The entry for this year’s Monterey Historic Automobile Races has been posted.  Ninety-nine of the 439 entries are Porsches, the featured make.

There are 15 race groups spread over the weekend.  Friday is practice for all classes, with groups 1A thru 8A racing on Saturday.  Sunday’s racing for groups 1B to 7B finishes the weekend.  The race groups start with 1904 - 1940 Sporting Cars and end with 1973 - 1980 IMSA GT cars.

The entry includes a Cottin-Des Gouttes, Allards, Bugattis, Porsche from a 1949 356 to a 2003 GT3RS (not sure about the vintage rating on this).  There are few Ferraris entered, but lots of other interesting cars.  The only disappointment is the lack of 917 turbos in the Can-Am class.

The entry is available at http://www.montereyhistoric.com/participants/entry-list

The Mirage M6, introduced in 1972, was designed by Len Bailey with assistance from draftsmen Ken MacLeod. Gomm Metal Developments built the monocoque of L72 aluminum riveted and bonded from 18 and 16 gauge sheet.  A mild steel structure is used to hold the front suspension, steering rack and pedals.  A steel bulkhead was used to support the 3-liter Cosworth DFV V-8 engine which was used as a stressed member.

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In May of 1973 the teams contesting the Manufactures Championship gathered in Belgium at the Circuit National de Francorchamps for the fifth round of the series.  The teams would complete 71 laps of the 14.1 km (8.76 miles) track made up of public roads closed for the 1000km race.

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Ford’s Le Mans winning 427ci engine was developed from the final version of a series of NASCAR engines that began as a 352ci engine introduced in 1963.  A.J. (Gus) Scussel was the section head of Ford’s Engine and Foundry Division and prior to becoming involved with the NASCAR program had never seen an automobile race. 

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A new name appeared in Formula 2 for the 1973 season – the Scott.  The car was commissioned by privateer Richard Scott and designed by 26-year old Patrick Head. 

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Erwin and Manfred Kremer of Cologne, Germany developed their own version of Porsche’s 935 race car.  Starting in 1977 with the K1 and the K2 for 1978, the K3 was introduced for 1979.  The Kremer team partner with the American Whittington brothers to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race.  After Le Mans, the Whittington’s purchased the car for use in the IMSA series.

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This September Dalton Watson Fine Books will publish Maserati Tipo 60 and 61; The Magnificent Front-Engined Birdcages by Willem Oosthoek and Michel Bollee. It’s been almost thirty years since Maserati Birdcage by Joel E. Finn was published by Osprey Publishing Ltd. Much additional information has come to light in the last two decades which has enabled the authors, Willem Oosthoek and Michel Bollee, to complete a new comprehensive description of the Birdcage’s competition history. 

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