Attentive readers may have noticed a sparcity of updates, this is due to a number of reasons but it is mainly because we're really really busy this summer, mostly with stuff for the Retro Rides Gathering.  However we are still able to find time to get out and enjoy the summer shows and events, this weekend just gone we got to two very different events, grabbed some photos and bought them back for you.

Firstly we've got the annual Superprix at Brands Hatch organised by the HSCC, this year celebrated 50 years of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.  The weather was fantastic, with the racing being close and exciting it was a great way to spend a weekend, although the cost of entry was a bit steep at £21 a day!  The event also clashed with the Goodwood Festival Of Speed, which could well have impacted the number of attendees.

Check out our gallery from the Saturday of the event here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624301054515/

From classic Formula 1 cars being raced by millionaires to a local car park meet of more modest proportions.  The BuySellCortina forum has regular meetings and we found our way along to one on Sunday and picked out a couple of favourites.  This is car enthusiasts doing what they do best, meeting up, relaxing and shooting the breeze.

For some pictures of the stand out cars check our gallery : http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624292000680/

Don't forget folks that the up coming Retro Show at Santa Pod is next weekend with ticket sales finishing tomorrow, RSM will be there to take some photos and share them with ya'll when we return.

Once the insanity of our summer subsides we hope to return to our regular schedule of updates and interesting features.  If you fancy helping with this, we are always happy to have submissions.

Our time right now is divided between going to shows, putting up photos of shows, thinking about shows we're organising, emailing show organisers and generally doing show stuff.  Which will go part way to explaining the quiet on this blog over the past few weeks.

The eagle eyed will have spotted the latest fruits of our show going in the form of a whole bunch of photos from two events, Bromley Pageant and a RWYB day at North Weald airfield.  You can find links to both galleries below

Bromley Pageant 2010
http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624148954885/

North Weald RWYB
http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624272289448/

Are we mid way through show season yet?  Not by a long shot.

Despite having some quite serious traffic problems London does love cars, you only need to wander around some of the swankier parts of town on a summers evening or a Friday afternoon to see a whole bunch of super cool cars.  London is also home to a great modified car scene, being home to the legendary Chelsea Cruise.  What it lacks though is motorsport, the nearest venue is Brands Hatch out in Kent, this has not always been the case, once upon a time there was racing within the borders of London, at Crystal Palace.
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The Crystal Palace circuit is steeped in history, from the mighty ERAs running in the London Grand Prix, through the BBC's first ever televised motorsport event, surviving the second world war and into the sixties hosting saloon car and Formula Two races.  Speeds kept rising at the track and in 1972 it was decided that international motorsport had become unsafe, leaving club level racing at the venue.  Eventually in 1974 Crystal Palace racing circuit closed its doors to motorsport.

Despite the destruction of large parts of the old circuit some people didn't want to let the legacy die and have at various times since the closure of the track been able to arrange sprints to be run in the park.  With the success of Goodwood, along with other similar events, it seems that the UK is having a bit of a renaissance of its love affair with motorsport, something that may have given some weight to Sevenoaks and District Motorclub’s bid to get another sprint running at Crystal Palace.  With the support of Bromley council the club was able to get the required permissions and turned part of the park, complete with sections of the old circuit, into a sprinting venue once again.  Set for the long weekend at the end of May, fingers were crossed for a diverse entry list and fine weather.

Sevenoaks & District Motor Club are certainly to be commended on the effort they've put in to get the events back at the park, the range and quality of the cars over the two days was fantastic, with something for everyone from pre-war open wheeled cars through to modern electric speed machines.  The locals came out in force and the commentators did a great job of balancing the petrolhead talk with the need to explain what was going on.  The paddock in the trees felt like a grotto of great cars, with everything being easy to get to and enough space around it all for some nice photographs.  The range of car club stands was also a welcome addition and something I can see getting more and more popular if the event becomes a regular calendar date.

Highlights of the two days for me are many and varied, meeting up with a whole bunch of people was certainly great, some of those somewhat unexpected.  My dad trying to work out where he and my mum used to stand when they saw the racing in the sixties was a cool connection to the track's past.  The frighteningly fast but terrifyingly silent Tesla contrasted with the rolling burnouts of the big V8 Corvette and really showed off the diversity of the event.

For our 400+ photos from Sprint you can check out our Flickr :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624166866810/

There were also a number of videos from the event including this one :

Or just search Youtube for more

If you've got some 3D glasses you can also check out this fun set of 3D photographs, it is just like being there :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stereoviews/sets/72157623735250564/

Also check out the Sevenoaks and District Motor Club website for more information.

Make sure you add May 29th and 30th to your calendar for next year and get yourself to the Palace.

