The 1961 Formula 1 Season � Battle Plans

The 1961 Formula 1 season introduced new rules, including a 1.5 litre engine capacity. By that time, all the teams had switched to the rear-engined configuration.

Black & white pen&ink (14"x 11), digitally painted, available as a limited edition.

� Paul Chenard 2010 

Some teams choose to drag their feet, and protest the engine-capacity changes, but Ferrari started up development by the end of 1960, working from their Formula 2 racers.

In the sketch, designer Carlo Chiti has testing done on the new Ferrari 156 (1.5 litre, 6 cylinder) F1 racer. Assisting him is young engineer Mauro Forghieri, as Enzo Ferrari looks on.


The car was very successful, and Ferrari took the Formula 1 World Constructors Championship, with American driver Phil Hill taking the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

Black & white pen&ink (14"x 11), digitally painted, available as a limited edition signed by Phil Hill.

� Paul Chenard 2007


The following season was less successful for Ferrari, with the other teams finally catching up. The BRM team (British Racing Motors) took the Championship, with the Drivers� Championship going to Graham Hill driving the BRM P56 V8.

Interestingly, by October 1962, Ferrari's disgruntled employees, stirred up by Mrs. Ferrari in a face-slapping incident, left the company "en masse", lead by Carlo Chiti in the famous "Palace Revolt". Most of them joined him at the ill-fated ATS, including World Champion Phil Hill.

The young Forghieri replaced Chiti as chief of the technical department for racing cars. Under his guidance, Ferrari won four Formula 1 World Constructors Championships; 1964, 1975, 1977, and 1979.

After ATS, Carlo Chiti went to Autodelta (Alfa Romeo), then Brabham; he passed away in 1994 in Milan. Mauro Forghieri left Ferrari in 1987 to join Lamborghini.

Olivier Gendebien - A Racing Talent

Belgian Olivier Gendebien and American Phil Hill celebrate their first of 3 Le Mans wins together; they also won together in 1961 and 1962. Gendebien also won in 1960 with fellow countryman Paul Fr�re.

Prismacolor on gray-brown archival stock � Paul Chenard 2010
Nicolas Cancelier Collection

Available as a 14.5"x 11" limited edition.

Their 3 wins together were with Ferrari; here they're driving in their winning 250 Testa Rossa.

Phil Hill 1927-2008

Sadly, yesterday was the first anniversary of Phil Hill's passing.


He was a great man, a Championship-winning racer, a master restorer, an enthralling writer, and a classical music lover.

He represents a time of heroes, and thankfully survived a dangerous period in racing.

He missed by all who've had the privilege of knowing him and knowing of him.

�Go Like Hell� � A Book Review

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was kind enough to send me this book to review on my blog; here it is.

As I closed the cover of A. J. Baime�s book �Go Like Hell�, all I could think of was �hell-of-a-book�!

The book�s subtitle is �Ford, Ferrari, and their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans�, and that sums up very well the subject of his book.

Baime, an executive editor at Playboy magazine, has obviously done some extensive research to put the story together, with interviews with the some of major participants, and their associates, to get the inside perspective. I very much enjoyed finding out more of the players in this vast story, in particular Ken Miles, Phil Hill and John Surtees.

This is not at all a clinical analysis of what happened, but gets right in on the feeling of the 1950�s through to the late 1960�s, and the huge clashes of culture going on then.

These numerous culture clashes float up through the background of racing, spiraling into that landmark 1966 Le Mans: hot-rodders vs engineers, time vs development, American vs Italian, horsepower vs cylinders, corporate vs casual, global vs national, staid vs flashy, speed vs safety, individual vs team �

It�s all there, working together, bringing us through this exciting period of history.

The book is very easy to read thanks to the fine layout and design of graphic designer Brian Moore, who obviously researched his subject to bring in some subtile design touches.

Though I found only one very minor error in the book, there are two points with which I really take issue.

The title �Go Like Hell� is not a quote from the book (I couldn�t find it); it�s weak and totally misses to point of the story. �Speed and Glory� from the subtitle is a much stronger and accurate title to this book, and much more attractive.

The cover, which unfortunately was not designed by Mr. Moore, is horrendous. There are two possibly interesting front cover photos obliterated by a typographic monstrosity that looks like a �TIDE� logo. As I always tell my clients, it cost just as much to do it wrong as to do it right � unfortunately, they are not even close to doing the cover right here, and they are more than 8.36 miles off �

Most of us know this story, and we also know how it ends.
But A. J. Baime gives us the behind-the-scenes and the hard to find insights that make it enthralling.

You can pick it up here at Amazon ... you won't regret it!

Phil Hill in winning Ferraris - 4 Print Series

1 Ferrari 750 Monza Pebble Beach 1955

2 Ferrari 250 TR Le Mans 1958

3 Ferrari 246 F1 Monza 1960

4 Ferrari 156 F1 Monza 1961

Pen & ink on vellum, digitally painted � Paul Chenard 2006

This series highlights Phil Hill's great successes in Ferraris, culminating with his 1961 World Championship win. This is the only series ever created on Phil Hill.

Each illustration is available as a limited edition of 250 signed and numbered 22" x 17" premium archival Giclee prints.

Mr Hill signed the first 25 of each of the 4 illustrations, which are available directly through me.

