41 replies to this topic

[Jon Petersen]

Hi!

Having just been to Havana, and of course remembering the three GP´s held there in 57, 58 and 60, I wonder if anybody on this magic forum has a better map of the course than the one on Darren Galpins site?

The part of the course running along the harbour promenade is pretty obvious, it is more the part of the course going back through the city streets I really can´t "read" from Darrens map.

Did it run clockwise?

Where were pits and the start located?

I would be very grateful if somebody could help me out, even if it is not F1....

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Jon

[HistoricMustang]

Yes, this would also be of great interest to me. There is something about that period of time in Cuba.

Henry

[Jon Petersen]

Yes, I think must have been a very special place in those years - it still is, in quite another way. Nowadays it´s not very likely Castro would either host a Grand Prix or get the very best racers coming over, just as he did in 1960....

As track maps seem to be hard to get at, maybe someone has pictures from the `57, `58 or `60 races ? Maybe concentrating on shots where the background is visible, so that I can try to figure out the course...

Jon

[WINO]

The 1957 and 1958 Cuban GPs were run in town, while Castro's 1960 version was run at the airport. The mediocre book "Grand Prix: from Havana to Miami" contains the lay-out of the 1957/58 configuration.

Photos of the cars lined up for the start have a huge apartment complex in the background, with a rotunda and pit row just underneath [to the left of the field]. The course was run counter clockwise, using most of the Malecon, from Parque Maceo [not necessarily the start location], past the Maine monument, the Parque 4 de Julio and the US embassy. Three blocks past the embassy, near a traffic circle, the course moved left and inland for 2 blocks, then left again thru a city street ending up at the embassy again. From there it continued on the Malecon until Parque Maceo for another left turn.

Don't think I have ever seen the lay-out of the airport course of 1960.

WINO

[Jon Petersen]

Wino - thank you!

Uhm - please - do you have access to a scanner ?

If so, could I ask you to post the map and a couple of pics ??

Jon

[WINO]

Sorry Jon, I don't have a scanner. But the upcoming book on the 450S Maserati will have a number of photos taken at Cuba in 1958, including a color one of Shelby and chassis 4506 on the starting grid.

WINO

[JB Miltonian]

Does this help?

[billthekat]

I have a map of the 1957/58 course and I think I might have one of the 1960 circuit somewhere.

[Jon Petersen]

Thank you, JB it´s just what I hoped for!

Jon

[billthekat]

I have sorted through my "stuff" and cannot put my fingers on a circuit map for the "Camp Freedom" airport course used in 1960.

[bradbury west]

Are there any more updates of circuit maps etc as I will be over there in due course. Please post or e mail me details. If I can sort it with a friendly taxi driver to do the route I will do some photographs
Roger Lund.

[gdecarli]

Originally posted by bradbury west
Are there any more updates of circuit maps etc as I will be over there in due course. Please post or e mail me details. If I can sort it with a friendly taxi driver to do the route I will do some photographs
Roger Lund.

I know nothing new, but i you want I have a Gmap recostruction of 1957 layout, easier to understand than the previous map. You can find it on my website.

Ciao,
Guido

[coco]

Has anybody a good photo of car #26 in the 1958-edition??

If so, please contact me offline:

wbaeumer1photo@aol.com

Many thanks.

Ciao!
Walter

[Jerry Entin]

Track Layout configuration of the one-off Havana course for 1960.
The 4-mile track for the Havana Speed Week, including the Freedom GP on Feb 28, 1960.

Roger: Although hard to read, this is the only example of the track lay-out I have been able to find. It comes from the January 1960 issue of Florida Sports Cars magazine and is described as "the former Columbia Air Force base runways with a course of approx. four miles in length. Meet officials are pouring a new surface on the track to make it ready for the racing. Columbia is located in the heart of Havana just a short distance from the hotel sections."

Willem Oosthoek: via his spokesman Jerry Entin

[Terry Walker]

This is the Havana 1960 layout on the old airfield. As is often the case, the official circuit map isn't oriented with North to the top, but "upside down".

