Vintage Photo Of Corvettes Drifting Is The Coolest Thing You’ll See All Day
3
Sponsored Links
Originally posted to corvetteimages.com, this vintage black and white photo shared by Corvette Blogger shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the racing drivers of yesteryear were no less certifiably insane than today’s petrol-breathing loons.
Just look at the oversteer as they round this racing circuit corner!
The driver of the closer Corvette – the dark convertible – clearly has his head turned at the time of this photograph, looking at the driver of the pursuing car. We like to think this was a moment in time when colossal guts and hubris were the foremost prerequisites for being a racing driver; that perhaps – between puffs of his cigar – the driver coolly, casually turned his head mid-drift just to size up the sunnuvagun chasing him, maybe give him the old stink-eye. But this is speculation.
Corvette Blogger estimates that the darker convertible in front is a 1957 model, and they point out that the number 283 corresponds with the cubic-inch displacement of that year’s only available V8. Coincidence? The lighter-colored one is likely either a ’56 or ’57 coupe, meaning either the larger 283 CI V8 (’57), or the older, smaller 265 (’56).
It’s rather unthinkable today to imagine two (now priceless, irreplaceable) C1 Corvettes drifting recklessly around a racing circuit. And that’s what makes this historic image the coolest thing you’ll see all day.
Sponsored Links
Zora would not have been happy as he would be working more to get the handling as so it would not over steer as bad for better lap times. He was a racer not a show off.
I you want to see cars like this driven hard go to a well attended vintage car race. There are still some guys who drive em like they were made to be driven.
Anyone who’s seen Fangio or others in period films knows that depending on the curve – this was the only way to get most vintage race cars around the circuit. It’s why I find it so “quaint” when youngins act like “drifting” was invented yesterday.
– additionally, just looking at the slip angle displayed in the pics, I suspect what is captured is actually two C1s just before they spun out, when “red mist” cause the drivers to overcook the curve.