Ferrari Mailing List: Jim Russell Racing School

[Michel Savard (mysavard]



Does anybody knows what happened to Jacques Couture ? He was responsible for bringing the Jim Russell Racing School to North America.

 

Michael Savard (1981 308 GTSi)

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Les Thompson

To: Michel Savard

Cc: The FerrariList

Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 6:41 PM

Subject: Re: [Ferrari] NFC: Riverside International 1968

Michael,

Around the same time as this film, 1968, I was taking lessons at the Jim Russell School at Willow Springs Raceway near Rosamond, CA.

Cheers,

Les T.

-----Original Message----- 

From: Michel Savard 

Sent: Oct 19, 2015 2:52 PM 

To: Les Thompson 

Cc: The FerrariList 

Subject: Re: [Ferrari] NFC: Riverside International 1968 



No, it's not Steve McQueen. Brought back good memories. In 1984 I was a mechanic at the Jim Russell Racing School here at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. Then in september or october, we had the school's finals at Riverside. Awesome.

 

Michael Savard (1981 308 GTSi)

----- Original Message -----

From: Hans E. Hansen

To: mysavard [at] videotron.ca

Cc: The FerrariList

Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 5:23 PM

Subject: Re: [Ferrari] NFC: Riverside International 1968

Really enjoyed the film.  Thanks for sharing.

Was that Steve McQueen getting out at the end? <jk>

Hans.

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 4:59 PM, Les Thompson <les21 [at] ix.netcom.com> wrote:

A while back I posted some photos of RIR back in the day. Just got my old 8mm movies digitized, so here is some footage of me running a speed trial in my 1652 MG TD (#21) back in February of 1968. 

All taken with a wind up regular 8mm camera, so no nifty engine noises. My uncle rode along and took the in car footage. Had to wind the camera back up just as we came into Turn 6, so missed seeing the old boilerplate close up.

Bought the MG in 1965 and still own it 50 years later. Some other nifty cars in the background, this was before they were too valuable to play with. Didn't get a picture of the brand new SAAB that had been rolled going it 6 and then slid on it's nose and roof into the boilerplate. Dealer tags and plastic still over the pristine interior.

https://youtu.be/QG45gBNdJnA

Enjoy,

Les Thompson