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100 Years of Zagato

The famous Italian coachbuilder Zagato celebrates it's 100th anniversary this year.

They have designed some of the worlds most beautiful sports cars for companies such as Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Fiat, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, and many more.


Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato

Some of their more memorable designs are the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, the Lancia Hyena, the Lancia Aprilia Sport Zagato, the Fiat-Abarth 750 GT, Alfa Romeo 1750 GS Zagato, Alfa Romeo 1900 SSZ Double Bubble, and the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ1.





















Alfa Romeo 1500 GS Zagato and the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ1


The design house is being honoured at the upcoming Greenwich Concours d’Élégance, an event always worth attending.

I hope to see you there!

1929 Grand Prix de Monaco

The very first Grand Prix de Monaco took place on April 14th, 1929.

It was created as to bring international prestige to the Principality.

Sixteen drivers participated in that inaugural race, including Rudolf Caracciola, René Dreyfus, Philippe Étancelin and William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams.

That first race was won by Grover-Williams racing a Bugatti Type 35B.


Pen&ink, paint markers and markers on 18"x 12.75" (45.5cm x 32.5cm) blue archival paper © Paul Chenard    

I decided to create an artwork showing him in his Bugatti, and had a B&W photo as reference. I did the art on blue paper, as most often Bugatti's were in French racing blue.

After starting the art, I found out that he was racing in British racing green, so I used a yellow marker on the blue paper to get the green.

A happy mistake!

Sketching here and there at Lime Rock

I’ve so wanted to return to the Lime Rock Historic Festival, and with the encouragement and support of fabulous artist Chris Osborne and Michael Ricciardi of European Motorsports, I made the journey. Over 2,100 miles of driving later, I still can’t believe the amazing time I had there.


Michael Ricciardi of European Motorsports


Chris Osborne and her amazing art

With the help of the Lime Rock Park marketing staff, including Mitchell Conroy, Mike Distefano, and Nicholas Leone, I got to live-sketch dream cars.


Me sketching the Bugatti Atlantic - Photo Christopher Carveth

The first was the Mullin Automotive Museum’s famous Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic. As I sketched away, I met old friends, and made new ones, including Peter Mullin himself, who came to see what I was hatching. He is in fact buying the original art, with the proceeds of the sale going to the supported charity The Michael J. Fox Foundation.


Peter Mullin and I - Photo Christopher Carveth
1936 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic

The next day, I pinched myself … there was the 1937 24 Heures du Mans winning Bugatti Type 57G from the Simeone Museum! Another stunning subject to sketch!


Me sketching the Bugatti "Tank" - Photo Dom Miliano

Of course, it was all part of the largest North American gathering of the Bugatti marque, with 60 + examples assembled! So much French rolling beauty in one place!!


1936 Bugatti Type 57G "Tank"

Over the weekend, I was so happy to connect in person with Lyn St.James, a real racing hero of mine, plus the wonderful Tom Cotter, writer, racer, and TV personality.


Me live-sketching the Cunningham C-4RK recreation - Photo Brian Koch

On Coucours car show day, I chose to sketch Chuck Schoendorf’s brutish Cunningham C-4RK recreation. I love the purposeful lines of that racer … it just shouts, “Get out of my way!”


1952 Cunningham C-4RK

On the last day, I wandered around to say hello to friends Phil Lamont and Michael Gans, stopping at Tom’s stand to check out his Cunningham C-3 when he requested a sketch of it. No problem! The barn-find racer still has its patina, making it a challenging subject to sketch.


1952 Cunningham C-3

I sold 3 of my 4 sketches, allowing me to more than cover my costs, while also providing a bit of a show for the spectators. I was made to feel so at home at Lime Rock Park, I can’t imagine not returning for next year’s Historic Festival.

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2018 Greenwich Concours d’Élégance

The Greenwich Concours d’Élégance is a premier event in North America that I’ve had the honour of attending previously in 2014 and 2015.

Interestingly, a client from New Jersey ordered 2 prints this past Christmas from me because she remembered me live-sketching at the 2015 edition.

This stirred me into considering a trip to the 2018 Concours when out of the blue, I received a text from my good friend Michael Ricciardi inviting me to join him there.

Michael owns European Motorsports in Lawrence MA, and he had two cars at the Bonhams auction being held at the Concours. One was a stunning, low mileage 1986 Lamborghini Countach and the other was an equally stunning low mileage 1986 Ferrari Testarossa “Flying Mirror”.


