Indianapolis 500 centenary celebration at Goodwood

Goodwood Festival of Speed

July 3, 2011 at 11:13 pm by
20 comments

Dozens of different IndyCars were assembled at Goodwood to mark the centenary of the Indianapolis 500.

The field included the winner of the first-ever Indianapolis 500, the 1911 Marmon ‘Wasp’ with a 9.8-litre, six-cylinder engine.

Among the cars from the 1950s were some raced by F1 drivers at the time when the race counted towards the world championship: such as Ferrari’s 375 raced by Alberto Ascari.

The 1957 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser ‘Dayton Steel Foundry Special’ bears the legend “Driver: Juan Fangio” on its flanks.

Josh Hill drove a replica of the Lola-Ford raced to victory by his grandfather Graham Hill in 1966.

Some of the more eccentric machines to compete at Indianapolis also appeared. The Duesenberg ‘Cummins Diesel Special’ completed the 500-mile race in 1931 without making a single pit stop, finishing 13th.

Smokey Yunick’s 1964 ‘Hurst Floor Shifter Special’ looks more like a motorcycle and sidecar than an IndyCar, with the driver sitting in a pod to the left of the main body.

Among the more up-to-date cars were Penskes and Marches from the eighties and nineties, including Adrian Newey’s March 86C of 1986.

Unfortunately the 1994 race-winning Penske PC23 was crashed while be driven by engine designer Mario Illien. See a picture of the damaged car below.

It was driven by former F1 champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi earlier in the weekend.

Reigning IndyCar champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, team mate Scott Dixon and this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon were among those driving the cars.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

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20 comments on Indianapolis 500 centenary celebration at Goodwood

  1. DeadManWoking said on 3rd July 2011, 23:46

    A big thanks for all the great photos you’ve taken and posted from Goodwood Keith, I especially like all the detail shots. I’ve felt like a kid in a candy store all weekend. The Festival is definitely on my Bucket List for whenever I finally make it across the big pond.

    Reply
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    George (@george) said on 4th July 2011, 0:21

    I have to say I’m not a big fan of Indy, oval racing isn’t something I understand even on a basic level, but looking at some of those cars gives me the same buzz that looking at old F1 cars gives me. You get a sense that they were designed with imagination and panache that is unfortunately missing in modern day indycars, and F1 to an extent, given the tight regulations, although occasionally something interesting slips through the net.

    What happened to the Penske by the way?

    Reply

    • DeadManWoking said on 4th July 2011, 0:40

      Mario Illien (of Ilmor) put it in the haybales.

      http://yfrog.com/hsc40hwj

      He was unhurt.

      Reply

    • Robbie said on 4th July 2011, 15:56

      Hi George…be it Indy or Nascar, I still prefer their road course races to their oval races because to me real cars turn both left and right, so why should race cars only turn left? But on a basic level at least the oval races allow the fans to see all the action all the time rather than just a few cars at a time at a few corners, based on where one’s seats are…

      Another basic factor with ovals is that while one is viewing everything all at once no matter where one’s seats are, the cars are also being viewed at practically top speeds at all times, which is quite fascinating. Drafting, high speed cornering, letting off the gas just a little from the straightaway…that takes huge bravery…not that F1 doesn’t…

      Reply

      • mouser said on 5th July 2011, 5:05

        And to add to Robbie’s excellent comments on oval racing.

        Sponsors love the ovals because they’re logos are seen more and TV networks like to televise Oval racing because is much easier to do, dont need as many camera’s scattered around the track for an oval race.

        Reply

  3. Mike said on 4th July 2011, 2:10

    It is quite cool as you can see, early on the cars are very smiler to the F1 cars of the time, but at one point they kinda start to branch in a different direction.

    I never thought about it like that.

    Reply
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    DamionShadows (@damionshadows) said on 4th July 2011, 3:38

    O.o, 9.8 Liter Inline 6, that thing must sound wicked! And many thanks from me as well for the photos Keith because I don’t know where else to get such great quality images.

    Reply
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    Stephen Jones (@aus_steve) said on 4th July 2011, 4:58

    the Panoz and the Penske are both such beautiful cars.. wish the new indycar’s were made to that design!

    Reply
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    Damon (@damon) said on 4th July 2011, 10:55

    The 80s/90s IndyCars were the most beautiful single-seaters ever created!!

    Those 1981 and 1990 Penskes – OMG!!

    All of those IndyCars look way ahead of their F1 peers in terms of looks.

    Reply

    • hohum said on 4th July 2011, 13:26

      Strange, because those cars were inspired by the F1 cars of the time, but obviously the rules were open to interesting interpretations.

      Reply

    • mouser said on 5th July 2011, 5:10

      Agree 100% with Damon about the look of the 80′s and 90′s indy cars. Hopefully the new indy cars will be much more appealing. The main reason I preferred Champ Car to Indy car was the fact the Champ cars just looked more powerful and muscular, which they were.

      Current indy cars look like a 2×4 with one end thats been stuck in a pencil sharpener

      Reply

  7. Nathan said on 4th July 2011, 15:18

    the latest dallara is the IR-05 :D

    Reply

  8. PT said on 7th July 2011, 19:01

    Wow, that Hurst Floor Shifter Special is probably the most unique racing the car the world has ever seen, beating the like of the Tyrrel P23 and the Brabham fan car.

    For those interested you can find more about this unique but not successful car here:

    http://www.conceptcarz.com/z18216/Hurst-Floor-Shift-Special.aspx

    http://www.chromjuwelen.com/de/network/260/30580-smokey-yunick-and-the-hurst-floor-shifter-special.html

    Reply
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    AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 16th October 2011, 19:06

    The very old ones look absolutely fantastic. Such a rich history.

    Reply

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