"Silver Clouds" reviewed in Automobile

Late last year, I sent copy of my limited edition book "Silver Clouds: The 1934 Grand Prix season" to Jean Jennings, President and Editor-in-hief of Automobile magazine to get her impressions.

Just before Christmas, Jean called me to interview me about my book. She asked very good, detailed questions about it, and it was a great interview.

On Tuesday, the March issue came out on the newsstands, and the review was published in Jean's column "Vile Gossip", which is always the last page sign-off of the magazine.

As you can read, the review is wonderful, with Jennings really capturing all the subtle elements and the "raison d'être" of the book.

Now, I'm more eager than ever to start book #2 of my series on a significant year from each Grand Prix decade. This next one will cover the 1986 Grand Prix season.

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.

The Best of the Season to my Readers!

Beautiful Auto Union die cast racers

Recently, I was contacted by Dutch gentleman Paul Schilperoord about a collection of 1/43 German die cast Auto Union toys. He was looking for any support information that I could provide on these little gems, which he had picked up in Germany.
Paul is a writer and he came across the collection while researching his book: http://www.ganz-volkswagen.org/

He's done a blog post on these Auto Union toys; you can read it here: http://anakronismo.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/auto-union-model-racing-cars/

As a longtime collector of vintage racing toys, I have to say that these are rare and stunning!

The most stunning aspect of these circa 1947 Zamac-cast racers is that some of them are clearly painted in matte military paint! This is highly unusual, and the first time that I've seen it. There are 5 colours in all, and three of those are matte.

If you are interested in acquiring one or more of these rare toys, contact Paul directly at info@ganz-volkswagen.org

You won't be disappointed.

James Dean and his Porsche 550 Spyder

James Byron Dean was born on February 8th, 1931 in Marion, Indiana.

He is known mostly for the brilliance of his acting in his only 3 feature movies: East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant. He received two posthumous Best Actor Academy Award nominations, for East of Eden and Giant.

He is less well known for his automobile racing activities. In 1953, he started with a race-prepared MG TD, then trading up to a Porsche 356 in 1954.

He showed some skill on the track, so he again traded up to a Porsche 550 Spyder. He had actually ordered a Lotus X for his racing activities, but its delivery was delayed so Dean settled on the Spyder.

His language coach for the movie Giant, Bill Hickman, called him “Little Bastard”, so Dean had that painted in script on the back of the Porsche by legendary pin-striper Dean Jeffries.

On the morning of September 30, 1955, Dean and his mechanic Rolf Wütherich set off from Competition Motors in Los Angeles to go to a sports car race in Salinas, California.

On their way there, a 1950 Ford Custom Tudor coupe, driven by 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed, took a fork in the road, his left turn bringing him head-on into the path of Dean’s Porsche.

Wütherich survived the crash, but Dean was not as lucky and died about 10 minutes afterward.

Interestingly, he was quoted as saying, "People say racing is dangerous. But I'd rather take my chances on the track any day than on the highway."

Sadly, he was right.


Artwork
For the past little while, I've wanted to do a piece on James Dean and his 550, so finally I got around to it. I call it "Immortality", and it's done in mixed media.

The background is acrylic on 70 year-old unused canvas board (my dad's), Dean and his mechanic are in pen&ink and archival markers on illustration board, on which I also illustrated the wheels in Prismacolor pencils.

The Porsche 550 Spyder is on 18-gauge sheet aluminum, which I engraved, sanded, painted on with oil model paint and pen&ink, cut out, filed and sanded, and finished in gloss varnished. The Porsche is about a 1/4" off the canvas ...

The size of the piece is 16"x 12" (40.6cm x 30.5cm), unframed.
It's framed in a black floating frame ...
I included part of a quote of his that I found appropriate for this.

This piece is is available for sale; please contact me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com  if you are interested.

The Automotive Word from the East

In the latest Automobile magazine (December 2011), one of my favorite automotive journalists Jamie Kitman makes an interesting journey through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, cruising in a new Jaguar XJ.

On his travels, he meets up with an old friend of his Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who happens to be the President of Estonia.

Along the way, he also met with a friend of mine, journalist/writer/engineer Margus-Hans Kuuse; he even provides a sidebar into to Margus-Hans in his feature.

Margus-Hans is the main info source of all things automotive in Eastern Europe, and has been that source since the Soviet era of the early 70’s. 

A couple of years ago, Margus-Hans used my Cevert portrait in a story of his, and I’ve since had the honour of being counted as one of his numerous friends.

It’s wonderful that this amazing pillar of automotive journalism be recognized for his groundbreaking work. Bravo!

Racing History Greeting Cards

Recent, I decided to develop some greeting card sets for sale.

There are 5 different themes available:

1) Sports/GT Cars of the Early 60's  © Paul Chenard 2011

2) Ferrari 156 F1 "Sharknose"  © Paul Chenard 2011

3) 1934 Grand Prix Season  © Paul Chenard 2011

4) Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's  © Paul Chenard 2011

5) Hawthorn's Race Cars  © Paul Chenard 2011

There are 4 different illustrations per set, with 3 of each illustration, with descriptions on the back, 12 in all; envelopes are included.

