mardi 4 mars 2014
THE MINT 400: THEN, NOW, ALWAYS
On the shelf for nearly 20 years, America’s toughest off-road race is back.
By: Brandon Workman
To get exclusive and authentic gear, check out the Mint 400 Shop.
Go to the movies, look at re-designed sports cars, or watch throwback uniforms in action – it seems we can’t get enough of the past. But often, enthusiasts are quick to point out dusting something off from the past compromises its authenticity, or makes a mockery of it altogether. The Mint 400 stands as an exception.
Known to many as America’s toughest off-road race, the Mint 400 is also the country’s oldest, with roots tracing back to 1967. Originally planned to promote The Mint Hotel in Las Vegas, the race stretched from its namesake hotel to the Sahara Hotel in Lake Tahoe, California—with hundreds of miles of desert and rough terrain between them. That inaugural field featured just two dune buggies, but eventually the race grew to include motorcycles, cars, and trucks.
Quickly, the Mint became much more than a publicity event, growing in reputation to attract high-profile entrants from all corners of the earth, including Indy 500 winners, astronauts, comedians, and television stars. The race demanded winners balance horsepower with handling and endurance with wits, and its challenge matched every bit of its reputation.
Despite that reputation, however, in 1988, The Mint Hotel was sold to a neighboring casino (along with the rights to the race). Two races later, the Mint 400 was dead.
But not out.
Nearly 20 years later, longtime sponsors and enthusiast groups combined to resurrect the famed off-road race. And its reception has been nothing short of remarkable. Just a few years after its 2008 re-birth, the field grew to feature more than 320 teams and the event has now taken a place among Red Bull’s Signature Series.
This year, former Indy 500 and Mint 400-winner Parnelli Jones, will return to the desert as Grand Marshal. The return of Jones, who is often credited for launching the event into the national spotlight, is a fitting testament to the Mint 400’s off-road legacy—both then and now.
Note: The Mint 400 will take place on March 15, 2014 and will air on NBC on July 6th, at 2:00pmEDT.
Images ©: The Mint 400.
from http://huckberry.com
Intercontinental Rally 2014
1974 PORSCHE 3.0 CARRERA RSR
The Porsche 3.0 Carrera RSR is a car that dominated international GT racing in 1974 and 1975, it blew the competition out of the water in the Trans Am, IMSA, and the FIA World Championship racing series – cementing its place in Porsche history as one of the most important factory race cars ever built by the Stuttgart-based marque.
Porsche built the Carrera RSR on the frame of the road-spec 911 for homologation purposes, much of the body was replaced with fibreglass to save weight and the cockpit held a single seat on the left hand side. The widened wheel arches held racing slicks with a 10 inch wide tire fitted in front and a hefty 14 inch tire at the rear, the engine utilised a twin-plug ignition system and a capacity of 2,992cc.
The engine block was cast from aluminium to keep weight down and a large dry sump oil tank fed fluid to a front bumper mounted oil cooler, allowing the Carrera RSR to remain competitive during endurance racing events. For 1974 the compression ratio was increased from 9.8:1 to 10.3:1 which resulted in 330hp reaching the rear wheels at 8,000rpm.
The 5-speed gearbox for the 1974 car was sourced directly from the 1973 model, it was mated to a new dry plate Fichtel and Sachs sintered clutch that many in the Porsche engineering team felt would better handle prolonged circuit use. Independent suspension was fitted at all four corners with coil over springs and disc brakes were also bolted into place – giving the RSR track performance that doesn’t seem antiquated even today, 40 years later.
With a kerb weight of 900 kilograms (1,984lbs) the Carrera RSR was lightning fast, with its predictable handling and almost bullet-proof reliability it’s undeniable that it forced other GT racing marques to up their game significantly in order to stay competitive. The descendants of the iconic RSR are still being produced and raced by Porsche, the most recent being the 2014 Le Mans entry.
The RSR you see here was purchased in 1974 by Giorgio Schön and his co-driver Giovanni Borri, for the World Manufacturers’ Championship of the same year. It was painted the night it arrived from factory and it was raced the next day at Monza in practice for the 1000 kms – where it achieved fastest time in the GT Class.
