Laguna Seca, 1968. Note the stricken Chaparral in the background.
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Laguna Seca, 1968. Note the stricken Chaparral in the background.
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Bruce McLaren's 1968 M8A.
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Dan Gurney looks on as his crew prep his Lola T70.
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Riverside. The big Ford rumbles past. Love the tow truck.
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Steve,
That is a unique shot of Turn 8 at Riverside before the cars went on to the long Back Straight.
This is how that area looks today.
(Note that the air is cleaner, compared to that shot of Dan Gurney by the Lola T70 where you can just see across to other side of the track! )
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(Ken H)
Wow, great comparison Ken! Thank you. So interesting to see what becomes of these old tracks. I understand that Riverside became quite tired and run down by the 1980s, but it would have been nice if it had survived and been revived. As a race track it had such a nice layout and flow.
The smog you mentioned is well captured in this photo.
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This 1967 Can-Am feature captures some of the best parts of the Riverside course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV59PJFc_5o
Laguna Seca 1968 Can-Am.
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Denny Hulme visits Lothar Motschenbacher's pit garage. I'm pretty sure thats Carroll Smith in the middle.
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Dick Guldstrand at left. Brilliant GM engineer and also a very successful driver. He passed away just a couple of years ago at age 87.
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This is Bob Bondurant's modified Lola T70. Bondurant was a very successful racer, and drove for Shelby for a few years. But he is perhaps best known for the racing school he established to teach people how to drive a race car. This was the first such school of its type, and came about after Bondurant served as a technical consultant on the movie Grand Prix, where he taught James Garner how to drive. He established Bob Bondurant School Of High Performance Driving in 1968. The idea came to him while recuperating from a nasty shunt in 1967.
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Ray.....see old map below......"NEW EXIT" is the tee junction at the top of the current entry road just after the toll booths.
That intersection is center left in the picture......the current camp ground is under the trees left of that again.
Photo taken from the access road after the turn 4 bridge (not there at the time of course).
BTW.....pic3 is a continuation to the left of pic2 .......those 2 pictures are the "Laguna Seca" (Spanish for Dry Lake)
Scrutineering and paddock parking/pit allocation is done on that dry lake bed to this day.
Jim Grant
Thanks for the explanation, I've done up a bit of a composite...
There's a gap in the middle and heights and maybe focal length and location of the camera are different, but it gives the idea.
https://s26.postimg.cc/qru32065l/0518lagunascene.jpg
This is Lothar with his McLaren M6A when he upgraded to big block Chevy power.
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Lothar's Lola T70.
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Imagine the cool noise coming out of the above^^ headers! No secondary pipes on the headers either, just a four into 1.
In the final round of the 1968 Can-Am Championship held at Las Vegas, Jim Hall in the Chaparral and Lothar Motchenbacher had the mother of all collisions. It was the result of a series of incidents that began at the first corner on Lap 1, when Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren touched and both went off the track, with half the field also spearing off into the dust in avoidance. One of those caught up in the carnage was Jim Hall, who visited the pits at the end of the lap to have damaged front bodywork repaired.
He returned to the track, and worked his way up to fourth place before pitting again for more repairs. Upon rejoining, he found himself just behind McLaren, who was also making up places after his first corner skirmish and a couple of pit stops. The pair of them set off nose to tail, charging their way back up the order.
Meanwhile, Motchenbacher was having a clean race, and holding down second place behind Denny Hulme. As McLaren and Hall came up to un-lap themselves from Motchenbacher, the red McLaren suddenly slowed when the front suspension began to fail. McLaren swung past, but Hall, who was close behind, didn't notice Motchenbacher had slowed, and slammed into him at high speed. The white Chaparral flew into the air, and set about destroying itself upon landing. Both of Hall's legs were shattered, and his jaw broken. He was pulled from the wreckage just as his Chaparral caught fire. His injuries were such that he never raced the Can-Am again.
Motchenbacher's McLaren also caught fire, and he suffered leg burns. Dean Lester snapped these images of the destroyed McLaren.
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John Surtees was the inaugural Can-Am Champion. He worked closely with Eric Broadley in 1966 to help develop the beautiful Lola T70, and of the seven heats included in the 6 Round 1966 Can-Am series, he won three times.
The Lola T70 was the best car in 1966. In addition to Surtees' three victories, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, and Parnelli Jones took a further three race wins aboard T70s. The lone race victory not scored by a Lola driver was that of Phil Hill, who guided his Chaparral 2E to the Heat 1 win at Laguna Seca.
Lola didn't have a factory race team, unlike rivals McLaren. Instead, they worked closely with their customers, who provided feedback that helped develop their designs and constantly improve the breed. But as history would show, the McLaren model was more effective.
Surtees was as close to being a Lola factory driver as it was possible to be. But he didn't have control over designs. And in 1967, when he returned to defend his crown, he was promptly swept aside as McLaren, now with their new M6A model, began what would be a five year domination of the series.
Unlike McLaren, Lola didn't replace the T70 with a new car for 1967. Rather, they just made improvements to the T70. But it was no match for McLaren, and Surtees took a single victory in the final Round at Las Vegas, but only after the McLarens had faltered.
In 1968, McLaren raised the bar further still with its impressive new M8A, a design based somewhat on that of the Lotus 49, in which the engine became a stressed member. The M8A was so good, McLaren essentially evolved it for years to come as the M8B, M8D, and M8F.
Lola, however, returned in 1968 with the T160, which was effectively an updated version of the old T70. Surtees was not happy, and by now the relationship had soured. He tried to purchase a new McLaren, but was unable to do so, so instead took a T160 and extensively rebuilt it. Such was the extent of the changes, Surtees didn't even call it a Lola, rather, the TS Chevrolet. One of its most prominent features was a tall, rear hub mounted aerofoil, as seen previously on the Chaparrals, although the Lola version wasn't driver adjustable. It was powered by one of the new aluminium big block Chevrolet engines, built by Harry Weslake.
Sadly, the TS Chevrolet was a failure. It made its first appearance in Round 2 of the series at Bridgehampton, where the team arrived early to get in some testing. In qualifying, Surtees was tenth fastest, some 4 seconds off Denny Hulme's pole time. It completed just 16 laps before it was sidelined with engine trouble. But much further development was required, and Surtees wasn't seen again until Round 5, at Riverside. Here he qualified eighth, and was 4 seconds off pole, but again failed to finish. And that was the end of his season. He turned up to the final Round at Las Vegas, but didn't have his car, having run out of enthusiasm, and blown too many engines apart. He couldn't see how his outdated Lola would beat the dominant McLarens.
This shot here captures the Lola at Riverside. Surtees was classified 24th.
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Wheelchair with a difference!
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Dan Gurney's beautiful Lola T70 from the 1966 season.
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Jim Hall's Chaparral 2G, during 1968.
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I just love classic ramp trucks.
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Motchenbacher bares down on the former Hollywood Sports Cars McLaren. This is the car originally built and modified by the famous hot rodder-come road racer, Doane Spencer. I think the McLaren might have been owned by Harvey Lasiter here, who was sponsored by the band The Mama's And The Papa's.
I wrote a detailed article on this car here: http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...rs-McLaren-MkI
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Can-Am drivers briefing.
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Looks like the cockpit of one of the Penske Lola T70s.
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Fantastic thread - Thanks Steve
Judging by the pic of the Dan Gurney car further up the page I think it might be that one...Quote:
Originally posted by Steve Holmes
Looks like the cockpit of one of the Penske Lola T70s.
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