Romeo’s rein on the race changed in 1948 when Ferrari finally won.

By 1956, there were no less than 5 Scuderia Ferraris in the race, and not surprisingly, they took the top 5 positions!


Pen & Ink, watercolour pencils and acrylic pens on 18"x 12" watercolour paper.  © Paul Chenard 2016

The winning Ferrari 290 MM Scaglietti was driven “sans” navigator by Italian driver Eugenio Castellotti (1930-1957) in a time of 11hr 37:10.

It was a quite an accomplishment in an extremely miserable, wet and rainy race, with a number of fatal accidents.

René Dreyfus - Bugatti Star

Frenchman René Dreyfus was born in Nice in 1905.


When he was 22, he convinced his mother that he needed a Bugatti to get to the clients of his paper company faster. He actually used it for racing.

He was hired as a driver by a local Bugatti dealer, and in 1929 won the Grand Prix de Dieppe in a Type 35B. His real fame came when he beat the factory team driver Chiron in the 1930 Grand Prix de Monaco.

He was briefly with the Maserati team and later joined the Bugatti factory team. With them, he won the 1934 Grand Prix de Belgique, driving a Type 59.



For 1935, he drove for Scuderia Ferrari, alongside drivers like Nuvolari and Chiron. Dreyfus had one more major win before the war, racing a Delahaye to victory at the 1938 Grand Prix de Pau.

He went to the U.S. to race in the 1940 Indianapolis 500, finishing a creditable 10th place. It became impossible to return because of World War Two, so he stayed.


He enlisted in the United States Army during the war, and at the end of it became an American citizen. He opened the famous “Le Chanteclair” restaurant in New York City in 1953, which became a gathering place for the rich and famous, and for the racers coming to the city.

Dreyfus died in New York City in 1993.

The 1956 Italian Grand Prix

For the 1956 Formula 1 season, Scuderia Ferrari was fielding the Lancia-Ferrari D50’s that that they inherited from Lancia when they folded their racing efforts.

They had a strong driver line-up of Juan Manual Fangio, Peter Collins, Luigi Musso and Eugenio Castellotti.

Pen& ink, paint markers and markers on red archival stock 12"x 11'5" (30.5cm x 29cm) © Paul Chenard 2012
Private collection – limited editions are available.

Before the Italian Grand Prix, the last race of the season, Fangio had 2.5 wins, Sir Stirling Moss had 1 win, Collins had 2 wins, Pat Flaherty had 1 win, and Musso shared a win with Fangio.

Points-wise, it was a very close match-up between Fangio, Collins and Moss, with all 3 having a good chance at winning the World Championship into that last race at Monza.

During the race, the Monza track, with it’s steep banked section, took it’s toll on the Ferraris, with the D50s of Castellotti, Fangio and Musso dropping out.

Pen& ink and colour pencils on gray archival stock © Paul Chenard 2010
Detail from "Peter Collins – Targa Florio 1955" limited edition.

When the remaining D50 of Collins came in for a pitstop, he spotted Fangio there, and immediately hopped out of his car to hand it over to Juan Manual so he could get back into the race. Fangio came in second place behind Moss, giving him enough points to take the Championship.

When he was asked why he so unselfishly gave up his car, thus his Championship chances, Collins said that he thought that Fangio deserved it more.

Spoken like a true gentleman!

Richie Ginther: The Race Car Developer

Paul Richard “Richie” Ginther was born in Granada Hills, California in 1930.

He was raised in the same town as Phil Hill, and worked for Douglas Aircraft in the tool and die shop. Ginther met Hill and helped him in the repair and maintenance of his race cars.

He started his own race career in 1951, driving a Ford-powered MG. Shortly afterward, he was drafted to the Korean war, and worked on aircraft maintenance. 

Page from the 1959 Fuller Brush catalog.

Once out of the military, Ginther was drafted by Hill as his riding mechanic for the 1953 Carrera Panamericana, racing in a Ferrari 340 Mexico Vignale. They ran well until they left the road and severely damaged the Ferrari. They returned the following year, racing a Ferrari 375 MM Vignale and finished in second place.

Page from the 1959 Fuller Brush catalog.

Not long after Hill left for Europe to drive for Scuderia Ferrari, and Ginther took his place in the States, racing more and more frequently, gaining successes.

He drove Healeys, Porsches, Aston Martins, and finally Ferraris. He moved to Europe, joining Hill with Ferrari, where he stayed for the 1960 and 1961 seasons. He was instrumental in the race development of the famous 156 F1 “Sharknose”.

