The Tojeiro-Butterworth AJB is a bit of a historical anomaly, it’s the only one that was ever built, and it’s fitted with the unusual air-cooled, flat-four AJB engine. The intials AJB belong to Archibald James Butterworth, a visionary engineer, inventor, and designer, who was a successful and active racer in England until he suffered a…
The idea of taking an aircraft engine capable of over 1000 hp and bolting it into the front of a hydroplane is clearly insane. But in the interwar years in Europe, the battles taking place on the water to set new records and win races had very few restrictions – particularly in the aptly named…
Toby Price is an Australian motorcycle racer best known for his dominant victory in the 2016 Dakar Rally. He won stages 2,5,6,8, and 9, and finished 40 minutes ahead of his nearest rival. A year earlier he took part in his first Dakar as a support rider and shocked his competitors by winning a stage and…
The Matchless Motorcycle Company Matchless was one of the world’s first motorcycle manufacturers – they started out in 1899 when cars were a rare sight and the overwhelming majority of humanity was still getting around on horses or their own two feet. From very early in the company’s history, racing was an integral part of…
Dan Gurney passed away on Sunday the 14th of January 2018. He’ll be forever remembered as the man who started the tradition of spraying champagne on the winners podium, after his popular victory at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans with co-driver A. J. Foyt. The list of Dan Gurney’s achievements is long, and…
This hour long interview film by Mario Muth offers an insightful and frank look into the life and times of former Formula 1 driver Derek Warwick. Derek is a member of the increasingly rare breed of top tier drivers who earned their position purely through talent, with no financial backing. Interestingly, he’s also driver I’m…
The Norton Manx The Norton Manx is a British single cylinder race bike that had an extraordinarily long competitive life. It’s perhaps the most famous of the dominant British singles from the mid-20th century, and amazingly they’re still being built new by licensed suppliers around the world. The Manx was based on the road-going Norton…
The Alpine-Renault A110 was the most successful rally car in the world in 1973, it was the year of the inaugural World Rally Championship, and the lightweight French car was an unstoppable force. 1973 would see the works Alpine-Renault rally team traveling to Monte Carlo (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Sweden (3rd), Portugal (1st and 2nd), East…
The FIAT S61 was astonishingly advanced for its time, it was designed and built in 1908 with a 10 litre (589 cubic inch), 4-cylinder engine, a single overhead cam, 4 valves per cylinder, 4 spark plugs per cylinder, and approximately 130 bhp. Just five were built in 1908 for the FIAT Racing Team, and some…
The Catalina Grand Prix was a motorcycle race held annually between 1950 and 1958 on the island of Santa Catalina off the coast of Los Angeles. The races were hotly contested, and the rules that governed races on the mainland didn’t apply – meaning it was a hotbed of race testing with cutting edge parts fitted to…
It’s thought that only 180 Mickey Thompson Mini Dragsters were built back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite their looks, they’re not just for children. They were designed as fun mini dragsters for adults, and due to the location of the seat it’s possible for even novices to lean back while accelerating and…
The 1981 Daytona 500 was a unique race for a number of reasons, it also featured a remarkably tight finish, with just 3.5 seconds between 1st and 2nd place. If you haven’t seen the race, or you can’t remember who won, stop reading now and hit play above (I’m going to post spoilers below). The…
