Alpine Renault A110 Jean-Pierre Nicolas 1973

Ugo Capeto, Alpine Renault A110 Jean-Pierre Nicolas RAC Rally 1973. Faber Castell Pitt artist pens on canvas sheet, 9"x12". ©2013.
This is the Alpine Renault A110 (Berlinette) driven by Jean-Pierre Nicolas at the 1973 RAC Rally. This is an original marker drawing from a photograph whose origin is unknown (if you know the origin, please let me know asap for proper credit).

The 1973 Daily Mirror RAC Rally was part of the 1973 World Rally Championship season. It was run in mid-November in the County of Yorkshire in England. Jean-Pierre Nicolas (with Claude Roure as co-driver) finished the race in 5th position behind three Ford Escort RS1600 and one Volvo 142. Alpine Renault would end up winning the World Rally Championship in this inaugural season with 8 wins in 13 races.

The Alpine Renault A110 (better known as the Berlinette) was built in Dieppe, France from 1962 to 1977. The mechanical parts came from Renault (the "Renault 8", in particular) while the polyester body was originally designed by "Chappe et Gessalin" (on the A108).

Alpine was founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, a Renault dealer whose primary interest was to run Renault cars in rally races. The name Alpine is a reference to the rally races run in the Alpes region of France, like the "Critérium des Alpes". In 1973, Alpine was bought by Renault but with Jean Rédélé still in charge.

The Alpine Renault A110 used in the 1973 World Rally Championship was powered by a 1800 cc engine that came from the "Renault 12 Gordini". The rally race engines were prepared by the famous Renault engine guru, Marc Mignotet.

Prints and greeting cards are available at Alpine Renault A110 Jean-Pierre Nicolas 1973 on fineartamerica.com.

Jaguar E-Type Cunningham/Salvadori 1962

Ugo Capeto, Jaguar E-Type Cunningham/Salvadori Le Mans 1962. Faber Castell Pitt artist pens on canvas sheet, 8"x10". ©2013.
This is the Briggs Cunningham Jaguar E-Type driven by Briggs Cunningham and Roy Salvadori at the 1962 "24 Hours of Le Mans" endurance race. This is an original marker drawing from a photograph in the book "Sports Car Racing, In Camera, 1960-69" by Paul Parker. The artwork is on medium texture Fredrix canvas sheet.

Cunningham and Salvadori finished 4th overall at the 1962 Le Mans endurance race.

Briggs Cunningham was certainly a very rich guy, having inherited a lot of money from his father, who was a successful businessman. Briggs was passionate about sail boat racing (he won the America's Cup in 1958) and sports car racing. Le Mans was probably where he wanted to win the most, maybe to prove to the Europeans that American cars with American drivers could win there. Cunningham got famous at Le Mans in 1950 for his Cadillac based cars that certainly drew attention. One in particular will remain in the annals of Le Mans as probably the weirdest/ugliest looking car ever to run there (nicknamed "Le Monstre" aka "The Monster" by the French). For a while, Cunningham built his own race cars (and production cars for the richer public) in his West Palm Beach factory. It was closed down in 1955. Right at that time (it's probably not a coincidence), he became the official Jaguar distributor for the East Coast and started to use the D-Types and later, the E-Types, for racing purposes. It is said that Briggs Cunningham was the first to paint racing stripes on his cars. The Cunningham "blue on white" stripes, the United States racing colors, would later show up on Caroll Shelby's race cars.

Roy Salvadori raced only twice for team Briggs Cunningham. He's probably best remembered for his victory at Le Mans in 1959 with Carroll Shelby but he was quite the accomplished Formula One driver, having raced at the top level from 1952 to 1962.

Prints and greeting cards are available at Jaguar E-Type Cunningham/Salvadori 1962 on fineartamerica.com.