Iconic race driver, team owner and constructor Dan Gurney died Sunday at the age of 86. Gurney passed away due to complications from pneumonia.
“With one last smile on his handsome face, Dan drove off into the unknown just before noon today, January 14, 2018,” Gurney’s wife Evi and family said in a statement. “In deepest sorrow, with gratitude in our hearts for the love and joy you have given us during your time on this earth, we say ‘Godspeed.’”
Born in New York but raised in Southern California, which remained his home for the rest of his life, Gurney was renowned as one of the fastest and most versatile drivers in the sport’s history.
The two driving feats for which he is best remembered – the 24 Hours of Le Mans victory that he shared with A.J. Foyt in 1967, followed by a win (a week later) at the Belgian Grand Prix in an Eagle Formula 1 car of his own construction … More
WHEN IT COMES TO CARS, RACING DEFINED THE 20TH CENTURY.
The sport laid out the state of the art, pushed us and the machine beyond what we thought possible.
To celebrate this magazine’s 70th anniversary, we chose three pivotal decades in both R&T history and motorsport — the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. We selected three manufacturers that made their bones racing in those eras, companies whose balance sheets are now largely dependent on a vehicle unlike any pure-bred track car: the heavy, thirsty SUV.
We chose a vintage race car from each manufacturer, plus … More
On May 28th 1983, a 25 year old German Racing driver named Stefan Bellof drove a Porsche 956 around the Nürburgring Nordschliefe in 6:11.13, a record that stands to this day, and one that doesn’t look like it’ll ever be beaten.
The Nurburgring track length in this video is 12.9 miles and the same length used today. The GP circuit is different.
So lets take a look at why that record stood unbeatable for all this time and possibly for ever.
The cars that escaped from the racetrack to invade the public roads
Ford’s new GT was built to win the GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In order for it to qualify under Le Mans rules, Ford had to build a £420,000, 647bhp road car version. Manufacturers have been building these ‘homologation specials’ for years. Basically they’re racing cars that have to be brought back into a state of road legality.
Some of them have been pretty radical. Here are our favourites … More