Michael Ricciardi with the Countach and the Testarossa.

While Michael was prepping the cars for auction, I decided to do custom license-plate art for each. I think that it really added some spice to both cars.




Our sometimes dinnertime wheels was a stunningly beautiful front-engine, 12-cylinder Lamborghini Espada … even I felt cool in that car!



Lamborghini Espada ... so so cool!!

Once we arrived in Greenwich, we were invited to a Friday evening cocktail party held at the Malcolm Pray Achievement Centre, the event being hosted by his daughter Melanie Pray. It was so good to meet Melanie, an incredibly dynamic person! My art was also on display there, which was a real treat, but the biggest treat for me was seeing my dear friend Deb Stearn Pollack, who had come in from Los Angeles to see a close friend and take in the weekend’s event.


Deb and I beside my art on display.

Deb is an automotive PR guru who also puts together the “Drive Toward a Cure” Tours, a major fundraising event for Parkinson’s Research, which I have supported through donations of original art.


I gave Deb one of my VIDA Design scarves.

My appearance at the Greenwich Concours d’Élégance was kindly supported by the event organizer Mary Wennerstrom, Event Chairman, and her team. They were amazing!

This year’s Concours celebrated the cars of Briggs Cunningham and of John Fitch, and was attended by David Hobbs, signing his new autobiography “Hobbo”, and Wayne Carini, host of TV’s Chasing Classic Cars.


Me live-sketching the Cunningham C4RC - Dom Miliano photo

I managed to get one sketch done per day. On Saturday I did a live-sketch of the beautiful Cunningham C4RC #5222, owned by the wonderful Larry and Jan Pfitzenmaier, and on Sunday I live-sketched Peter Sach’s 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti Spyder, which also happened to win Best of Show Sport.


Me live-sketching the Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti Spyder Robert Brodowski photo


Over the two days, I met countless great people and made new friends. I was thrilled to be visited by my dear friend Chris Osborne and her lovely friend Melanie. Chris is a premiere automotive artist, and it was just so great to see her again.


Me with Chris and Melanie Ed Hyman photo

Needless to say, I had an amazing time in Greenwich!

Once back in MA, I hung around a few days more with Michael, live-sketching one of his cars, and changing the entrance wall at European Motorsports by putting up my art. It was nice to see my art displayed in a proper way in a proper place; hopefully there will be a better chance of selling it there!


My art at the entrance of European Motorsports

I’m itching to get back to see my New England friends!

1949 24 heures du Mans

The 1949 24 heures du Mans marked the return to racing at the Circuit de la Sarthe after World War II.

There were 49 starters for the race, driving Delages, Frazer Nashs, Bentleys, HRGs, Aston Martins, Healeys, Simcas, Talbot-Lagos, and for the very first time, Ferraris.

Two Ferrari 166 MMs were entered, one being driven by the team of Luigi Chinetti and Peter Mitchell-Thomson (Lord Selsdon) and the other by Jean Lucas and Pierre Louis-Dreyfus.

The Ferrari of Chinetti and Lord Selsdon kept a stead pace near the front while the Ferrari of Lucas and Louis-Dreyfus crashed out early on lap 53.



Lord Selsdon was feeling quite ill at the time, managing a total of only 72 minutes of racing, so Luigi Chinetti did the lion’s share of the driving for the race.

Eight hours in, Chinetti pushed the Ferrari into the lead, which he kept to the end, nursing the car with a slipping clutch.

Amazingly, it was Luigi Chinetti 3rd Le Mans win, having also won in 1932 with Raymond Sommer and in 1934 with Philippe Étancelin.

It was also a landmark win for the fledgling Ferrari company, and a hint of the future domination that Ferrari would have on the race through the 1950’s and the early 1960’s.

Ayrton Senna da Silva

In each time-period of Grand Prix racing, there are stars that shine brighter than others … Nuvolari in the 1930’s, Fangio in the 1950’s, Clark in the 1960’s, and so on ...

In the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, Formula 1’s brightest star was Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna.

Born on March 21st, 1960, Senna started racing karts at a young age, then moved into open-wheeled Formula 3, winning the 1983 British Formula 3 Championship.



He entered Formula 1 in 1984, driving for Toleman-Hart, before moving to Lotus-Renault for 1985 and winning his first race in the Lotus 97T at the rainy Portuguese Grand Prix.



After his three seasons with Lotus, in 1988 he moved to McLaren, joining teammate Frenchman Alain Prost.



