Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
A couple of sketches from Hampton Downs last weekend. Great to see so many visiting cars from overseas, the Lotus 23b below is one of 2 23b's visiting from the US. This one belongs to Travis Engen, and I understand he also owns and wins historic Enduros in an ex Le Mans winning Audi R8! Anorak fact: The 23b Lotus caused such a stir at their debut at the Nurburgring in 1962 (leaving much more powerful Porsches, Aston Martins and Ferraris in their dust - not bad for 1000cc) that the Le Mans officials outlawed them on a minor technicality for the upcoming Le Mans, causing Lotus to boycott Le Mans indefinitely.
The whole event is held in celebration of Denny Hulme, our only Formula 1 title winner. On display and on track are many of his cars and even his jet boat called 'Can Am' powered by an enormous V8 out of Can Am racer and towed by a McLaren orange Range Rover. Here's a sketch in the McLaren Trust garage below of his Yardley McLaren M23 with the nose off for a battery recharge and his 1968 Can Am championship winning McLaren M8. I found the video on motorsportretro.com - it'll really put you on the mood for looking at this post!
Comments