The RSR you see pictured here is currently for sale via Maxted-Page and you can click here to read more about it, or enquire after it if you have some room in the collection.
TOYOTA TACOMA POLAR EXPEDITION TRUCK
The standard Tacoma is one tough truck — but if you're trying to make it to the South Pole, you're going to need something a bit beefier. Something like this Toyota Tacoma Polar Expedition Truck. Built specifically for that purpose, this truck made the run to the South Pole and back in just under 40 hours. Special features include a supercharged 4L V6 engine, a specially-tuned transmission, a suspension and undercarriage from Marconi, a steel body, four racing seats, an engine heater, upgraded batteries, a solar panel, and seven (!) fuel tanks with a total capacity of roughly 330 gallons — so while you won't have to fill up often, it's going to be brutal when you do.
Moynet LM75: Three angels for Le Mans
In 1968, André Moynet tried his luck at Le Mans – and failed. In 1975, he returned to the Circuit de la Sarthe with refreshed prototypes and an all-female trio of racing drivers. But this was just the start of the surprises...
Okay, so the United Nations proclaimed 1975 as the Year of the Woman – but that was unlikely to worry Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell and the other veterans of Le Mans. Nevertheless, on 14 June 1975, there was an unknown, blue-painted prototype in the pit lane, with a surprisingly feminine team: Christine Dacremont, Marianne Hoepfner and Michèle Mouton, the latter lady revered today as the most successful female rally driver of all time; but in 1975, her career was in its early stages.
The life of an action hero
The blue race car with the orange muzzle was a looker, built by André Moynet – a man whose life history, even before 1975, read like an adventure novel. As a successful fighter pilot in the Second World War, he was decorated with military honours and, in 1968, promoted to the rank of Colonel in the French Air Force. When the War had ended, however, he had sought plentiful new challenges: as a test pilot, in politics, and as an ambitious creator of aeroplanes, boats – and eventually racing cars.
Return to Le Mans
As early as 1968, Moynet wanted to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with his own prototypes, but only qualified as a reserve and did not make it to the starting grid. On his second attempt in 1970, his entry again failed to qualify but finally, in 1975, André Moynet was determined to succeed. His trump card was that he had managed to infect the president of Esso SAF with his sporting enthusiasm, plus he also had a new racing car… with a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine from Chrysler Simca putting out 190HP at 7,000 rpm. Simca wasn’t officially involved and the company allowed Moynet to remove the logo from the cylinder block just before the race. The five-speed gearbox was from Porsche and, more relevant than all this were the aerodynamics. The new Moynet LM75 was aiming for success.
An unexpected victory
Dacremont, Hoepfner and Mouton were entered in the Group 5, under two-litre class – in direct competition with female duo Marie-Claude Beaumont and Lella Lombardi in the Alpine A441 of Elf-Switzerland. But just one and a half hours into the race, the Moynet started to suffer technical problems and, by the middle of the night, the rev-counter failed. The mechanics had no spare cable so, from then on, the drivers had to judge everything by ear – a real feat when driving on the edge, hour after hour. The legend says that André Moynet had already retired to the bar to drown his sorrows when an excited teammate ran to fetch him: the Moynet LM75 had taken the class lead, in front of the Lola T292. Contrary to all expectations, and seemingly against all odds, Moynet’s car went on to win the two-litre class. It was yet another victory in the life of Moynet.
After the triumph came forgetfulness: for 35 years, the Moynet LM75 slept in a warehouse, before it was gently awakened and carefully made fit for racing. Today, the prototype sits at Atelier 46 in Paris, and is up for sale. This is a unique opportunity to own not just a Le Mans legend with a troubled history, but also the perfect race car for the Le Mans Classic 2014. As for choosing the three-member team of drivers, that will be down to the new owner.
The Moynet LM75 can be found in the inventory of Atelier 46 in the Classic Driver Market.
VINCENT MOTORCYCLE: THE ‘BLUE BIKE’
One of the most famous Vincent motorcycles of all time has just gone up for sale. Marty Dickerson’s Rapide—best known as the ‘Blue Bike’—is on show at Altai, a design studio in Los Angeles.
