Carrera book comments and questions

[Type550]

On P539 you have 550-02 at Giant's Despair #48. As you can see from the photo, it is 550-03



550-03 at Sebring

[Type550]

On P567 at Giant's Despair 1956 you have McAfee as race #92 on his 550 - he was driving #45

[vhelmle]

Do you have 550-03 (#159) at the '53 CP with a push rod or quad cam? (I will try and use the word 'contemporaneous' in conversation this week - great word )

[Type550]

Looking through my photos, I found another photo showing both cars. It looks like both were fitted with the push rod engines

[vhelmle]

On P539 you have 550-02 at Giant's Despair #48. As you can see from the photo, it is 550-03



550-03 at Sebring

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's comment about 1954 Giant's Despair.

Andrew is correct--thank you for solving that puzzle. For 22 July 1954 Giant's Despair Hillclimb, we will change 550-02 to 550-03 and note this correction in the Errata Sheet.

Best regards,

Vietta

[vhelmle]

On P567 at Giant's Despair 1956 you have McAfee as race #92 on his 550 - he was driving #45

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrews comment about Jack McAfee with start nr. 45 at 1956 Giant's Despair.

For the EM-FM race we will replace start nr. 92 with start nr. 45.

Two events Giant's Despair Hillclimb and Brynfan Tyddyn (T. Newell Wood Estate, near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) were held 20-21 July 1956. Our original source listed three events for Jack McAfee:

• 19 July 1956, Wilkes-Barre Hillclimb, McAfee, no start nr., 5th OA, 1st Class
• 20 July 1956, Giant's Despair Hillclimb, McAfee, start nr. 92, 9th OA. We believe the Wilkes-Barre hillclimb and this race, Giant's Despair, were the same race.
• Then, 21 July 1956, our source lists Race 5 at Brynfan Tyddyn-Giant's Despair, McAfee, start nr. 45, 2nd Class. Other sources, including the local 1956 Wilkes-Barre Newspaper confirmed that McAfee was in the EM-FM race and his result was 2nd OA. The newspaper account did not list the start nr.

We have a photo of the Giant's Despair race. (This photo is also available on Tam's Old Race Cars website.) Looking closely start nr. 92 is barely visible on the door. Thus, we settled for start nr. 92.



Now, Racing Sports cars also lists McAfee with start nr. 45 at the 6th race (not the 5th race). The program lists McAfee with start nr. 92 at the Hillclimb but does not list the results for the 1956 hillclimb.

[Type550]

When Ken Miles piloted the Precision Motors 550A, you have it listed as 550A-0133. The 550A is still competitively raced with the Precision Motors livery, but my records indicate it is 550A-0135

[Type550]

On P590 you have George Keck with race #124. This is a photo George sent me of the race which shows the car as race #120

[vhelmle]

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's comment about George Keck's start nr. 124at 1957 Bremerton.

We show George Keck at 3 different 1957 Bremerton races:

1. 14 April 1957, Keck is listed with start nr. 120
2. 2 May 1957, Keck is listed with start nr. 120
3. 11 August 1957, Keck is listed with start nr. 124

I lived in the Seattle area for a few years and the fact that the sun was shining and people were in shirt sleeves, really does indicate that this photo is from the August race. February to May Bremerton is pretty gloomy!

Vietta

[vhelmle]

When Ken Miles piloted the Precision Motors 550A, you have it listed as 550A-0133. The 550A is still competitively raced with the Precision Motors livery, but my records indicate it is 550A-0135

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's comment about Ken Miles and 550A-0133 or 550A-0135.

We believe Miles raced 550A-0133. Newton Davis is listed with 550A-0135 and there is evidence at this website and other documents we have seen: Ultimate Car Page.

In reviewing these races, we note that Davis races overlap with Ken Miles races--so we are certain they did not race the same car.

Vietta

[Type550]

The weather makes perfect sense Vietta - I only have a year/track for the photo - no specific race. Thanks for clarifying

Andrew

[Type550]

Here is 550A-0133 at Goodwood in 2012. As the other 550A has been racing historics from 2009 at least, I find it interesting why someone would put the historic livery of the Miles spyder on an original 550A unless it was the same car...?

[vhelmle]

Is it possible that the start numbers are incorrect and #7 is 550-0069 and #110 is 550-0047?

On with the show!

On P581 - Hawaii Race April 19 you have Turnbull driving 0069 and Richert driving 0047 in the locals race. Although Turnbull owned 0069, Loretta was his sister and drove it most of the time. In the photo you can see Turnbull on the grid (the number looks more like #11 than #110) in 550-0047 which is the spyder McAfee also drove.

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to the 1957 Hawaii race.

We think Raymond Turnbull raced his own car (550-0069) in the Locals race at 21 April 1957 Hawaii (page 581).


Vietta

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's comment about the chassis nr. of the car that Raymond Turnbull raced (start nr. 110) at 1957 Hawaii. Andrew's point is well taken, but for now we still think Turnbull was driving 550-0069, not 550-0047. Here's why:

We believe that the Richert car has a channel in the rear hood that may be a reverse scoop. See below, the photo from Andrew's website of Loretta Richert in her 550. We know this is 550-0069.

Type 550 - Richert photo

Then, looking at the photo of Kunstle at 1956 Pebble Beach, his car certainly does not have the scoops.

Now, we do not think that Kunstle was actually driving 550-0069 at that April 1956 Pebble Beach Race, but we are not sure that our entry is correct either. Kunstle's car was entered by the elusive Al Hosking. We believe the Hosking car was one of the early 550s (550-0021). Here's a link to Kunstle's photo.
However, our primary source does not know the chassis nr. and notes that the exterior color scheme had changed over time from white to silver with red stripes to red with stripes, but now there is "no trim strip with air holes and the right turn signal lens is missing". This may mean that the car really was 550-0069.

Please review the photos and let us know what you think. We want to understand the "channel" behind Richert's back on the hood of her car.

[Type550]

This is Kunstle's car at the 1956 Pebble beach



This is Kunstle's car at the 1957 Santa Barbara

[Type550]

I have just done some research on some of Kunstle's races and I am stumped on this one which I can't find in any of the race data published - any insight would be much appreciated. Kunstle is driving 550A-0104 and McAfee is driving 550A-0116 (before painted red??)