Carrera book comments and questions

[Type550]

HI Vietta,

I know George well - the car was nicknamed the "RSKeck'

Andrew

[vhelmle]

[vhelmle]

[vhelmle]

[Type550]

[Type550]

Buz Hahn's Spyder was entered into the Road America Race on 17th June 1961 by George van de Sande who owned 550-04. George was in the entry list with car #26, the same as Hahn but did not race. You have it listed as 550A-0118

[Type550]

When Fulton bought 718-014 to replace his 550A, he painted it in the same livery as his 550A. It could be purely co-incidental that he liked the same colour scheme as Hugus as 014 was not a Hugus car. Sesslar continued to race in Fulton's RSK Spyder.

[Steve Heinrichs]

Andrew,

I have not forgotten your latest posts regarding various races. I've been a little busy with another matter which is the topic of another thread here. We're back on the case and do think the 0118/0132 stuff is maybe not so hard to resolve. We still also owe an answer re Playan's 550A and your 718 notes.

We'll get there.

Steve Heinrichs

[vhelmle]

[Type550]

Thanks for your response Vietta, but some of your changes still don't make sense:

noting that a later Fulton/Sesslar car was painted in the same color scheme (red/white/blue) as the Hugus car (550A-011.
I assume you meant 550A-0132


I assume you meant the Wilke car


August 1960 Road America - Wilke's 550

June 1961 Road America - Van de Sande's 550

Sept 1962 Milwaukee - Wilke's 550

Just out of interest, what proof do you have that Erickson's car was 550A-0118?

thanks again for spending the time to look at this

Andrew

[vhelmle]

Hello Everyone,

Andrew, I have corrected my error in my previous post on the Hugus car. Yes, it is 550A-0132.

[vhelmle]

Hello Everyone and Andrew:

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's questions. I'll do my best.

Erickson car (550A-011was first raced, as far as we know, by Erickson.
Andrew refers to Erickson's car in post #9435 on the 550 550A forum:

1. According to Andrew's research, a pilot with a last name of Scase (or similar) raced a car before Erickson owned it at Bonneville Flats. We have no record of this pilot with this name or similar.

2. Our records mention a pilot named Barber as owning 550A-0118. However, we have no record of this pilot racing anything other than a 356 and a 904 Porsche.

3. Ted Baumgartner sold this car to Rodger Ward via his dealership.

4. Baumgartner is listed racing a 550A. We believe it was the Erickson car.

5. Wuesthoff is listed racing a 550A for Baumgartner. Again, we believe it is the Erickson car.

6. Finally, Frank Campbell is listed racing a 550A at Nassau and in the Midwest. We believe it may be 550A-0118 (Erickson's car). However, we are not sure. It may be another car altogether.

Best regards,

Vietta

[vhelmle]

Hello Everyone,

Now, for the Hugus car (550A-0132) and Kessler.

Kessler had associations with both Erickson and with Hugus/Sesslar. We originally thought that he was probably driving the ex-Erickson car. While his races seemed to interfere with Ward's races and he is not listed driving a "Special" it seemed like he was probably driving the ex-Hugus/ex-Sesslar car 550A-0132. (Kessler was listed as a co-driver for Hugus/de Beaufort at 1957 Le Mans.) Now, we are just not sure. It does seem likely that he would be driving the ex-Erickson/Rodger Ward-Wilke car (550A-011.

As to proof, we have never been certain that Erickson drove 550A-0118 and listed it in red font to demonstrate our uncertainty.

Best regards,

Vietta

[Type550]

Thanks Vietta,

For something that happened over 55 years ago, it really is a series of puzzle pieces trying to fit them all together to make a picture. I am in contact with a number of drivers of the day who might be able to give some insight

[Steve Heinrichs]

Andrew,

Yep---a puzzle, indeed. We've done a lot of triangulation (or quadrilation) of start numbers, dates, pilots, locations, etc. As you know, this is the only way. I think that this continuing exercise will enable us to not only fix/sort some things but also identify some missing chassis numbers for known races.

Next week, we'll try to post the latest version of the errata list (not to be confused with the erotica list).

Now---as soon as Amazon runs out of books to destroy the pricing I shall be happy. The book is much more valuable than what some resellers are selling it for. The good news is that not only we 550/550A race freaks need it but so do many others.

Ciao,

Steve Heinrichs
www.biglakemedia.com (what if I told you that the 34 A.E. edition books will come in a 918 leather pouch?; I will have 17 of them and Amazon will have zero, nada, none)