[bradbury west]

From what I see from J B Miltonian's map, the circuit runs along the coast on the top loop here between the 2 parks, like an elongated Monaco, or similar to les Sables d'Olonne.

Roger Lund.

[Mark A]

Havana circuit layout




the 1960 Airport circuit

[bradbury west]

In the car museum in Havana last week, liveried as the JMF car
deleted
Copyright Roger Lund
Roger Lund

Edited by bradbury west, 22 April 2014 - 10:10.

[coco]

Originally posted by bradbury west
In the car museum in Havana last week, liveried as the JMF car

Copyright Roger Lund
Roger Lund

A horrible "recreation" of the 300S Fangio drove in Havanna. :lol:Even the color is wrong as the original car was painted in red color.
Seems that Fidel wanted to get something from Bella Italia - but homemade!java script:smilie(':down:')

Ciao!
Walter

[simonlewisbooks]

Seeing the map and the street names beings to mind the very atmospheric novel HAVANA BAY by Martin Cruz-Smith which is set in this area of town. From it's vivid descriptions of the crumbling grandeur one would imagine the place, the buildings, the streets and so forth had changed very little between the era of JMF and the time when the book was written (early 90s). A rare time-warp location which might alow some amazing then-and-now photos...

...if we could find any 'then' to compare - there don't seem to be many around.

[rwills]

A friend of mine, Gareth Rees, has just been in Cuba and sent me a great slideshow of photos showing the Havana GP circuit of 1957-58 as it is now.

He has kindly agreed to me posting the link to the slideshow here.

I hope this works.....

http://www.kodakgall...0103:1454603314

Roger

[Repco22]

A friend of mine, Gareth Rees, has just been in Cuba and sent me a great slideshow of photos showing the Havana GP circuit of 1957-58 as it is now.

He has kindly agreed to me posting the link to the slideshow here.

I hope this works.....

http://www.kodakgall...0103:1454603314

Roger

Thanks. That was great!

[LittleChris]

Excellent, thanks Roger ( & Gareth - the one who raced F3 and F3000 possibly ? )

[rwills]

Excellent, thanks Roger ( & Gareth - the one who raced F3 and F3000 possibly ? )

No, not that Gareth Rees.

Gareth is a long term Nissan employee.

[LittleChris]

Thanks Roger

[DogEarred]

No, not that Gareth Rees.

Gareth is a long term Nissan employee.

I believe this one did race FF1600 in the Benelux countries, circa 1982-5.

[rwills]

I believe this one did race FF1600 in the Benelux countries, circa 1982-5.

Yes, correct.

[teegeefla]

Is there any way to resurrect or repost the images of the 1960 Havana GP maps from this thread?  I am curious as to where the airport circuit was located relevant to the city and the earlier circuit that ran along the Malecon.  Thanks.

[Mark A]

Tom,

 

looks like my circuits file link is missing on the new Forums.

http://www.exige.me.uk/Motorsport.zip

 

Download the above Google Earth file and open it up and go to North America, then Cuba. It has the location and layout of both circuits.

[teegeefla]

Mark-

 

many thanks...

 

Tom

[Terry Walker]

There's a fascinating first-hand account of the 1960 meeting, and then the bombing of the airfield by the US two days before the Bay of Pigs, written by a boy who then lived a few streets away from eastern end of the airfield. It can be found on the website of Motor Sports Marketing Resources, which has a lot of historic motorsport material. The writer was Luis Martinez, who now lives in Pittsford NY. His email address is at the foot of the article, which is a wonderful read.

 

http://www.motorspor...grand-prix.html

 

There is also an illustrated report of the 1960 event in the March 1998 issue of the Porsche magazine "Christophorous", with the emphasis naturally on the various Porsches which competed.

 

PS: I PM'd you as well.

Edited by Terry Walker, 12 April 2014 - 04:06.

