Carrera book comments and questions

[vhelmle]

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[vhelmle]

Hello Everyone and Andrew,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's question about the photo which includes Kunstle's 550-0069 with start nr. 118. I originally found this photo at the Tam's Old Race Car website. In their commentary, they say that the race is 4 November 1956 Palm Springs.

Start nr. 88 - Pete Lovely (550A-0104)
Start nr. 118 - Jean Pierre Kunstle (550-0069)

The comments also say that the red Osca is Jim Kimberly and the Cooper is Bob Drake. Although the comments say that Ken Miles is also in this photo, we are not sure that Miles was at this race--the silver/red 550 may be Jack McAfee with start nr. 89 (550-0047).

This is a very confusing photo in our opinion.

Vietta

[Type550]

Hi Vietta,

Looking at the Racing Sports Car results list - http://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Palm_Springs-1956-11-04a.html
there is no car #93 which is in both photos.

You can also see that Kunstle's car has the 550A indicator lights on the front. When Kunstle raced the 550A, it had a large 'K' painted on the nose.

Andrew

[Type550]

I am currently in email discussion with the owner of 550-0069. He says it did have additional grills at the bottom of the rear and scoops in the top, but different to any other Spyder. I am trying to get a photo off him to show them

[Type550]

The difficult thing is that 550A-0104 which was reconfigured from the coupe LeMans racer was one of very few 550As that did not have a driver's cowl consealing the roll bar - both the silver and red cars do not have the cowl...?

[gerrymc547]

Vietta
With regard to 26789, I worked for Newt Davis for most of 1957- 1959. I do not know the chassis number of his 550A, but do know absolutely that he obtained it from Briggs Cunningham. It was the car frequently raced by Denise McCluggage, painted white. Newt still owned the car well into the'60's. He approched me at LimeRock, asking if I would look at a "really bad" oil leak on his RS. The car was under the infield stands, at the start-finish line, where he had left it the previous October! When started, oil GUSHED from the tank vent. I determined that he checked the oil, found it very low, and added 7 quarts! Wwhen started, the "missing" oil was returned from the crankcase to the tank, filling and pressurizing it, and sending oil out the breather at an alarming rate. Unfortunately I lost touch with Newt, except for his visits to our Lotus- Porsche (and more) dealership when he owned the Lotus distributorship for the northeast. A wonderful character, and a great friend. He succumbed to cancer several years ago, his wife, 2 days later.

[Type550]

After discussing the photo at the start of the Hawaiian race, the current owner of 550-0069 has confirmed that the car is 550-0069 which Ray Turnbull was piloting. Although very similar to 550-0047, it has always had the Licence plate light assembly fitted to the rear

[vhelmle]

Hi Vietta,

Looking at the Racing Sports Car results list - http://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Palm_Springs-1956-11-04a.html
there is no car #93 which is in both photos.

You can also see that Kunstle's car has the 550A indicator lights on the front. When Kunstle raced the 550A, it had a large 'K' painted on the nose.

Andrew

Hello Everyone and Andrew,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me post a response to the photo where Jean Pierre Kunstle's red car with "K" on the front hood is in the lead.

We believe Andrew's original identification of this race is correct: 3-4 November 1956 Palm Springs. We think that in the photo, Bob Drake's start nr. does look like "95", but is listed as "45". We think there must be an error:

• In the original entry list, or
• In other documentation

Notes:

• We can't find a copy of the original entry list anywhere. We did find an archived copy of the Palm Springs newspaper which discusses the race, but does not provide an entry list. However, it does note that Lovely, Ginther, McAfee, Kimberly (OSCA) and Drake (Cooper) were all at the race.
• It is possible that Drake's start nr. looked like "45" to someone.
• We found no other Drake races where he is listed with start nr. 45. It seems that nearly all of his start numbers are known.
• Ginther's car (silver/black hood stripe) appears in the second photo and Ginther was at this race, but not Ken Miles.
• The barely visible silver/red in the first photo should be McAfee's car.

Vietta

[Type550]

Porsche RS550 Spyder 550-0057 - Retromobile Paris 2015

[Type550]

Hi Vietta,

found this image of Drake's car with caption:




Bob Drake in Joe Lubin's 1500cc Cooper at Palm Springs in 1956.

[Type550]

Lovely was driving 550A-0104 in the Palm Springs race. George Keck told me this a while ago:

The car Edgar took delivery of shortly before Palm Springs was the 1956 class-winning Le Mans coupe. For some reason, it took some time to convert it back to a roadster and Edgar had anticipated earlier delivery. From my understanding, this car was an amalgam of several different development programs of the Spyder, thus probably one of the earliest chassis, updated several times. Jack took one look at the car, which had a very early rear suspension, and said it was used up and he didn't want to drive it. Jack certainly knew his Porsches, so I defer to his comments, which he elaborated on several times in talking about that long ago Palm Springs weekend. Obviously, from Porsche's point of view, the rear suspension really didn't matter on the billiard-table smooth Le Mans course. Pete Lovely ended up driving it at Palm Springs then it was sold off to JP Kunstle.

[vhelmle]

Lovely was driving 550A-0104 in the Palm Springs race. George Keck told me this a while ago:

The car Edgar took delivery of shortly before Palm Springs was the 1956 class-winning Le Mans coupe. For some reason, it took some time to convert it back to a roadster and Edgar had anticipated earlier delivery. From my understanding, this car was an amalgam of several different development programs of the Spyder, thus probably one of the earliest chassis, updated several times. Jack took one look at the car, which had a very early rear suspension, and said it was used up and he didn't want to drive it. Jack certainly knew his Porsches, so I defer to his comments, which he elaborated on several times in talking about that long ago Palm Springs weekend. Obviously, from Porsche's point of view, the rear suspension really didn't matter on the billiard-table smooth Le Mans course. Pete Lovely ended up driving it at Palm Springs then it was sold off to JP Kunstle.

Hello Everyone,

Steve Heinrichs has asked me to respond to Andrew's post.

To make sure we are on the same page, the photo under discussion is this one: #26813

We agree and the book agrees that the race includes the following cars and pilots at 3-4 November 1956 Palm Springs:

• Lovely, start nr. 88, 550A-0104
• Kunstle, start nr. 118, 550-0069
• McAfee, start nr. 89 (not visible in photo), 550-0047
• Drake, start nr. 95, Cooper, but recorded in some document as start nr. 45
• Kimberly, start nr. 5, OSCA
• Ginther, start nr. 211, 550-0089 (but his car resembles Miles 550A

Best regards, Vietta

[Type550]

On P598 - Nassau Speed Week you have a remark on Beagle's 550-0088 that it 'became Devin Porsche' - this is incorrect. 550-0088 is still in its original condition and configuration

[vhelmle]

On P598 - Nassau Speed Week you have a remark on Beagle's 550-0088 that it 'became Devin Porsche' - this is incorrect. 550-0088 is still in its original condition and configuration

[Type550]

I still have issues with Wallace driving an RS550 with a #0 race number. All photos I have are of 550A spyders like this one at Bridgehampton in 1957 (P594). Car #37 is Underwood and #0 is Wallace, both in 550A spyders