Living History

We’re now 2 weeks away from Hunt Valley Horsepower’s 2nd Anniversary and there’s a veritable gravitational force pulling us toward that morning.  The activity behind the scenes is building.  The wrenching in garages around the region is finalizing, thus ending months of automotive hibernation. 

This week, Formula One roars out of hibernation.  OK, the roar’s tune will be different with the downgrade from the 2.4-liter V8 engines to 1.6-liter V6 turbo engines but there will be memorable roars from engines and fans nonetheless.

Last Saturday, we were honored to host a periodic visitor to our community.  He brings us closer to Formula One.  The title of the Porsche 356 Club de France magazine read “Un jeune homme de 85 ans”.  With my entry-level French aptitude, it translated to “A young man of 85 years”.  The magazine was placed in my hands by the one and only Heinz Werner Bade. 

The man was the wizardly engineer for the unstoppable “King Carrera” Jennings all the way back to the 1959 SCCA racing season with the 1958 Carrera GT Speedster.  Unstoppable?  Imagine 26 wins in 1960.  Ground-breaking engineering and superb driving led to over 300 trophies through the career of “King Carrera”.

Heinz attended to the Formula One cars of Sir Stirling Moss during the 1960 and 1961 seasons.  Yes, Sir Stirling Moss.  The allotted space for “The Starting Line” doesn’t do justice to the roads traveled by Heinz.  You are encouraged – if your timing is right – to listen to a page or two of Heinz’s storied history on a Saturday morning in Hunt Valley.  Your home encyclopedias are most likely in hibernation.  In this case, that’s just fine.  They have nothing on living history.

Photo courtesy of Porsche 356 Club de France

Photo courtesy of Rich Williams;  Heinz Werner Bade is standing in the back row (1st right)