Car Lust

Hudson Hornet

The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator in 1954 to form American Motors, and the Hudson nameplate disappeared from the marketplace completely after the 1957 model year. Half a century later, few people other than old car buffs were even aware that there had once been a Hudson Motor Car Company--until they saw the character of Doc Hudson in the 2006 Pixar film Cars.

While Cars is a fantasy, the character of Doc Hudson is firmly grounded in real life. There really was a Fabulous Hudson Hornet that dominated stock car racing in the early 1950s and won three straight championships.

Even off the racetrack, the 1951-54 Hudson Hornet was pretty fabulous.

Phil Hill--Loss of a Great

Sad news today, as reported by Jalopnik--Phil Hill has died today at the age of 81. Hill was the first American to win the Formula 1 World Championship, taking the title in 1961 at the wheel of the gorgeous shark-nose Ferrari 156. Hill also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and was as stellar a sports car driver as an open-wheel racer.

Hill was as known for his classy personality as his driving skill, and he brought his unique insight to the pages of Road & Track as a journalist for several decades. A legend and a gentleman, Hill will be dearly missed.

--Chris H.

Peugeot 405 Mi16

For both good and ill, the Peugeot 405 was a landmark car for Peugeot. On the good side of the ledger, the 405 was extremely well-received in Europe, winning the European Car of the Year award in 1988, and establishing a sterling pedigree in international rallying. On the negative side, the 405 was the last car Peugeot sold in the United States before slinking out of this market with its tail between its legs.

With the 405 Mi16, at least Peugeot left on a strong note. The standard 405 was a nice enough sedan--a good driver and pleasantly styled in what would become the clean, slick early 1990s idiom, with just a touch of Peugeot character to keep the car from complete anonymity. The Mi16, though, gave American drivers a taste of the Peugeot performance that Europeans had enjoyed with the 205 Turbo but that never quite infused the still-lustworthy 505.

Racecar Lust--Jaguar XJR-9/XJR-17

The Jaguar IMSA GTP program is an example of the dangers of aiming at a moving target; just when you think you have the target in your crosshairs, it's already moved on.

Encouraged by the performance of the independent Jaguar-engined Group 44 IMSA GTP cars, Jaguar brought its successful factory effort across the pond for a big-money, high-visibility assault on IMSA GTP in 1988. When building the program, Jaguar chose as its target the long-in-the-tooth gold standard of the series, the Porsche 956/962.

Racecar Lust--Toyota Eagle Mk. III

Over the last two days, we've explored two endearing misfits of the IMSA GTP series--the Mazda RX-792P and the Chevrolet Corvette GTP--but I think it's time to return to a dominant force.

Part of the appeal of sports car racing is in the sheer diversity of equipment allowed; unlike "spec" or near-spec racing, engineering is as much a part of the game as driving skill. However, this very strength means that it's difficult to prevent a single car or team from finding the magic combination and walking over the opposition. That's been true in every iteration, and the exotic specification of IMSA GTP made it more susceptible than most series.

Racecar Lust--Chevrolet Corvette GTP

Again, we're continuing the almost incredibly obtuse series remembering the forgotten IMSA GTP heroes.

On Monday, we discussed the Nissan GTP-ZX--a car that started its life fast but fragile, and was eventually honed by Nissan into one of the all-time sports racers. Like that Nissan, the Chevrolet Corvette GTP debuted with enormous speed but never held together long enough to win. The two cars even used similar Lola chassis upon their debut.

The difference is that while Nissan stuck with it and honed its blunt object into a weapon, Chevy just gave up and threw the Corvette GTP on the trash heap. That's a shame. As Nissan proved, the dominant Porsches were ripe for the plucking in 1988, and the Corvette's speed right out of the box indicated enormous potential yesterday's Mazda never reached.

Beyond all this, the Corvette looked and sounded cool, and its sheer unpredictability--would it win or explode?--gave it a sinister gravitas that most otherwise unsuccessful race cars never earn.

