Some superb photos of Jaguars at the recent Historic Racing
Festival at Donnington in the UK from Peter de Roussett-Hall .Who would
risk racing in the rain a genuine Jaguar D-Type worth probably well the other
side of $5m?
Peter uses a full frame Canon 5D and the image quality is stunning but it's not just down to the
gear as he really knows how to capture motor racing action.When I see photos this good it brings home to me that anything less than a full frame sensor is suboptimal in terms of image quality.But life is a series of compromises and if you shoot with a full frame camera you have to resign yourself to a lot of heavy lifting.
If you are a fan of historic motor racing
get out and take in as many events as you can NOW because this is the
golden age of historic motor racing and it will be downhill from here
and the number of really special cars - such as D-Types,250GTOs ,GT40s
and 917s is going to diminish rapidly.
Lots of factors at play
here.The cars are becoming so valuable that the number of owners who are
prepared to risk them racing is falling rapidly. And can you really
blame them? A Ferrari 250GTO changed hands for $35m back in March.
Sadly super affluent Arab collectors in the Middle
East are switching from collecting modern supercars to collecting
classic racers.And Chinese buyers are also starting to emerge.At the
same time many of the owners and drivers of these cars are getting older
and will not be around to maintain the enthusiasm for too much
longer.And the cars themselves are becoming even more expensive to
maintain and race.
The problem is that the next generation of
racing cars from the 1990's to recent times is not going to be suitable
for historic racing.This is down to two words -carbonfibre and
electronics.Most racing cars from the 1990s (and even starting from the
80s) incorporate high levels of carbonfibre componentry and there are
big questions about the longevity and durablity of carbonfibre.
Crash a race car with an old
carbonfibre tub and it may shatter with very dire consequences.And in
any case the moulds for the tub may very well have been lost/destroyed
so replacing it will be out of the question.
Carbonfibre
suspension and brake components have unknown durability.McLaren have
replaced the carbonfibre suspension parts on many of their display museum cars
in their HQ with steel parts clad in cosmetic carbonfibre.That says it
all really.
As for the electronics even now historic racers with 1980s
F1 cars are reliant on old laptops running long superceeded software to
communicate with the electronics of their cars .If/when this software
gets corrupted these owners will have big problems as the electronic
interface even controls the start up routines for these cars .And the
electronic components in the cars are not durable in the long term and
they were not
designed to be.This week Jeep announced a massive recall of vehicles
because a circuit board is cracking sending an error signal to the
gearbox which causes it to engage neutral inadvertantly.The electronics
of racing cars lead much harder lives than those in a
Jeep.Heat,vibration and just age related decay are the
enemies.Maintaining those
electronics going forward may well be impossible.And in the last 20
years electronics have taken control of most of the interfaces in sports cars and F1 cars in particular.
As well as the issue of
carbonfibre and electronics there are the issues of aerodynamics and tyres
.From the late 1980s aerodynamics have become a very critical component
racing car design -and it is difficult to see how the sophistication of
that science could be understood by essentially amateur racers in the
future.Late model racing cars really have pushed out the performance
envelope in terms of grip and cornering speeds and a small aero
adjustment can literally mean the difference between staying on the
track or flying off it.Even the mighty Mercedes can get it wrong as we
saw at Le Mans in 1998.What chance will an amateur team in the future
stand?
Tyres will also also a major problem for future
racers of modern racing cars.F1 cars and the highest level sports cars
are literally been designed around certain tyre specifications.Unless
those tyres are available in the same specification in the future racing
those cars will be compromised in their handling and even potentially
lethal in amateur racer's hands.Getting the heat into the tyres
requires the very highest level driving skills and when those tyres are
not at their optimum temperature they have very little grip.
And
finally there is the question of maintaining and operating the modern
cars beyond the areas outlined above.Modern racing teams come to the
races with a team of specialists who understand the complex systems of
the cars.Even starting a modern F1 car involves a detailed sequence of
actions which requires specialist equipment.It is
difficult to see how amateur racers in the future could replicate this
support.
No,it all looks as if the golden days of historic
racing are here now and that today's racing cars will only be seen in
museums or in demonstration runs in the future.
So get out to
the Goodwood Revival,the Oldtimer Festival and next year's Le Mans
Classic and the other great events.They may be the summit of historic
racing.In the short term enjoy Peter's great photos.