The Blue Bike has an illustrious history to match its stunning looks. It’s a ‘Series B’ Touring Rapide that was raced for almost half a century, ending with a final stint at Bonneville in 1997. Marty Dickerson himself was a remarkable 67.
Dickerson bought this Vincent motorcycle in 1948 when he was a mere 18 years old, attracted by its reputation as the fastest motorcycle in the world. He quickly pressed the bike into service, taking on the finest street-racers and drag bikes in Southern California. And he invariably crossed the line first, leaving established reputations in tatters. The Vincent motorcycle dealership in Burbank, struggling with non-existent sales and stock languishing in showrooms, took notice—and hired Dickerson to race throughout the southwest states in a drive to raise interest in the marque.
In the early 1950s the salt bug bit Dickerson and he went after the speed records. The Vincent was repainted in its now familiar colors, and from that point on, became known as the ‘Blue Bike.’ In 1953 Dickerson took the Class ‘C’ record with an average of 147.58mph, a mark that stood for over twenty years until a change of regulations and fuel grade allowed a trick Kawasaki to finally beat it.
Paul d’Orléans, writing for The Vintagent website, said: “The number of motorcycles worldwide which have endured serious competition for 50 years can be counted on one hand. Within this very special group, machines which have taken world records at Bonneville, and cemented the reputation of an entire brand in recognizably stock form, can be counted on one finger. The Blue Bike is unique.”
The Vincent motorcycle is for sale at Altai Design.
Stripped, Beaten And Amazing Welcome To Larsson Customizing
When you’ve built a car with as much impact as the Hemizon, people are naturally going to wonder what sort of a lunatic would put this thing together. Even more so, where would this crazy man reside? As it turns out, this particular crazy man resides in a subterranean dungeon. How appropriate…
It was the guts of a year ago, when we left Stockholm and headed out for the unknown in the Swedish hinterlands. Well, unknown for Ben and I because we don’t live in Sweden. Thankfully Annika and Rod do, so we were free to admire the view and the world’s largest Ikea en-route. Well, where else would it be?
Our destination was a small town called Nyköping. Essentially your typical Swedish town: quiet, unassuming and gentile in appearance. But hidden from the road around the back and beneath a large tyre-changing garage was an inconspicuous set of garage doors. Well, they would have been inconspicuous on any other day, but today the Hemizon was outside.
This is Henrik Larsson. You can probably guess that he’s the Larsson in Larsson Customizing, and rather disappointingly to some degree, he’s not stark raving mad. He’s actually a very nice man with a proper love for American automobiles.
“Since I was 18 years old, I’ve been building custom cars. I started out building prototypes for SAAB and restoring convertibles but I soon realised I love working with metal and I love working on cars, so I put the two together and it’s perfect.”
I grew up admiring American cars and car culture, yet funnily enough, I had to travel to Sweden to get my first taste of it in person. This Studebaker has an almost European feel to it wouldn’t you agree? It’s as though it’s easing me in for what’s to come.
There’s always a certain amount of intrigue and excitement when travelling into an unknown world and dealing with a sub-culture outside of one you may be more familiar with. However, this is exactly what I need on a regular basis – this is the beauty of Speedhunters. The Chevrolet pickup truck in the foreground looks like it might be slightly roof chopped… or so Bryn said when he saw the picture. Apparently the chrome ornaments on the top of the bonnet say it’s a ’57 model but the grille says it’s earlier, maybe ’55/’56. All of this is new to me, but it’s just the same when you think about subtle differences between any model range. That’s the great thing about looking around somebody else’s garage: you get to see so much more than you would just staying at home.
If I worked for any other publication or magazine, there’s only a very small chance that I would get to experience this other side of car culture or that I would ever have seen the creations that lay within Henrik’s workshop. Is that a Charger shell on the rottiserie? What’s that V8 on the floor over there and I wonder which classic those steels lived under?
The bulk of Larsson’s work is actually metalwork and repair and as someone who’s chosen a creative path in life, I’ve always been jealous of those who have the ability to turn rot into brand new metal. The transformation must be so satisfying.
