Old racecar pictures

[bertvorgon]

as this thread is about racing, here is a note on the Donahue book, from Wikapedia.

I totally embraced his "TRACTION CIRCLE" principle, which I practice to this day even in my street vehicles.

As any of us that have competed at a high level, having any "advantage" was always a key to being faster than the next guy. There are still 2 things on my car which will remain out of the public domain, as they were part of my success long before any twigged on what was going on, with some suspension stuff and other tricks..ha.

"Donohue chronicled his entire racing career in the book, The Unfair Advantage (co-written with noted motorsports and engineering journalist Paul Van Valkenburgh). The book documents his career from his first races to his final full season of racing the year before he was killed. This was not merely a celebrity autobiography, but a detailed, step-by-step record of the engineering approach he took to getting the absolutely highest performance from every car he drove, always looking for that elusive "unfair advantage". Donohue (along with Penske) were pioneers in many rights, some as notable as the use of a skidpad as a tool for developing and perfecting race car suspension designs and setups. The book told how Donohue learned to exploit the antilock braking system and the powerful turbocharged engine of several prototype Porsches, as well as how he learned from various mishaps, including a near-fatal crash. The book was published shortly before Donohue's death."

The book was re-released in 2000 by Bentley Publishers (Cambridge, Massachusetts). It includes information and additional photography that was not available before the first edition was published.