A very strong rivalry developed between Prost and Senna, yet Senna won 8 of 16 races in the McLaren MP4/4, and took the Formula 1 Driver’s Championship. This, combined with Prost’s 7 wins, gave McLaren their 4th Constructors’ Championship.



Senna stayed with the McLaren team through to the end of 1993, winning 2 more Championships (1990, 1991) before moving to the Williams team for 1994.

The 3rd race of the 1994 season was held in San Marino. Sadly, in the Saturday practice session, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died in the crash of his Simtek-Ford.

During the Sunday May 1st race, Senna crash his Williams, hitting the wall very hard on the 7th lap, and never regained consciousness.



The legend was no more …

Ferrari – A Heritage of Racing

Any automotive racing history artist documenting racing history through their art will be asked why there are so many Ferrari subjects featured.




A quick look at the Formula 1 history quickly explains the reason; Ferrari has been the Formula 1 Constructors Champion for a total of 16 times!!



The 2nd most wins comes from the Williams Team with 9 Constructors titles.




Ferrari also dominated sports/GT racing from the late 1940’s into the mid-1960’s.




Enzo Ferrari’s passion for racing is well-documented; his primary reason for selling road cars was the finance his racing endeavours.



That Ferrari passion runs deep in the hearts of us automotive artists too!!
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Land Speed Record Art

From August 5th to September 15th, the Royal Automobile Club in London is hosting a show of art featuring British wheel-driven Land Speed Record holders.

Rupert Whyte, owner of the Historic Car Art Gallery, has curated the exhibition.

I was lucky to be one of the 11 artists chosen to submit art to the show, and the only North American artist invited.


Donald Campbell's Bluebird-Proteus CN7 on it's way to a world-record speed of 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h) on Lake Eyre, Australia on July 17, 1964.
Acrylic, pen&ink and colour pencils on 24"x 10.5" (60.9cm x 25.4cm) watercolour paper
© Paul Chenard 2015


In the art that I submitted, I wanted to show how once the driver committed to their record run, they were completely alone with themselves, their car, and their God.


1000 HP Sunbeam - Henry Segrave - Land Speed Record - 203.79 mph -
Daytona Beach, Florida - March 29th, 1927
Pen & ink and markers on 16"x 8" red archival paper © Paul Chenard 2017


Irving Napier Golden Arrow - Henry Segrave - Land Speed Record - 231.45 mph - Daytona Beach, Florida, USA - March 11th, 1929
Pen & ink and markers on 16"x 8" yellow archival paper © Paul Chenard 2017


Campbell-Railton Blue Bird - Sir Malcolm Campbell - Land Speed Record -
301.33 mph - Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA - September 3rd, 1935
Pen & ink and markers on 16"x 8" blue archival paper © Paul Chenard 2017


MG EX 135 - A. T. Goldie Gardner - 1,500 Class Record - 204.3 mph -
Dessau, Germany - June 2nd, 1939
Pen & ink and markers on 16"x 8" green archival paper © Paul Chenard 2017

It’s a huge honour for me to be part of something so special.

E.R.A. – English Racing Automobiles

In the current vintage racing scene at diverse venues ranging from Silverstone to Prescott, you’ll probably chance to see a lovely proportioned single-seat open-wheeled race car, the E.R.A., shorthand for English Racing Automobiles.

These cars were the brainchild of Humphrey Cook, Raymond Mays, and Peter Berthon in late 1933. It was their way of upholding British prestige in international racing by the design, manufacture and creation of a team of single-seat race cars.



Top-tear Grand Prix racing was prohibitively costly, so they set their sights on the smaller Voiturette (1500cc supercharged) class of racing.

The brilliant British designer Reid Railton designed the chassis, and the engine was a highly developed version of well-proven Riley six-cylinder.

The well-proportioned body certainly made the finished car look like a winner.



With some chassis design refinements and adjustments, by the end of 1934, they had a winning combination.



Through the rest of the decade, the E.R.A. dominated the international Voiturette class, taken to some notable wins by such great drivers as Raymond Mays, D*** Seaman and Prince Bira.



Later on, as the basic design was modified through the A-Type, B-Type, C-Type and D-Type versions, other new designs were developed in the form of the E-Type and G-Type, but these were not developed enough before funding ran out for race car creation, and the company refocused it’s resources into engineering research and development.



The E.R.A. was a rugged racer, and today, most of them have survived.

They live today as the iconic pre-war British race car.
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Le Grand Prix de Monaco

The Grand Prix de Monaco is still going strong since that first race in 1929.