It’s also Henrik’s and his company’s attitude towards traditional metalwork skills that I admire the most. “There are four basic tools which we use here for metalwork. With these four tools and some new sheet metal, you can pretty much make any panel for a car”
This self sufficiency means nothing is a barrier when it comes to creating your dreams, which just like anything else, are based on hard work.
It’s a timeless craft. Just imagine how many different things have been created by these tools in just this one garage, let alone on a global scale. The humblest of hand tools have given birth to the greatest of creations.
When you see how this craft is utilised and how much effort goes into the seemingly simplest of things, you really gain a whole new appreciation for the skill set.
This ’28 Chevy is a prime example. A less common base than its Ford brothers, its build precedes the Hemizon by a few years, but it sets the groundwork for what has become the Larsson Customizing house style.
That is of course, the raw finish. Everything you see in here has been crafted by hand, including the signature folds on the faux-leather door cards, which are made from sheet metal. It kind of reminds me of the Cutworm Specialties alloy dually we featured at SEMA.
If you’ve seen the diamond quilt on the door cards and interior of the Hemizon, you’ll be interested to know that this is the tooling used to create the same effect. It might also give you an idea as to just how painstaking the work is.
I base a lot of my personal automotive tastes around aesthetics. It’s shallow I know, but it’s something I have no control over. It’s what I like! Billet can be seen as being a little bit naff in the hot rod world, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Sure it goes against what a lot of traditional hot rod guys would say is the very ethos of the movement: it’s a new way of doing things that should be left off a true hot rod. But this is Sweden; a melting pot of styles and influences are at work here. So why not?
You may or may not have noticed this but there’s a little bit of Hemi love going on here. In fact, when Henrik bought the ’54 Hemi for the Hemizon, he didn’t really know what to do with it. He bought it solely because of the noise it made. He told us that, “I bought the engine [for the Hemizon] and it sat on a stand in the shop for a really long time whilst we were deciding what to do with it. Every Friday we would put some fuel in a can and then fire the motor up on the stand and rev it really hard! Upstairs, there is a normal office and everyone was always kind of like ‘What the ****?’ We loved Fridays, but the guys upstairs, well… they didn’t like Fridays so much back then.”
Whilst I’m sure the guys working here would love to spend all their time working on insane projects, the reality is that they spend most of their time resurrecting classics for the huge Scandinavian classic American car scene here. Given the subject matter, the work is on a massive scale.
And I do mean huge. Remember some of these machines can measure in at five to six metres long! It’s a pretty common sight to meet a couple of big ’50s/’60s American cars rolling down the highways here in Sweden, in between the hybrids and fuel-efficient Volvos that is. This badass black tri-Chevy is getting some more modern running gear as well as bodywork duties.
At this point I would usually say ‘I’ve no idea what the fascination is, or where it comes from.’ However, this time I actually know something (shock, horror, right?) and yes that’s a Buick Riviera. See? I’m learning…
All over Europe, we deal every day with small cars, with small fuel-efficient engines. So when we happen upon something like this ’53 Buick Roadmaster, it absolutely blows our minds. The size, the styling and of course the noise all play a huge part in our fascination in that little bit of strange. These are echoes of a bygone age, when fuel was pennies to buy and smoking was healthy… Probably.
It’s absolutely a case of the grass being greener, but so what? How many of you in SoCal have zero interest in American cars, but love your Japanese machinery? How many of you in Japan are the opposite?
It’s a little bit of wanting what you can’t have, which in turn makes you want it even more, but that’s the beauty of it. We will always aspire to the unobtainable.
Larsson Customizing, whilst maybe tame in the grand scale of things, is playing a much bigger role than I’m sure Henrik ever could have dreamt of.
They’re responsible for helping to develop a unique Swedish take on American car culture, whilst also doing his part to keep a scene alive on this side of the world. It’s no mean feat considering any parts required usually have to be sourced from the other side of the world. Aside from their work, their ethos and the incredible projects they turn out, projects that force us to constantly re-evaluate our tastes, they’re doing the most important thing of all: they’re allowing the fortunate few to realise their dreams, and in turn showing the rest of us that it’s possible. They’re helping to make the unobtainable, obtainable.
Paddy McGrath
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