Each set sells for $30 CDN plus shipping and applicable taxes. Please contact me at paul.chenard@hotmail.com to order.

There a little something for everyone!

My “Silver Clouds” book reviewed …

There is a nice review by
Mark Dixon of my limited
edition book "Silver Clouds:
The 1934 Grand Prix Season"
in the November 2011 issue
of Octane magazine.

1st Annual Danville Tour d’Élégance

On September 17th and 18th, the first annual Danville Tour d’Élégance was held in conjunction with the 7th annual Danville Concours d’Élégance.

The events were held in support of Parkinson’s Research and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

I had the huge honour of doing the illustration/design work for the Danville Tour d’Élégance, which celebrated Phil Hill and the 50th anniversary of his Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship. My work included the poster, the banner, and the car sticker.

I also donated one of my Phil Hill signed limited editions, on which I added a "remarque" sketch of Hill racing a Ferrari Testa Rossa.

I've been told the event was a great success, and will be held again next year. I’ve also been asked to be part of it again, and of course I said ‘YES”!

Vincent Chiaro covered the event for egarage; you can read his story here:
http://www.egarage.com/events/danville-concours-delegance/

All photos courtesy and © of Vincent Chiaro
 http://www.vincentchiaro.com/

F1 Historic and Spa Six Hours 2011

After our weekend as art vendors at the Goodwood Revival, my friend Nicolas Cancelier treated me to a visit of the historic Spa-Francorchamps track to take in the sites and sounds of the historic races on Saturday September 24th.

We walked around the famous track, and I felt I was walking on hallowed ground …

The elevation changes were dramatic and the scenery was stunning; it helped that to day was warm and sunny. We came across a large number of rare beautiful race cars, and managed to catch some being driven in competition.

We visited the vendor area and met well-known and respected Belgian artists Claude Viseur (Clovis) and his spouse, along with artist Benoit Deliège. They treated me as one of their own, for which I am deeply grateful.

I even managed to realize my dream of sitting in my all-time favorite Grand Prix car, the Maserati 250F. I have to say that it was very difficult to not play the role of the determined racer at the wheel of that lovely car.

Interestingly, we came across 1957 pontoon-fendered Ferrari Testa Rossa, which has sporting a custom-made fast-back detachable roof! I had never seen such a thing, so I would appreciate any information you’d have on it.

This was an adventure that I will never forget.

All photos courtesy and © of Nicolas Cancelier 2011

Grand Prix History Calendar for 2012

I’ve created a jewel case calendar featuring Grand Prix racing through the ages.

Starting with Philippe Étancelin’s win of the 1930 French Grand Prix de Pau, it wraps up with the famous Gilles Villeneuve/René Arnoux battle for second in the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon.

The calendar has a different illustration for each month, with illustration details on the back; it retails for $25 CDN plus shipping/handling. The calendar size is 5.59" x 4.98" x 0.36" (14.2cm x 12.7cm x 0.9cm).

The Holidays are just around the next turn!

Spitfire 75th Anniversary

On my way to the Goodwood Revival, I had quite a long stop-over in Montréal (plus delays caused by a thunderstorm.)

Knowing that I would be there long, I brought some reference images and drawing materials, and did a freehand sketch of a Spitfire while sitting in the terminal.
Pen&ink and archival markers on archival watercolour paper 12"x 9" (30.5cm x 22.9cm)
Original sketch available for sale.

A retired Québecoise on her way to Paris stopped by to chat when she saw me sketching; she also liked to sketch, but not normally in airport waiting areas!

François Cevert 1944-1973

"Il y a 38 ans, une étoile s'est éteinte".


Sadly, today marks the 38th anniversary of the passing of the great François Cevert at Watkins Glen.

The Goodwood Revival 2011: An Artist-vendor’s View

This year, my good friend Belgian artist Nicolas Cancelier and I decided to take the plunge and show our art together at the 2011 Goodwood Revival.

Me and my good friend Belgian artist Nicolas Cancelier
© Dirk de Jager 2011

I have to say that it was an experience I won’t soon forget.

Here, we are joined by fellow artist Anna-Louise Felstead.

Dirk (centre), a friend, and I help chop down a small forest of Chimay.
 
The traffic in our booth’s alleyway was less than we anticipated, and I think it hurt all our neighbour vendors too.

Even with this fact, we had a good enthusiastic public, some of them even seeming shocked at the idea that two artist friends could show their art together, and that there could be such a large variety of artwork.

We also had drop-ins by Facebook friends, like David Anthony Betts, photographer/journalist Dirk de Jager and videographer/photographer Ralph Colmar, along with fellow artists Anna-Louise Felstead, Debra Wenlock, and Richard Wheatland. Due to a little creative marketing on our part, we also had a few celebrities drop by. I can safely say that the days weren’t boring.


Tiff Needell, Arturo Merzario and Paul Lovett all benefitted from our little limited edition gifts.
  
As exhibiting artists, we didn’t have much time to really take in any of the event and activities, but it was exciting non-the-less.

At the end of the day, we became regulars at the Bell Inn in Chichester. It’s a wonderfully friendly laid-back place with great food — the perfect escape after our 13-hour days!