There is none other like it in the world, a high speed race through a historic city center, with changes in elevation, sharp corners, and no place to pass!

With glamorous coastal setting, facing the turquoise waters of the Ligurian Sea, this playground for the ultra-rich on the French Riviera has been on the must-win wish-list of many, if not all, the Grand Prix drivers.



William Grover in a factory Bugatti Type 35B won that 1929 race.





Bugattis, followed up by Alfa Romeos, dominated the early years; Mercedes finished up the pre-war years.





Italian cars, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari won in the early post-war years, then the British Lotus, Cooper, BRM and Tyrrell teams dominated till the mid-1970’s.





Ferrari would come back, mixed in with wins by Wolf, Williams, Brabham, Benetton, Ligier, Renault, Brawn, Red Bull, Mercedes, and many by McLaren.





And Ferrari has now won their first in 16 years!!

Racing the current wide-track Formula 1 cars through the somewhat garish streets of Monaco is borderline ridiculous but at the same time, that’s the beauty of it. It’s the only remaining unchanged race track of the Formula 1 circuits (or should I say circus?) so the drivers are following in the tracks of history, of the greatness of the past exploits.

Nothing can beat that …
 

Paul Chenard's Page

Profile Information

About Me:
I'm a graphic designer/illustration with a passion for automotive motor sports history. I've decided to illustrate this passion in the form of my own artwork; I set up a company Automobiliart.com to market my art.
I also collect vintage racing automobilia which I feature on a website www.piczo.com/racecartoys
I publish a blog touching on racing history www.automobiliart.blogspot.com
What car(s) do you own?
- Toyota Corolla
- Mazda MPV
What do you like to do (e.g. vintage race with...)?
- Illustrate racing history
- Read on racing history
- Go to vintage racing festivals

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“Silver Clouds” Book Reviews …

Posted on July 9, 2011 at 1:59pm 0 Comments

A few weeks ago, I launched my limited edition book “Silver Clouds: The 1934 Grand Prix Season”.



I wrote, illustrated, designed and hand assemble it, and since it is my first and only book, I’ve been wondering how it would be received.…

Continue

SCALEXTRIC Tinplate Maserati 250F

Posted on August 13, 2009 at 6:35am 0 Comments

My wife Lise and our younger son Olivier just got back from a weekend trip to Toronto to take in the Real Madrid/Toronto FC game on August 7th. Though it was a lop-sided win (5-1), it was still a very entertaining game!



While their stay was quite short, they had the pleasure of brunching with my friend Peter and his wife Huguette. Unknown to me, Peter had picked up a little something for me.





He found out that SCALEXTRIC had… Continue

Comment Wall (6 comments)

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At 10:59am on September 4, 2009, Alexander Davidis said…
Beautiful art you're creating.
Thanks for adding me as a friend.
Best
Allexander
At 11:18am on August 13, 2009, Conor O'Brien said…
John Rhodes was partially blinded in that accident at Brands Hatch in 2006, which was not in any way his fault. Luckily he has recovered most of his sight and went up the hill at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. I saw him at Cholmondeley Pageant of Power in July and he is in great form.
Your 2 paintings of 2 VEV and 33 EJB are 2 of the most famous of both marques. Thanks for your comments. Conor
At 11:39am on June 18, 2009, steve bedford said…
Paul,
You are right it was mosport 2007,I now remember talking to you about the posters that you had on display,I have to admit that I snapped a couple of images of the posters when we first saw them,and looking back through my images from your last comments I found the raw files,which jogged my memory. How do you know Phil Lamont I found a nice image of him in his car from that weekend if you know him I will e-mail it to you and you can pass it on for me
Thanks Steve
At 9:17am on June 18, 2009, steve bedford said…
Paul,
Now I know where I have seen your artwork,At a booth at the Glen a few years back, fantastic stuff !!!! Also on the web about the John Surtess print and what he said about the race.
Keep posting love it all. I also have a large collection of die cast cars and planes will send you an image when I get a chance
Steve
At 6:16pm on January 14, 2009, Stephen Page said…
BTW - I love your work :-))
At 6:16pm on January 14, 2009, Stephen Page said…
Hi Paul
Great to have you on board :-))
Welcome to MyVRL.
Please personalize the appearance of your Home Page, join your favorite car Groups, post photos (and race videos if you have them) and invite your friends to join.
I look forward to meeting you.
All the best - Stephen
Chairman
The Vintage Racing League
 
 
 

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