Sports Cars [antikvár]

«P-i'-" I ' ¦•-•Í;Í.I- !VI;'I .'Vi-',. 'I' I' r/r , I.-.I- -n, - ; Introduction High performance in one form or another, allied with a special quality of motoring above that of a basic mechanical conveyance, are major criteria for the choice of subjects in this book. Definitions are too easily blurred in this field of motoring, and the subjects are very numerous and widely varied; to Justify our choice we would observe that sports cars are for sport - and that sport is amusement, diversion, fim, or simply something to enjoy, according to which dictionary one consults. Sport, of course, is also competition, and the competition content in this book is strong, running from cars suitable for club driving tests through those which have taken part in major rallies, to the exalted few with Le Mans-winning status. We do not claim to include every 'sports car' ever built. Some omissions are deliberate: for instance, we stopped short of including competition versions of production saloons, even though the fiercest of these can frequently out-perform contemporary 'traditional' sports cars. Certain American GT models have nevertheless been included, both for their interest, and for their degree of departure from stock, which in our eyes - and certainly those of their native clientele -brings them within the catholic selection. One might add that such cars are as valid as some of the poseurs' machines which enjoyed the looks of full-blooded sports models. Other omissions are by reason of their borderline importance, lack of space, or even lack of accurate data, but the overall contents aim to provide representative coverage of an intimidatingly broad field of 'performance' designs: a car may have a vee-twin or four-cylinder side-valve engine just about able to give 30bhp, or a voracious llOObhp turbocharged flat-12, and yet both can rate as 'sports cars'. Ever-changing conditions and some very flexible competition regulations through the years have produced many such anomalies, and it is essential to look back to the origins to understand how such tilings came about. In essence, although not in definition, the sports car has existed almost as long as motoring. The real pioneers had to be enthusiasts, in deadly earnest too, as they struggled to make the horseless carriage a realistic form of transport and a commercial proposition. By the early years of the 20th century, however, the concept of the automobile had advanced sufficiently for enthusiasts, sometimes too glibly termed playboys, to begin to appreciate superior performance qualities in their motor vehicles. Thus were various redundant racing cars rebodied in more habitable styles to convert them into unusually fast tourers; certainly 'sports cars' if not yet so termed. The trend towards (and beyond) a fast touring category was accelerated by important German road events held in the Edwardian years, including the Herkomer Trophy Tours of 1905-1907 (and the Prince Henry Tours which succeeded them), the Kaiserpreis of 1907 - often recalled as a race for racing cars but in fact a race whose regulations called for sensible bodywork - and the pre-1914 Alpine Trials. The Prince Henry Tours in A mixed bunch at the Nurburgring as mid-engined cars became the norm, including three Ford GT40s. a Ford Mustang. Porsche 906. Ferrari 250 LU and an Alfa Romeo TZ