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The loosely followed concept of the race organizers is to present the history of racing from the beginning to the more or less cut off date of allowable cars, mostly somewhere in the 1970s. That is to say the slowest and oldest ones usually are on the track first. Then as time progresses on the clock, the cars get newer and faster. This seems to work out nicely as the older cars are the simplest to maintain and allows the 'hotter' cars more time to do a 'fix' or two. Also from a viewers point, the morning sounds are the nearly pleasant 'chugging' of the large bore lower revving older engines. The shrieking of the later high revving cars is held back to the last bits of the day making for an anticipatory climax to a high octane fueled display of noise, metal and speed.
American race driver Derek Hill, son of World Champion Phil Hill, drove for the fans, and we will assume he also was thrilled, the lone surviving Maserati Tipo 151, of which only three were ever constructed,
Alfa Romeo SZ 1960 Kaid Marouf
Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3 1934 Eric Shirley
Austin Healey 3000 S Sebring 1959 Kevin Adair
BMW CSL 1973 Steve Walker
Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona 1965 David Hinton
Ford Roush IMSA GTO Mustang 1991 Steve Schuler
Franklin Torpedo Phaeton 1912 Dick Deluna
Lola T163 1969 Greg Mitchell
Lotus 69 1971 Jon Norman
Lotus Eleven 1957 Steve Sanett
March 76B 1976 Ethan Shippert
Maserati 4CL 1939 Paddins Dowling
Maserati 250F 1957 Jeffrey O'Neill
McLaren M6B 1968 Khyle Pinkman
Ferrari 250 GTO Scaglietti Berlinetta sn-4757GT 1963 Thomas Price
A lovely Ferrari 250 SWB
Porsche drivers like to 'push' bigger bore cars
MG MGA 1957 Michael Silverman
MG NE 1934 Pete Thelander
American style road racing
The iconic Sunbeam Tiger turns 50 years old this year, and one of its highlights will be a large number of these nimble two-seaters racing in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion this week.
Before there was the Sunbeam Tiger, there was the Sunbeam Alpine, which was introduced in 1959. It was an attractive two-seat convertible that was equipped with a 1494cc, four-cylinder engine. It was an adequate road car, but suffered from under-acceleration compared to other racing sports cars from MG and Triumph.
Enter Carroll Shelby. Fresh off his success of transforming the AC Ace into the Shelby Cobra, the Rootes Group, owners of Sunbeam, asked Shelby what he might be able to do with the Alpine. After an initial meeting, an agreement was struck with Shelby who would be paid $10,000 for the engineering and a potential commission per car sold. Back in the States, ace hot rod fabricator George Boskoff and the legendary Phil Remington went to work on packaging a 260 cubic-inch Ford small-block into the engine bay.
The resulting modifications instantly propelled the Sunbeam onto the main stage, and with a new identity. Named for the world land speed holder of 1926, the Sunbeam Tiger was the least expensive way to have a Shelby-engineered, small-block, Ford-powered two-seat British roadster in the '60s.
On the race track, the Tigers were proving their determination. Rather than running against their previous four-cylinder counterparts, the ante was upped and were pitted against Jaguars and Corvettes; and winning. Most of the performance options available were called "LAT" options, which stood for Los Angeles Tigers, the ones out of Shelby Americans' shop. Among the options popularized by dealer Hollywood Sports Cars were mag wheels, four barrel Holley carburetors on Edelbrock manifolds, limited slip diffs and traction bars. In 1967 there was an upgrade to the renowned 289 V8.
Later in Tiger production, Chrysler Corporation acquired the bankrupt Rootes Group and found itself selling Ford powered sports cars which were adorned with the Chrysler Pentastar on one fender.
The Sunbeam Tiger was further popularized among American audiences by the '60s television show "Get Smart." A total of 7,085 Tigers were built between 1964 and 1967, and are highly sought after by enthusiasts who enjoy putting the cars through their paces in vintage racing events and road rallies.
Source: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Media 2014
Ralt RT1 1977 Steve Millen
Shadow DN4 1974 Craig Bennett
Sunbeam Tiger 1965 Dale Akuszewski
TOJ SC 306 1978 Hans Hugenholtz
Webster Special 1964 Jonathan Ornstein