Description
By: Janos Wimpffen .
The World Manufacturers & Sports Car Championships in Photographs, 1972-1981
The 1970s were a period of continual evolution in world sports-car racing, with new regulations, technologies, championships, and competitors all playing their part. In the early years of the decade, the 3.0-liter Prototype formula offered some of the most advanced technol ogy yet seen in sports-car racing, with many of the top cars using designs and equipment that had originated in Formula One. Apart from the covered wheels and vestigial passenger seat, there was little fundamentally different between a Ferrari 312 PB and its grand prix– racing cousin.
But with the departure of Ferrari from the World Manufacturers Championship in 1973 and uneven participation and performance from other major players, by mid-decade the focus had shifted. National Grand Touring and Touring car series were becoming popular in Europe and North America. Spurred in part by rising gas prices and improved production, the Special Production, or Group 5 category of 1976, was established. Better known as Silhouettes—for their superficial resemblance to production vehicles—the principal sports-car championship, the World Manufacturers Championship, now encompassed these cars. The Silhouette years would be dominated by Porsche, whose classic 935 and its many variants would win scores of races for the factory and its numerous private customers.
Most of the photos in Spyders and Silhouettes have never been published before. In addition to depicting a remarkably diverse array of cars, they also include portraits of legendary drivers such as Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Mark Donohue, Ronnie Peterson, Brian Redman, Arturo Merzario, Henri Pescarolo, Jochen Mass, and
Clay Regazzoni.
Janos Wimpffen spent months researching thousands of photographs in archives around the world, and selected the best that each has to offer. This volume includes the work of famed photographers such Hal Crocker, Geoffrey Goddard, Franco Lini, Pete Lyons, W. H. Murenbeeld, Rainer Schlegelmilch, Ulrich Upietz, and many others. Spyders and Silhouettes is another indispensable companion to the author's definitive sports-car racing history, Time and Two Seats, and it is written to the same exacting standards. It joins two previous photographic collections, Open Roads and Front Engines and Winged Sports Cars and Enduring innovation, celebrating the history of world-class sports-car racing.
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