I can't overstate how much seeing Gerry Marshall race inspired me and my interest in cars, seeing Gerry race was a treat that made me return time and again to Brands Hatch to witness him push his car, an Aston Martin at the time, round the circuit with brilliance.  I was very much saddened by his death and have been waiting for his authorised biography to appear.
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Gerry's son Gregor along with 'Only Here For The Beer' writer Jeremy Walton present 256 pages of words and pictures to give us all a reminder of the larger than life character that Gerry was.  The bumpf on the book reads thusly : "Gerry Marshall was a legendary figure in British motorsport from the mid-1960s until his death in 2005. A larger-than-life character in every way, Gerry's outrageous behaviour, humour, outspokenness and legendary capacity for alcohol combined to ensure that no social event with his presence will ever be forgotten, while his amazing car control, tenacity and natural showmanship provided wonderful entertainment for thousands of racegoers over a 40-year career in which he won more than 600 races. This lavishly illustrated tribute will be treasured by all of Gerry's fans."

Without a doubt one of the greatest British racing drivers ever, he is very much deserving of your time and attention.  With the photos coming from Gregor Marshall's archive you can be sure that you are getting the authentic view.  I'd trade any biography for the chance to see him race again, but now the book is what we have, that and the glimpses of his brilliance in videos like the one below.

You can buy Gerry Marshall : His Authorised Biography from good bookshops and from Amazon.

Race retro celebrates Alfa Romeo's centenary and the 30th anniversary of Audi Quattro at this year’s event. Now in its 7th year there are 3 days of classic motorsport action and historic racing with appearances from various motoring legends, not only can you see incredibly rare racing cars but you can also meet the drivers who took them to victory. Asides from the outdoor rally stage, punters are treated to 3 halls of static displays with cars, bikes, engineering and restoration companies, parts, model cars, magazines, everything you need for a petrol heads weekend out.
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Asides from the mouth watering selection of cars, many famous drivers not only attended but also drove their works car on the rally stage. The audience were treated to hell for leather antics with Stig Blomqvist in his S1 Audi Quattro and British Rally Champion Keith Cronin driving an ex-prodrive Aston Martin . Other memorable cars featured included a very quick Chevrolet 302 small block engined 800kg South African Vauxhall Firenza as well as several flying Lancias, Ferraris and Escorts. Another interesting cars on the stage was an ex-BTCC Alfa 147, ex-works recently restored and re-liveried Rothsmans Porsche 911, a very rare Peugeot 106 Maxi as well as famous Group B cars such as the MG 6R4, Opel Manta and Peugeot 205 T16.

Much appreciation and fondness was evident as Russell brookes drove several of the ‘Andrews Heat for Hire cars’ in their distinctive yellow liveries. Also driven in anger was the 1972 East African Safari Triumph 2.5PI, piloted by Brian Culcheth.

As well as the live action, Alfa Romeo had an impressive selection of cars over their 100 year history from priceless historic racing cars to almost extinct 1980’s saloons. There was also a good selection of Audi Quattro cars on display, again attracting much attention and recognition. As to be expected the public also brought in their own cars, many of which were allowed to park within the enclosure.

The weather just about held out over the weekend, and despite some signs that winter still hasn’t left us, this was a fine start back into classic sports car events. The entry costs were reasonable, considering the scope of static and live action and the potential to grow can only increase as word gets around.

You can see our fine selection of photos from the event on our Flickr photostream.

Racing cars, twisty roads and Mediterranean sunshine, what a brilliant recipe, one that can be found on the Rally of Mallorca which we covered last year, and we will be covering again this year.  It isn't the only island based rally to happen in the med, given that a number of families are planning their holidays at this time of year we thought it might be worth suggesting you head to Corsica in October, there isn't really a need to tell your nearest and dearest that there is a historic rally on...
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The Tour de Corse Historique is a five day event held on the French island of Corsica, like it's Balearic brethren it has that magical mix of small picturesque towns, great coast roads and awesome cars.  Run from the 5th to 10th of October this year the rally attracts all sorts of machinery, from high end classic Porsches and Ferraris, to Simcas and Escorts.  The main website for the event challenged our school boy French, but it appears that they do complete packages including hotels, or at least have partners that do.

What you really want though is to see what your buying before you get your flights and hotels, luckily we can help you out there, first up have a look at this thread on the French Forum Auto for photographs from the last few years, we've beamed you into 2010, but you can head back through the thread for some previous events.  The official website also has a great selection of pictures.  For moving pictures you can have a look at this news report.

Our favourite clip is this one which really gives a fans eye view of events



You've got plenty of time to plan, but now might be the right time to suggest that end of year short break in Europe to the family ...

