Peter Collins � A very respected racer

Englishman Peter Collins was a very well liked and respected Grand Prix and sports car driver.

Pen&ink and Prismacolor pencil on steel gray archival stock 

� Paul Chenard 2010

Born in 1931, he started racing Formula 3 Coopers in 1950, and quickly moved up to Formula 1 in 1952, driving for HWM. He also drove for BRM, Maserati and Vanwall.

Targa Florio - Mercedes 300 SLR

Pen&ink and Prismacolor pencil on steel gray archival stock
� Paul Chenard 2010

In 1955, He joined Sir Stirling Moss to win the prestigious, but grueling 277 mile (445 km) Sicilian Targa Florio open-road race, driving for Mercedes in a 300 SLR.

Scuderia Ferrari hired him in the 1956 season driving in F1 and his first win with the team came at the 1956 Belgium Grand Prix. Collins found more success during the season, and was well on his way to possibly becoming the first British F1 Champion.

At the 1956 Italian Grand Prix, the last race in the season, his teammate Juan Manuel Fangio�s Lancia-Ferrari broke down, so Collins selflessly handed over his car to Fangio, who also had a chance at the Championship. This enabled Fangio to finish the race in second place, giving him enough points at the end of the season to win his 4^th F1 World Drivers Championship.

This great act of generosity gained Collins immense respect in the eyes of fans, the motoring press, and Enzo Ferrari himself.

Mille Miglia - Ferrari 335S, pencil on light gray archival stock, � Paul Chenard 2009

In 1957, Mike Hawthorn joined him on the team, and they became fast friends. Collins married American actress and racer Louise King, proposing to her on their second meeting.

Mike Hawthorn, pen&ink and Prismacolor pencils on white archival stock � Paul Chenard 2009

Tragically, this well-liked driver was killed while racing a Ferrari 246 F1 at the 1958 German Grand on the N�rburgring. Hawthorn was so badly affected by the death of Collins, that he announced his retirement after taking the 1958 F1 World Drivers� Championship.

The 1957 Mille Miglia

1957 spelled the official end of the famous Italian Mille Miglia road race, which started in 1927. As the name suggest, the route snaked its way through a thousand miles of Italy on public roads, starting and ending in Brescia.




















That last race was won by Piero Taruffi in a works Ferrari 315 S, but was marred by the crash and death of Count Alfonso De Portago, his navigator Edmund Nelson, and thirteen spectators; Portago was in one of the Scuderia Ferrari team racers. There had been grumblings as a result of deaths in previous races, but this was the last straw, and the Mille Miglia was banded.

Taruffi�s other teammate was Peter Collins, driving a Scuderia Ferrari 335 S, navigated by photographer Louis Klemantaski; they unfortunately broke down, and never finished the race.

Peter Collins' Ferrari 335 S at tech inspection before the race

Working drawing, pencil on light gray archival paper, 12�x 9� � Paul Chenard 2009

I did this sketch while sitting in the car at a soccer tournament, which my son was coaching (not cool for dad to be around the pitch).

Mille Miglia 1954 - Ascari's fans

Pencil on archival white paper, digitally colorized 12"x 9"
� Paul Chenard 2008

Son of a famous Italian racing hero Antonio Ascari, two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari moved to the Lancia Racing Team from Ferrari for 1954, but the Lancia's Formla 1 cars were under-developed, and not really in contention.

Ascari did find success in the well-developed D24 sports car, winning the grueling Mille Miglia (Thousand Mile) race.

In the following year, the Lancia D50 Formula 1 was again raced by Ascari, but retired in the 2 first races. In fact, he lost control and ended up in Monaco Harbour in that Grand Prix.

Four days later, he was killed testing a Ferrari Monza sports car; Italy lost another one of it's great racers. He died at the age of 36, like his father.