The Roaring Season

One of my all time favorite race cars; Maserati 300S. What a thing of beauty! I recall an old Top Gear episode where Tiff Needell drove one on an airstrip, and produced some incredible power slides. I wish there was a video of that on youtube I could share.

The last Bugatti Grand Prix car. It was not a success.

300S - bettered only by a 450S!

I know I should love the 450S more Michael, given that I'm a die-hard V8 enthusiast, but the agility and soundtrack of a 300S gets me every time.

Mark Knopfler... A wet and soggy Friday at Goodwood 2000. Was with my wife, so we had to leave early afternoon as we were drenched. That is why I prefer to do Goodwood on my own. Not fair to let others suffer the vagaries of the UK weather when you know they aren't interested in the cars anyway.

Thanks Ray. Does Knopfler still race this car?

The collection includes a lot of Gordinis. In fact, this is probably the largest collection of Gordinis in the world. Although not as famous as other French brands, Gordini flew the flag during the late 1940s and through to the late 1950s when he went to work for Renault. When he retired, he gave various cars to French museums, but most he gave to the Schlumpf's.

And of course, no French racing car collection is complete without Panhard.

I was amazed to see a 300SLR in the collection. Its extremely rare to see any of these outside of Daimler-Benz captivity. I don't fully understand how this car came to be in the collection, but it is apparently on permanent loan. From who? I'm not sure, but the Schlumpf's were close friends with Alfred Neubauer, and acquired a selection of pre-war Grand Prix racing Mercedes-Benz' during the 1950s, including a pair of W163s, which I don't recall seeing during my visit. M-B did acquire at least one car from the brothers for their own museum, so perhaps they were loaned this car as part of the deal? Perhaps someone knows more.

This 908 finished third twice at Le Mans.

Now moving on to the single seater racing cars from 1960s and newer, including the Lotus 33 that apparently starred in the movie Grand Prix.

What a great photographic backdrop. Maybe they should run some Armco along the wall? You were lucky to find so few other visitors there at the same time Steve.

ERC wrote:What a great photographic backdrop. Maybe they should run some Armco along the wall? You were lucky to find so few other visitors there at the same time Steve.

Yes exactly Ray. One of the good reasons to travel during winter. It was the same at the Le Mans museum.

As I was walking through the racing car section, this electric train thingy passed by. I assume its created for people not physically able to walk around the museum. It is a big place. I thought this thing was pretty cool.