Journal: The Golden Age of Racing Comes Alive in These Videos

The Golden Age of Racing Comes Alive in These Videos

By Petrolicious
May 15, 2015

What is it about the early days of racing that’s still so captivating today? Here, we celebrate interesting cars and films that captured those years, and in one case, a company even tries to tie its early history into its then-modern ‘60s sports car—with mixed success.

Enjoy this unprecedented look at racing’s Golden Era with these largely forgotten mini-documentaries and clips.

Targa Florio comes alive in this 1972 documentary narrated by Vic Elford. It’s just epic.

We’ve filmed a number of vehicles and owners with a close connection to the Mille Miglia. Here they are.

What did the 1963 Road America 500 look like? Glad you’ve asked—this footage shows a great battle between the then-new Shelby Cobras, Porsches, Jaguars, and Chaparrals. 

The Magic Midget is a short promotional film by MG that covers the marque’s early history—and even though it’s decades old, it’s still quite watchable even today.

It’s in Italian, but, well, just look at that footage that recaps the history of the Mille Miglia. Perfect.

What was the sports car of the year in 1955-1956? Well just watch!

With a title like, “Porsche 908 at Nurburgring 1971”, how can you go wrong? It’s in German, but once the cars start moving it’s easy to see what’s going on!

Here, newsreel footage captures both the 1965 and 1966 12 Hours of Sebring—yes, the colors may be a bit off with both, but they’re still fun to watch. Take note of the wildly different approaches between the two films!

Cover Image by Federico Bajetti

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tammyaust
tammyaust
3 months ago

The golden age of racing continues to fascinate because it represents a time when speed, innovation, and raw passion were at the forefront. The cars, the daring drivers, and the thrilling footage from those days capture the essence of motorsport in its purest form. Even when companies tried to connect their storied past to more modern creations in the ‘60s, the results were a nostalgic blend of history and ambition. If you’re a fan of vintage vibes, you might also enjoy exploring Zinmanga on your FireStick—perfect for diving into classic stories with a modern twist.

Nick Cobb
Nick Cobb
9 years ago

Guys, can someone fix your RSS feed sometime? This has been going on for over a year … all of your stories end up getting refreshed as new in your RSS feed and show back up repeatedly in feed readers. Here’s a screenshot (attached as well): http://i.imgur.com/PzDzxqt.png

According to that, you published 13 stories at once, 7 hours ago … but I’ve seen them all already. Creating work for your readers is no bueno.

Additionally, I contacted you via your support form about this weeks ago and received no reply. What’s the point?

Matthew Lange
9 years ago

The Targa Florio footage comes from a documentary movie the Speed Merchants. It covers the whole 1972 World Sportscar Championship and is narrated by Elford and Mario Andretti. Well worth getting for both the archive race footage and the behind the scenes stuff as well.

It’s available on Amazon’s UK site http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Speed-Merchants-DVD/dp/B0009PZ8K8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1431757562&sr=1-1&keywords=speed+merchants not sure about the U.S. Site.

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