1959 N�rburgring 1000 km Race

Prismacolor pencils on gray archival stock
� Paul Chenard 2008

In 1959, Sir Stirling Moss convinced Aston Martin Company owner Sir David Brown to lend him an Aston Martin DBR1 sports car to participate in the N�rburgring 1000 km. Brown�s only real goal for 1959 was to win at Le Mans, so allowed only one car to go.

Moss was completely convinced that he could repeat his previous year�s win there, against some strong Ferrari opposition.

Driving at 10/10ths for the whole race, Moss did indeed reel in his second consecutive Aston Martin win at N�rburgring, with the assistance of his co-driver Jack Fairman.

In the illustration, Sir Stirling Moss gets ahead of second place winner Phil Hill; Moss� win gave Aston Martin the additional points required to clinch the World GT Championship.

Phil Hill - Ferrari 246 F1 - Reims 1960

Pen & ink on white archival stock, digitally coloured, 9"x 6" � Paul Chenard 2006

Phil Hill started with Ferrari in 1956, he was driving sports cars, and quite successfully at that.

In 1959, he got his break in F1. In 1960, he won his first Formula 1 race, driving the 246 F1 at Monza. It happened to be the last front-engined F1 Ferrari win, too.

Of course, in 1961, he became Formula 1 World Driver Champion in a Ferrari 156 F1 "Sharknose".

A brilliant man, and brilliant racer.

Phil Hill and Fuller Brush

In 1959, after Phil Hill's first Le Mans win (1958), Fuller Brush decided that it would be interesting to combine his story with Ferrari and their newest catalogue.

The result is an wonderful piece, full of amazing photos, and the text of well-known motorsports writer and racer Denise McCluggage.

On an interesting note, Mr. Fuller was a Nova Scotian!

Phil Hill 1927-2008: An American Hero

Working drawing for future serigraph limited edition, pencil on board � Paul Chenard 2007


Hand-drawn birthday card, pen and ink on card
� Paul Chenard 2007
Phil Hill Collection

I�m very sad to hear that Phil Hill, one of my great heroes, has passed away.

Here is a quote from the Race Legends website:
Hill had a varied racing career beginning in 1947 and stretching over 20 years. He was remarkable in winning both his first and last race outings. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times for the team of Enzo Ferrari, Sebring 12 Hours three times and a host of sports car, endurance and Formula One races. He was also the fastest man in an MG, setting a land-speed record for the British firm. Hill was a long-time contributing editor to Road & Track Magazine.

I actually never heard of him until I started reading his Salon features in Road & Track magazine. His articulate and retrospective analysis�s actually nurtured my curiosity in the history of motor sports, and pushed me to find out more, to read as much as I could on the subject.

That�s when I really learned of his amazing accomplishments in a great variety of racers, and his artistry in Ferraris. My research also showed me that no one had encapsulated his success for the Ferrari Team in art. This led me to create a series of illustrations on his wins with them.

Mr Hill not only chose to feature them on his website, but also agreed to sign 100 prints of the series. Keep in mind that this happened just over a year ago, so it was an incredibly difficult task for him. His signature was obviously effected by the Parkinsons, but he none-the-less pushed on and did the series.

His son Derek was kind enough to take some snapshots of his dad signing, and sent them out to me, and they are now my treasured keepsakes.

Godspeed, Phil Hill 1927-2008...

1 Ferrari 750 Monza Pebble Beach 1955

2 Ferrari 250 TR Le Mans 1958

3 Ferrari 246 F1 Monza 1960

4 Ferrari 156 F1 Monza 1961

Pen & ink on vellum, digitally painted � Paul Chenard 2006

This series highlights Phil Hill's great success in Ferraris, culminating with his 1961 World Championship win.

* Note: At a request of Phil Hill's Family, all Phil Hill artworks are removed from his website until sometime in November, 2008.

Phil Hill and Pebble Beach 1955

Pencil "remarque" on archival Giclee print of one of my illustrations � Paul Chenard 2007
Phil Hill Collection

At the Pebble Beach weekend in 1955, Phil Hill won the race driving a Ferrari 750 Monza. But on the same weekend, he also won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'�l�gance with his self-restored 1931 Pierce Arrow Model 41, formally belonging to his Aunt. In one weekend, he showed his utter skill as a racer and a restorer.

I thought it would be great to combine the two accomplishments in one piece. I did a pencil sketch "remarque" of his Best of Show win on a Giclee print of my Pebble Beach race illustration and sent it to Mr Hill as a gift. I was told that he and his family very much appreciated it.

Phil Hill driving a Ferrari 250TR, Le Mans 1958

Pencil on paper, 9"x 6" � Paul Chenard 2006

Phil Hill, co-driving with Belgian Olivier Gendebien, won his first of 3 Le Mans' in 1958. He later started driving Ferrari Formula 1 cars, becoming the 1961 Grand Prix World Champion.

Mr Phil Hill's birthday later this month

Pen and ink on card � Paul Chenard 2007

A year ago this week, I did this sketch for Mr. Phil Hill for his 80th birthday on April 20th.

It took a lot of research to find a mix of Formula 1 and GT cars in which he actually raced that had numbers that would add up to 80. I hope he liked it.

I've included the note that I had inside the card.