We've been pretty quiet recently, a combination of winter and great upheavel at RSM towers, we have found time to sort out a nice Facebook Group which you can join and keep up to date with our posts.  With the Grand National Roadster show coming up this month and our annual (occasionally controversial) trends posts on their way there is plenty more to come in January.  In the mean time have a look through this great set of videos about Graham Hill, as shown earlier this year on BBC Four.
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We've been pretty quiet recently, a combination of winter and great upheavel at RSM towers, we have found time to sort out a nice Facebook Group which you can join and keep up to date with our posts.  With the Grand National Roadster show coming up this month and our annual (occasionally controversial) trends posts on their way there is plenty more to come in January.  In the mean time have a look through this great set of videos about Graham Hill, as shown earlier this year on BBC Four.
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The 23rd October sees the start of the five day Carrera Panamericana, the world famous road race through Mexico, started in 1950 as a celebration of the opening of the Mexican section of the Panamerican Highway the race is one of the most spectacular and challenging road races in the world.
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Covering a distance of over two thousand miles along the new highway the race run in its original form until 1954, the 1955 event was cancelled due to the massive accident at Le Mans.  From its start until the cancelation the race had moved from become an amateur affair to a much more professional endeavour in both its running and the cars in competition.  Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Lancia were hugely popular European makes represented, with American cars such as Lincoln, Chevrolet and Dodge competing also.  Over the five years it ran the race claimed twenty seven lives, it existed in a time when speed was far and away ahead of safety for racing drivers.

The event was resurrected in 1988 as a retrospective event, covering a slightly altered route, but about the same distance using the classic cars.  The modern event has become a huge spectacle and the popularity of it has been added by the film La Carrera Panamericana with it's Pink Floyd sound track.

Over the years many famous people took part in the race, Mickey Thompson, Carroll Shelby, Jerry Unser, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manual Fangio and Phil Hill to name a few of the people that competed in the original race.  The modern races have seen their fair share of famous faces with Alain De Cadenet winning the event in 1990 and the various members of Pink Floyd competing also.

The current class structure is separated into Competition and Historics.  The Competition group is made up of cars built between 1940 and 1954, a lot of these cars are heavily modified, including the Sports Mayer class which allows modern engines to be installed in older cars.  The other group is Historic which is from 1955 to 1965, these are less modified and separated out into sub classes based on the number of cylinders in the engine.  There is also a class for cars that originally competed in the Pan Americana, this allows replicas but they must be the same body material and basic configuration as the original car.

For a real flavour of the event check out the brilliant Flickr photostream and be sure to check out the official website.

We'll give you and update once the race has run its course.  Until then, enjoy this video :

As regular readers will be aware, we love magazines here at RSM and have a fairly broad taste when it comes to our paper based reading.  Our individual collections cover a wide variety of subjects and countries, but there is one area of automotive magazine that has remained beyond reach, the trade mag.  Until now.
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Trade magazines tend to be much more focussed than your average high street news agent supplied fare, they also tend to cost a bit more as they have a much smaller distribution than most magazines.  High Power Media were kind enough to supply is with a copy of Race Engine Technology to check out, rather than selfishly enjoying this I thought I'd share with you my thoughts, who knows it may prompt you to order a copy.

My first thought was that I'm going to be very much out of my depth very quickly, sure I can tune a Webber and keep my car maintained nicely, but it may not have escaped your notice we spend a lot of time enjoying ride height and wheel adjustments here, not gas flowing heads and examining heat profiles of engine components for potential weight savings.  When reading through the magazine this showed, I'm not their main target audience, however I did find much of interest to read, the issue I received (September/October 2009) has their nominations for Race Engine Of The Year, it is great to see inside the engine building industry at what is impressing their top engineers, I also learned that the Corvette Le Man GT1 engine is a pushrod, just like my Datsun.  Okay so it is a 7 litre V8 direct injection engine, unlike my Datsun, but still... a pushrod engine, in this day and age, outstanding!

Other features included a detailed history of the Aston Martin V12 engine, Direct Metal Laser sintering as a manufacturing method and a 7 page feature on fasteners (screws mainly) which sounds like it should be the dullest subject on earth, but actually proves fascinating.  My biggest take away from the magazine is the advertisers, as someone who desires to build a racing engine the people in there who can supply valves, cams, engine management, coatings and a whole host of other services is great, sure they aren't going to be cheap, but you know you are using some of the best there are.

This isn't a magazine I would be served by with a subscription, as I mentioned I'm hardly the target audience, but definitely something I think those more serious about their engines should pick up, particularly those on engineering university courses and those already in the industry.  High Power Media also produced a one of Drag Race Technology issue which would be a great read.

Race Engine Technology is availble from : www.highpowermedia.com