It isn’t widely known that Gilles Villeneuve started his motorsport career racing snowmobiles in his native Quebec. It’s hard to imagine a racing series further removed from Formula 1 than this but somehow he took his talent from these humble beginnings to win the US and Canadian Formula Atlantic championships in 1976.
In ’77 he was hired by McLaren and his entry into the Formula 1 paddock was complete, it’s widely believed that if it wasn’t for untimely death in 1982 he would have won at least one, and possibly more, F1 World Championships.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The Porsche 914/6 is the flat-6 version of the popular 914 model – a car developed by Porsche to slot into its line-up below the 911 (at a lower price point), with engaging handling thanks to its mid-mounted engine, a very low centre of gravity, independent suspension, and a ~2,100 lb kerb weight. The Porsche…
The book MotoGP™ Technology by Neil Spalding is officially licensed by MotoGP™, and it’s widely recognized as an essential book to get your hands on if you want an in-depth working knowledge of modern motorcycle engineering. Neil started racing motorcycles in 1980 and enjoyed a long club career – winning two championships in his competitive…
The John Wyer Team took multiple wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – often with cars wearing the iconic light blue and orange livery of their primary sponsor – Gulf Oil. It would be the 1959 running of Le Mans that would give the John Wyer Team their first victory – with drivers Roy…
Malcolm Smith is one of the world’s pre-emiment off0rad racers, he primarily raced motorcycles but in the 1970s while recovering from a broken leg, he built his own off-road racing buggy and competed in both the Baja 1000 and the Baja 500.
The Arnolt-Bristol is an unusual car that owes its existence jointly to the Brits, Italians, and Americans. The post-WWII era was a golden age for cross-Atlantic automotive collaborations and the mighty little Arnolt-Bristol is (arguably) one of the prettiest of these collaboration cars. Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt and the origins of the Arnolt-Bristol Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt was…
This short film was shot in 1987 as part of the British sports television show “Grandstand”, it could very well have been lost to history but fortunately it’s been uploaded from an old VHS tape to YouTube. The clip includes Murray visiting the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello to speak personally with Enzo Ferrari about his…