The image is from VetteWeb.com.

--Chris H.

Racecar Lust--Mazda RX-792P

Continuing the incredibly obscure IMSA GTP theme ...

Yesterday we reviewed the development of the Nissan GTP-ZX prototype from dud into stud, in which Nissan tweaked its racer into a surprisingly dominant force after several lean seasons. Well, today's story is not quite as inspiring.

Mazda won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 with its one-off Mazda 787B. After that stunning triumph, the automaker came into IMSA GTP with very high hopes--hopes that were subsequently dashed. The Mazda RX-792P came into IMSA GTP late, it wasn't very quick, it blew up easily, and Mazda pulled the plug after the car's first season. By any standard, the car was a miserable failure.

1970 Monaco Grand Prix

Submitted by Mochi Mochi

I know exactly where I was on Sunday May 10, 1970. I was a small child, and I was sitting in front of my parents' black-and-white TV--glued to it--watching the Grand Prix of Monaco. I loved cars. I especially loved Formula 1 cars. Watching the gods of racing hurtling around the streets of Monaco was a transforming experience--utterly captivating. The look and the sound of the cars was intoxicating.

I followed every minute of the race. Spirits sank when Jackie Stewart retired from the race due to engine problems, but when Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham took the lead I was elated. The final laps were a remarkable chase. The Austrian Jochen Rindt pressed Australian Jack Brabham but was unable to pass. The last lap seemed a sure thing for Brabham. Then--the final turn. At the Gazomètre I watched Brabham misjudge, lock the brakes, and plow the BT33 nose-first into the hay bales. He reversed and finished in second behind Rindt's Lotus 49. That last lap, that fateful hairpin, the slide into the hay bales--all welded into my memory. Those dancing visions of speed at the edge seem as vivid today as they did almost four decades ago.

Racecar Lust--Nissan GTP-ZX

Prototype sports car racing, in which drivers pilot two-seat fendered sports cars either very similar or very different from production cars, has a tendency to operate in a boom-bust cycle. This is invariably the process:

Step 1 - Independent racers band together to form a new series with new technical regulations aimed at keeping costs low.
Step 2 - Over the first few seasons, the independents slowly build competitive fields and entertaining racing.
Step 3 - Big auto manufacturers identify the growing series as an opportunity for exposure. They then jump in with wildly sophisticated and exotic equipment, bringing increased fan excitement.
Step 4 - After roughly five years of exciting, white-hot competition, the cars become so expensive that the independents can't compete and are forced to leave.
Step 5 - The costs rise so high, and the competition is now so thin that the factories begin to drop out.
Step 6 - The series slowly dies.
Step 7 - Return to Step 1.

One of the most interesting boom-and-bust cycles came in the 1980s and early 1990s in the form of IMSA GTP--the top-level American sports car series of the time. IMSA GTP sports cars took the form of wildly exotic closed-roof cars, powered by a variety of engines--V-8s, V-12s, twin-turbocharged V-6s--with so much power and aerodynamic downforce that the most advanced GTP cars were quicker than Indy cars on many tracks.

Group B Eulogy and Videos

There's a great conversation going on in the comments thread of the Lancia Delta post regarding rallying and great rally videos; truly brilliant stuff.

I'm a big rally fan and obviously a Group B fanatic; heck, I've already featured the Audi Sport Quattro, Ford RS200, Renault 5, Lancia 037 Monte Carlo, and Lancia Delta. I'm stunned that I haven't done the Porsche 959 or Peugeot 205, and no doubt the Citroen BX and MG Metro will get their time in the sun soon enough.

Group B was the completely intoxicating mix of ultra-high-technology, incredible speed, low traction, and poor crowd control. Imagine putting a Formula 1 car on a narrow, undulating, gravel road, and lining the sides with people leaning over for a better look. That was Group B.