[wenoopy]

There's a fascinating first-hand account of the 1960 meeting, and then the bombing of the airfield by the US two days before the Bay of Pigs, written by a boy who then lived a few streets away from eastern end of the airfield. It can be found on the website of Motor Sports Marketing Resources, which has a lot of historic motorsport material. The writer was Luis Martinez, who now lives in Pittsford NY. His email address is at the foot of the article, which is a wonderful read.

 

http://www.motorspor...grand-prix.html

 

There is also an illustrated report of the 1960 event in the March 1998 issue of the Porsche magazine "Christophorous", with the emphasis naturally on the various Porsches which competed.

 

PS: I PM'd you as well.

By coincidence, there is also a story from a young boy named Albert Quiroga who watched the 1957 and 1958 Cuban GPs from a 26th floor apartment overlooking the Malecon circuit. He, too, is now resident in the USA, and the story is illustrated with contemporary references and photos.

It can be found by simply Googling "Albert Ortega GP de Cuba 1957". This is easier than me working out the exact addressof the blog site.

 

Stu Buchanan

[Tuboscocca]

By coincidence, there is also a story from a young boy named Albert Quiroga who watched the 1957 and 1958 Cuban GPs from a 26th floor apartment overlooking the Malecon circuit. He, too, is now resident in the USA, and the story is illustrated with contemporary references and photos.

It can be found by simply Googling "Albert Ortega GP de Cuba 1957". This is easier than me working out the exact addressof the blog site.

 

Stu Buchanan

Stu, you mean this??

 

http://havana5060.bl...ba-1957_25.html

 

Regards Michael

[wenoopy]

Stu, you mean this??

 

http://havana5060.bl...ba-1957_25.html

 

Regards Michael

 

Yes, indeed! The very one. This old dog isn't up to learning all the new tricks, but I did find out how to post pictures, eventually.

 

Some passionate (or worrying) comments about Quiroga's story, considering it all happened  56 years ago!!

 

Stu

[Tuboscocca]

Yes, indeed! The very one. This old dog isn't up to learning all the new tricks, but I did find out how to post pictures, eventually.

 

Some passionate (or worrying) comments about Quiroga's story, considering it all happened  56 years ago!!

 

Stu

Stu...links are easy, but posting photographs...nightmarish..

 

Michael

[bradbury west]

I have found my copy of the  earlier 1960 Colombia airbase  circuit layout picture, so if someone pms me with an e mail address I will send them the pic for posting again. I cannot get into the circuit links above.

Roger Lund

[teegeefla]

I hope this works...photo of the course map courtesy of bradbury west/Roger Lund

https://www.dropbox....columbiafy7.jpg

appears the image did not embed but link seems to work

Edited by teegeefla, 24 April 2014 - 13:07.

[Terry Walker]

Wow, was I off course! The remains of the airport are now known as Cuidad Libertad, well to the west of the city centre. More recent coverage suggests it's not in use as an airport any more, but one runway and a lot of the infrastructure is still intact.

[Tuboscocca]

I wonder why the (ultimate) book on the Havana Races :Carribean Capers by Joel Finn wasn't mentioned. At least it has all circuit maps for the races he is dealing with, in his book???

 

regards Michael

[kamikaze1]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread.  Having recently been in Cuba, and already planning my return, I'd love to get my hands on the track layout for the Grand Prix.  Could someone PM me if they still have it lying around? 

 

Thanks,

Conor

[teegeefla]

Conor-

 

PM sent

[tampaguy]

On 9/6/59 Joe Sheppard won the Four Hours of Alamar, with his German mechanic Fritz Sheidel co driving for the manadatory relief period. He was running his third 550RS 0144. The course was NOT the Malacon harbor course nor the airport course. It was run in a under construction new housing development envisioned by Fidel. All that was there at the time was the newly paved roads and Steel street light poles. I have photos of Joe crossing the finish line and one showing some Cuban fans lining the course. Joe still has the trophy he was given after the race by a Rebel Commander, one of Fidel's henchmen.