Are you, like me, a fan of motor racing history?
 

There is a great movie that covers just four seasons of Ferrari racing, from 1955 to 1958. During that time four of the Scuderia’s drivers were killed: Peter Collins, Luigi Musso, Eugenio Castellotti and the Marquis de Portago. A fifth, Mike Hawthorn, died in a road accident just three months after becoming World Champion.

The film, Ferrari – Race to Immortality, is packed with wonderful color archive footage that not only shows racing footage but also includes off-the-track footage of the driver’s hanging around, playing around, and relaxing with their beautiful girlfriends. Much of which was shot by Wolfgang von Trips, also a Ferrari driver who was to die at Monza in 1961. He loved his Bolex movie camera and took it with him everywhere. His 60-year old material has been lovingly digitized.

Soak up the beauty of racecars proudly wearing their country’s colors and not a single commercial message plastered on them. A lot of the footage centers on Hawthorn and Collins, plus interviews with Enzo Ferrari himself in Italian, with subtitles below. The tale is told through the voices of authorities that lived and raced during that time, as well others like Collins wife.

And the best part is the 90 minute video is it is Free on Demand if you are a Comcast customer on the STARZ channel. Also it can be rented or purchased from other sources.

I watched it yesterday. Even spotted a couple quick shots showing MGAs. I can’t wait to watch it a second time!

Thanks for the heads-up. I added it to my Amazon watch list.

Thanks. I'm a bit of a racing history buff. I'm downloading ($11) the movie now.

I've got some old original photos from a few tracks back in the 50's when my dad was hauling me around the country to see sports cars race.

This is from Road America on the original course from 1953. John Fitch (photo) won in a Cunningham. Ferrari came in 5th, 7th and 13th.

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That's cool. I've met Fitch and thankfully got his autograph before he passed. I've watched Cunningham race, '61 LeMans was the first time, and I have met his son.

Dave..... Thanks for the tip.

Wow. I would have loved that. I got to meet Phil Hill on three occasions over the years up at the Lake Street Cafe in Elkhart Lake but would loved to have met Fitch. There's a small tribute to him at Lime Rock.

I put all of the '53 photos from Road America onto DVD and my pal John sent them to Phil's wife shortly after we found out that he was home-bound with Alzheimer's. She called and said that he enjoyed them a lot. That made me happy.

That was a great gesture Harry. I tried doing something similar. The best single group of pictures I've ever taken was at the 1962 LeMans with my new Argus C3. Years later I sent all my slides from that race to Kodak to make a set of prints for me and a set for Phil Hill. Since I did not have his personal address I sent them to him in care of Road & Track where he was still writing articles. He never got them!! Thankfully, I did get him to sign the race program from that race when I met him later in Pittsburgh. He said that was one of the few programs he did not have in his collection, so it is special to me. I also have a note addressed to me personally from Phil.

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In addition to framing many of my autographs, I put together a 60-page book detailing many of the racing legends from my youth that I was able to meet. At the time I met Fitch, I also meet his best racing buddy from the early days - Phil Walters who often raced under the name Ted Tappett.


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I figured after I'm gone, the book would tell a story so my kids would know who these people were. Besides I loved researching them for my book. Heck, the kids might even know who this guy was...


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But I know they wouldn't have a clue for someone like Brian Lister, etc.....

Good for you. Well done. Even if it was just a phone call and not an autograph, I wished that Hill's wife had called me instead of my pal John. All he did was find the address and mail it.

Lister!!! How about this? I assisted on restoration of one of his cars, a Lister MG. An SVRA guy named Marv Primak has it. I've got 40 photos of the work. Here's a teaser.


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OT: The 24 Hours of Daytona Race is this weekend. See if Fernando Alonso's team can win. Team Mazda looks very strong in prototype class.

Rolex 24 at Daytona 2019: TV schedule, live stream info, qualifying results | NASCAR | Sporting News