Discover the momentous motor sports events that took place this weekend in history

~ 5 August ~

1935: The first Limerick Grand Prix or Cuirt Luimnighe race, took place in Limerick, Ireland. The circuit had a length of 2.76 miles, along O’Connell Street – William Street – Roxborough Road – Carey’s Road – Rossbrien Road – Punch’s Cross – O’Connell Avenue – O’Connell Street. Continue Reading →

1935: Oliver Bertram, driving the 8-litre special Barnato-Hassan Bentley #racing car, set the all-time Brooklands outer lap record with a time of 69.85 seconds, attaining an average speed of 142.60 miles per hour (229.Continue Reading →

1947: Ferdinand Porsche was released from a French prison. Porsche had been arrested as a suspected Nazi collaborator by United States and French occupation authorities in the aftermath of World War II and held in custody for two years. He would live to see his 75th birthday.

1951: Amedee Gordini’s supercharged Simca-Gordini made its racing debut with Maurice Trinignant winning the Albi Grand Prix.

1956: 45 year old Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio won the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring and broke Hermann Lang’s 17 year old lap record in a Mercedes.

1961:Walt Hansgen drove a Maserati Tipo 63 V12 to victory in the SCCA National event at Bridgehampton, New York, US.

1961: During practice for the 1961 German Grand Prix, American Phil Hill became the first person to complete a lap of the Nordschleife (the 14-mile ‘northern loop’) in under 9 minutes, with a stunning lap of 8 minutes 55.2 seconds. He had driven at an average speed of 95.3 mph in his Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’ Formula One car. Even 50 plus years later, the highest-performing road #cars have difficulty breaking 8 minutes without a professional racing driver, or at least a driver very familiar with the track.

1962: Jack Brabham entered German Grand Prix with a car of his own construction, the BT3, but was forced to retire. The race was won by Graham Hill for BRM.

1962: Jim Paschal rolled to victory in the Nashville 500 (Tennessee, US), leading 307 of the 500 laps on the half-mile asphalt track at the state fairgrounds. Paschal finished four laps ahead of runner-up Richard Petty to claim his 12th win in #NASCAR’s top series in a 1-2 sweep for Petty Enterprises cars. Buck Baker came home third, seven laps off the pace.

1970: Racer Jerry Titus (41), the 1967 Trans-Am Champion, died from injuries suffered a month earlier at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, US.

1973: Jackie Stewart won his 27th and last Grand Prix victory in Germany. He became the champion for a third time but withdraws from the US Grand Prix after Francois Cevert was killed during qualifying.

1995: British driver and software author Mark Colton (34) was killed in practice for a hillclimb at Craigantlet, Northern Ireland. He is widely considered one of the best drivers never to have won the British Hill Climb Championship.

2001: Jeff Gordon won the eighth Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, becoming the first three-time winner of that prestigious event.

2007: Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren, his third win and tenth podium of the season. It was also memorable for an incident in the Saturday qualifying session, between McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Hamilton went into the race with a 2-point advantage in World Championship points over Alonso and was 11 points ahead of 3rd place man Felipe Massa after a chaotic European Grand Prix, whilst McLaren held a 27-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship over their main rivals Ferrari. Continue Reading →

~ 6 August ~

1904: Barney Oldfield joined the Peerless Motor Car Company and made his first appearance in the Peerless Green Dragon race car in a series of match races at the Canadian National Exhibition track in Toronto, the first major racing event staged in Canada.

1933: The II Grand Prix de Nice was contested over a street course along the best known roads in the famous holiday resort, up and down the Promenade des Anglaise (with a 1.4 km straight allowing speeds up to 200 km/h to be reached), the Avenue Verdun, around the Place Masséna, Avenue des Phocéens and Quai des Etats Unis. In common with several other Grand Prix in 1933 the grid starting positions were decided according to practice times. Tazio Nuvolari had his third consecutive Grand Prix win driving a Maserati.

1935: Mrs. Gwenda Stewart, driving a Derby-Miller, set the all time fastest lap for a woman at Brooklands (England) at 135.96mph. Continue Reading →

1935: Ab Jenkins, driving the Duesenberg Special at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, US set a Class B super-stock record by covering 153.96 miles in one hour.

1961: The German Grand Prix was won by British driver Stirling Moss, driving a Lotus 18/21 for privateer outfit the Rob Walker Racing Team. Moss started from the second row of the grid and lead every lap of the race. It was the first German Grand Prix victory for a rear-engined car since Bernd Rosemeyer’s Auto Union Type C took victory in 1936. Continue Reading →

1961: Jim Paschal benefited from Richard Petty’s engine misfortune in the later stages to win the Nashville 500 at the half-mile Nashville Speedway (Tennessee, US) fairgrounds track. Paschal took over in the 363rd lap after Petty — who had led all the way to that point — retired with engine failure. The High Point, N. Continue Reading →

1967: The German Grand Prix held over 15 laps of Nürburgring was won by Brabham driver Denny Hulme after he started from second position. His teammate Jack Brabham finished second and Ferrari driver Chris Amon came in third. Jim Clark (Lotus-Cosworth 49) took the lead at the start while Graham Hill (who had crashed in practice and was down in 13th on the grid) was pushed onto some grass and spun, restarting at the back of the field. Continue Reading →

1968: Giovanni Bracco (60), winner of the 1952 Mille Miglia, died.

1994: The inaugural NASCAR Allstate 400, also known as the Brickyard 400, was run over 400 miles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was won by American Jeff Gordon in a Chevrolet.

1996: Spanish racing driver Emilio Zapico (52) was killed in a road accident in Huete, Spain.

2002: Scottish racing driver Jim Crawford (54), who participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on July 19, 1975, died. He was also the winner of the 1982 British Formula One Championship and is notable for being the 500th person to start a Formula One World Championship race.

2006: Jimmie Johnson won the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, his first victory at IMS and a record fifth in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition at the track for team owner Rick Hendrick.

2006: Jenson Button won the Hungarian Grand Prix, the first victory of his career and the first race win for a British driver since David Coulthard won the Australian Grand Prix three years previously, and the first by an Englishman since Johnny Herbert won the 1999 European Grand Prix nearly seven years previously, in similarly changeable weather circumstances. Pedro de la Rosa finished second for McLaren, the first podium finish of his career, and Nick Heidfeld finished third, giving BMW Sauber their first ever podium. It was the first win for a Honda chassis since John Surtees’ victory in the 1967 Italian Grand Prix and the first win for a Honda engine since Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Mugen-Honda-powered Jordan triumphed in the 1999 Italian Grand Prix, 119 races earlier.