Stopwatch

The 1,000th Formula One Grand Prix of the modern era was recently held at Shanghai in China. We thought it would be cool to look back at some fascinating photos from the very first race - the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone on May 13, 1950. Re-posted with permission from the Klemantaski Collection blog, Peter Sachs author.

When IMSA published rules for a new kind of prototype class in 1980 called IMSA GTP, BMW collaborated with March Engineering in the UK to produce one of the first examples. That started the ball rolling for what would turn out to be a long, successful participation of March-based GTP cars in the Series, including two overall championships in 1983 and 1984.

It's well known that post-war road racing started at Watkins Glen in 1948. But how and why did racing move "up the hill" from the village? Read all about it in this post from IMRRC Historian Bill Green.

The 1975 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring saw BMW take victory with the potent CSL in the hands of Hans Stuck, Sam Posey, Brian Redman, and Allan Moffat. But it wasn't without controversy as corner workers kept radioing in that the car's brake lights weren't working in turns one and two.

The selection of motor racing's early "national champions" was not very scientific and has endured a number of revisions over the years. Famed motor racing historian Don Capps proposes that revisionism used in American football might help explain what happened.

The 12 Hours of Sebring is one of the three most iconic sports car endurance races in the world, along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Sebring event has been held uninterrupted since 1952 but its future wasn't always assured. The 1972 race looked to be the last - until a trio of heroes stepped in to save it.

The 1989 Camel GT season was hotly contested between the TWR Jaguars and the powerful Nissan GTP ZX-Turbos run by the highly successful Electramotive team. Nissan had won the six races leading up the Portland round in August that year. And they would have won that race as well, if not for highly unusual circumstances at the end of the race.

Martin Raffauf recounts a few of the highlights of the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1981 when he was a crew member on the winning Bob Garretson Porsche 935.

A.J. Foyt was drafted into Preston Henn's Porsche 935 in the wee hours of Sunday morning during the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1983. He didn't tell the co-drivers. Find out what happened next in this account excerpted from the book: “IMSA 1969-1989: The Inside Story of How John Bishop Built the World’s Greatest Sports Car Racing Series,” authored by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf, available now from Octane Press and wherever books are sold.

The 1976 24 Hours of Daytona was a race plagued by unusual and unforeseen circumstances that stalled much of the 72 car field and brought the race to a grinding halt for the better part of three hours. The following account of the race is excerpted from the book: “IMSA 1969-1989: The Inside Story of How John Bishop Built the World’s Greatest Sports Car Racing Series,” authored by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf, scheduled for publication in January 2019 from Octane Press.