Missed this until today.  Nice idea and great photos.  A Formula Libre race, too;  you don't get those often nowadays.  Problems at the first corner - he who is too quick into the first corner often does not finish as they say.
And is that a custom tow truck on the first corner?
This is a theme I've sometimes thought of taking up myself as I used to be a keen fan of motor racing in the 1950s and 1960s.  It reminds me of the races I had with my Dinky and Crescent racing cars.  I'd lay a track out and grid positions would be decided by rolling each car in turn down a ramp.  Movement in the race was decided by rolling a dice and in turn for each car.  The car was then moved a set distance for each spot on the dice - 1 meant one length moved, a 2 two lengths and so on.  The streamlined Mercedes Benz was longer than any of the other cars, and so it always won - which was how it seemed to be in real life in 1954/55.
Thanks for the photo and the link, macg - very much appreciated!