Sharknoses at Spa 1961, where Ginther finished in 3rd place. Pen&ink, pencils and markers on white archival stock 12"x 9" © Paul Chenard 2012


From there he moved to BRM for 1962, also helping in the development of their Championship-winning P57 Formula 1 car.

Tamiya 1/20 Honda RA272 kit that I built.

He joined Honda in 1965, racing their new RA272 F1 car. In the last Grand Prix of the season in Mexico, he won the race, giving Honda and Goodyear their first Formula 1 win. Unfortunately, it was Ginther’s only Formula 1 win.

Sketch on a package I shipped to California for a good client.
Pen&ink and markers on Foamcore.  © Paul Chenard 2012

Ginther had a small part in John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film “Grand Prix.”

Ginther finally retired in 1967, and sadly passed away in 1989 while camping with his family in France.

1934 Grand Prix de Nice

In the beautiful coastal setting of Nice, France, the 1934 Grand Prix was vaguely reminiscent of Monaco.

The racers started along the Quai des États-Unis, with the waterfront and grandstands to their left, and the cityscape and pits to their right.

1934 Grand Prix Season – Grand Prix de Nice – Alfa Romeo P3Limited edition of 50 – 14.5”x 11” (36.8 cm x 27.9 cm) – $150 USD plus S/H

At the green flag, they raced off down the Promenade des Anglais, past the Hôtel Negresco, downshifting quickly at the tight hairpin curve to the right, back down the Promenade, upwards through the city, around the Jardin Albert 1e, and back to the waterfront starting point.

Three Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos (driven by Louis Chiron, Count Trossi, and Achille Varzi) squared off against seven Maseratis (whose drivers included Tazio Nuvolari, Philippe Étancelin, and Whitney Straight), one Bugatti team car driven by René Dreyfus, and some privately entered Alfas, Bugattis, and Maseratis. Both the Mercedes and Auto Union teams chose not to participate.

The race start saw Varzi and Chiron leading, with Nuvolari and Dreyfus battling for third place. Dreyfus crashed out, allowing Nuvolari’s attention to shift to Chiron. But Nuvolari’s Maserati was not up to another duel and threw a piston.

After the necessary pits stops by all the racers, Étancelin’s Maserati took second place, with Trossi slipping into third position.

With Nuvolari’s retirement, there was no one to really challenge Varzi’s lead, and the somber Italian took the race.

1934 Grand Prix de Monaco

As the first “Grande Épreuve” of the 1934 Grand Prix season, Monaco was, and has always been, a dramatic venue on the Mediterranean Sea.

It is one of few city courses in the world and considered the most prestigious of all the Grand Prix’s. The Monaco Grand Prix’s started in 1929 and it is still run today.

Guy Moll in an Alfa Romeo P3 rounding the Station Hairpin ahead of René Dreyfus in a Bugatti Type 59
Pen&ink, markers, and pencil on archival white stock 12”x 9” 
© Paul Chenard 2010

Original art & limited editions available.

For this April 2^nd race, a few of the cars running needed modification to meet the new 750kg rules. Both the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams decided they would not participate in any racing until the May 27^th Avusrennen.

From the flag, the race lead changed hands quite often between the Bugatti T59 of René Dreyfus and the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo P3’s of Louis Chiron and “Guy” Moll.

Pen&ink © Paul Chenard 2010

Later in the race, while Chiron was in front, he had a slight off at the Station Hairpin, relinquishing his lead to Moll, who kept his position till race end.

It was a great start for this talented and popular 24-year-old Algerian rookie Scuderia Ferrari driver.

Creative moments ...

We are into the New Year, which can be a time for spiritual renovations. In our house, it’s time for basement renovations.

We are repainting our basement, along with replacing old furniture and old carpets.

I’ve spent over a week painting, so I’ve not had time to do any of my racing history art. To keep my creativity flowing, I decided to do a quick painting with the 2-inch brush I was using on a wall we were repainting before the roller-paint was put down.

It shows Peter Collins driving a Ferrari-Lancia D50 in 1956.

The painting is gone now, but it was worth the creative moment!

All the Season's Best!

It’s a joyful time, but as we gather together with family and friends to celebrate, it’s also a time to fondly reflect on those who are no longer with us, and raise a glass to their memory.

Cheers!

I want to wish all my wonderful family and friends all the very best!

Happy Holidays!

1934 Italian Grand Prix

The Italian Grand Prix was held on September 9th at the Autodromo Di Monza. In the previous year’s Grand Prix, serious accidents had taken the lives of Giuseppe Campari and two other drivers. To lessen the speeds, it was decided that the track should be shortened from 10kms to 4.3kms, with many chicanes added in. With 500kms to cover for the Grand Prix, this made for a longer, more grueling race.

Mercedes had their W25, Bugatti their Type 59, Scuderia Ferrari the Alfa P3, while Maserati introduced the new model 6C-34, to be driven by Tazio Nuvolari. The balance of their team would drive the 8CMs.

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

Original art & limited editions available.

At the start, Hans Stuck took an early lead for Auto Union but was soon overtaken by Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola. His teammate Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch was not competing, having been injured in a crash at the previous Swiss Grand Prix. Battling amongst the leaders were Luigi Fagioli (Mercedes), Archille Varzi (Alfa Romeo), Nuvolari (Maserati) and Count Carlo Felice Trossi (Alfa Romeo).

Unfortunately for Nuvolari, the Maserati mechanics forgot to top-up his car's brake fluid after weigh-in, so he slowly lost his brakes during the long race.

The 4.75 hour race, with it’s 1600 total corners, took a toll on the drivers and the cars. Fagioli, whose car broke down, later replaced Caracciola, who had to be lifted out of his car. Stuck had to be replaced by zu Leiningen, and Trossi by Comotti.

Varzi dropped out with mechanical woes, so the race finished with Caracciola/Figioli in first place, Stuck/zu Leiningen in second, with Trossi/Comotti in third. After 4th place Chiron (Alfa Romeo), Nuvolari finished a respectable 5th place, using his gears to brake for the last half of the race.

Avus Formule Libre Race 1934

Enzo Ferrari was looking for an advantage over the sleek machines of Mercedes and Auto Union at the Formule Libre race at Avus in Berlin on May 24^th, 1934.

Pen&ink, markers and pencil on white archival stock 12"x 9"

© Paul Chenard 2010
Original sketch available, as is the limited edition.

The banked Avus track was known for it’s high speed, so Ferrari commissioned Cesare Pallavicino from the Breda Aircraft Company to design a streamline body for one of the Alfa Romeo P3’s. “Guy” Moll would drive this special “Aerodinamica” for Scuderia Ferrari.

Before the race, the Mercedes W25’s were withdrawn with fuel pump problems. With rain falling at the start of the race, the Auto Union Type-A of Hans Stuck quickly took the lead.

As the rain stopped and the track dried, Moll started catching the leaders. He passed teammates Varzi, then Chiron, who later dropped out with a broken oil pipe. He then took the lead from Stuck, who lasted only two more laps before his clutch failed.

With almost a minute and a half lead over the second place Varzi, Moll took the race, much to the chagrin of the Stuck’s hometown crowd.

Sadly, this fine driver lost his life at the Coppa Acerbo in August of the same season.

Scuderia Ferrari - Spanish Grand Prix 1971

In the squeaky-clean, high-security paddocks of todays Formula 1 teams, it's easy to forget that it wasn't always so ...
While preparing the Ferrari 312B's of Scuderia Ferrari at the 1971 Spanish Grand Prix, the race car technicians were working in a dirt paddock, open to the elements, and the occasional curious local.

Pen&ink and markers on watercolour paper 12"x 9" (30.5cm x 22.9cm) © Paul Chenard 2010

Limited editions are available.

The car in the foreground was Belgian driver Jacky Ickx's mount, in which he finished in second place behind Sir Jackie Stewart driving a Tyrrell-Ford.

Alfa Romeo & the 1934 Grand Prix Season

The 1934 Grand Prix season introduce to the world a glimmer of the powerful government-subsidized German Grand Prix racing teams. Both Mercedes and Auto Union (formed by the racing union of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) brought new racers to battle, highlighting advanced technologies.

These new technologies were so new that they were not fully developed for the 1934 season. The very well organized Scuderia Ferrari developed and managed the Alfa Romeo racing cars for the company, and that season’s Alfa Romeo domination was the result; they won 18 out of a total 35 races.

Pen&ink, markers and pencil on white archival stock 12”x 9” (30.5cm x 22.9cm)

© Paul Chenard 2010
Original sketch available, as is the limited edition.

In the image above, the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo P3’s of Varzi, Chiron and Trossi are ready to race the Grand Prix de France at Montlhéry. They came in respectively 2nd, 1st, and 3rd place.