Monthly Archives: March 2011

Heavyweight – Jaguar E- Type 3.8 Coupe

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Call me a hopeless romantic but there is something I find irresistible about the notion of walking into a showroom purchasing the fastest vehicle they have in stock, adding a couple towing eyes, a fire extinguisher roll cage and 5 point harness and ignition cut out switch and heading down to the nearest race track.

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This kind of racing used to be called stock car racing in the US and Production racing in the UK.

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Today’s stunning 1961 E-type 3.8 litre Coupe has been kept in more or less original trim since new.

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It still has an all steel shell and opening panels.

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Until recently the current owner; ex power boat racer, Michael O’Shea has been racing a 1958 XK150S, he has a decades experience racing Jaguars and a couple of years racing a Cooper – Maserati.

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Michael first started racing karts at 12 but did not start racing cars for another 34 years.

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Racing has been in Michael’s blood all his life his Dad was the mastermind behind the O’Shea Racing Organisation which ran a car for a then unknown, future world champion, Jack Brabham.

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Michael will be racing his car in the new HSCC Jaguar E-Type Challenge a series created to cater just for E-types on their 50th Anniversary.

My thanks to Jaguar World and Classic & Performance Car for additional information.

Hope you enjoyed todays Heavyweight edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Sick Bag Not Included – Prodrive P2

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In 2006 David Richards tasked every department in the Prodrive Group with developing the Prodrive P2 into a fully functional concept car in order to demonstrate ” the perfect manifestation of what happens when our inspirational ideas combine with our innovative approach.”

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Development from designs by Peter Stevens, whose portfolio includes the Jaguar XJR 15 and McLaren F1, to fully functioning vehicle took just 9 (nine) months.

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Prodrive started by using a much modified All Wheel Drive Subaru R1 platform around which to build the P2.

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Under the hood lurks a 345 hp turbocharged Subaru flat four taken from the Subaru World Rally Championship (WRC) programme complete with Prodrives Anti Lag System (ALS) tuned for the road that minimises turbo lag by burning fuel in the exhaust system at low rpm which keeps the turbo turbine spinning at high speed. Such systems which increase the throttle response of turbocharged vehicles were banned from Formula One in 1981.

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The P2 also uses a modified version of the Subaru (WRC) drive train which features Prodrives ATD™ system which compares what the driver is expecting with what the vehicle is providing. The system modulates torque to individual wheels using a differential control system.

In a four wheel drive application such as the P2, if the car is understeering / pushing, then the system will deliver more torque to the back wheels, making it behave more like a rear wheel drive car; if the car is oversteering / loose then more torque will be delivered to the front wheels. ATD™ enables the car to be driven through corners at much higher speeds.

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When a well known large presenter of a well known motoring programme tried the P2 with the ATD™ switched on he apparently drove the P2 in such a tight circle at such high speeds he made himself ill and had to stop the car and open the door to spill his diced carrots and peas on the tarmac.

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With a power to weight ratio of 350 hp per tonne the P2 can reach 62 mph in 4 seconds and a top speed of 174 mph.

Prodrive estimated that it would have been able to retail the P2 for around £40,000 / $ 65,000 in 2006, but declined to manufacture the vehicle themselves.

Hope you have enjoyed the ride in today’s ATD™ edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Coming up Short – Triumph TR8 Twin Turbo

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All of motor sport is littered with heroic failure and there is possibly none less understandable than the Janspeed Engineering Triumph TR8 twin turbo, when one considers John Buffum’s success with the TR8 on the US Rally Stages in North America and Bob Tuliis equally outstanding success with his TR8 on the race tracks, so much in fact Bob was forced into a successful switch from SCCA to IMSA series.

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Like the Buffum and Tullis programmes Janspeed’s Le Mans programme had absolutely zero factory backing but unlike Buffum and Tullis, Janspeed did not even have a budget to run the car let alone test it.

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Legend has it that this vehicle started life as a left hand drive test hack used by Janspeed on behalf of British Leyand, when the tests had been completed Jan Odour acquired the vehicle with the intention of preparing it for a British modified series, however a change of rules in that series, around 1977, led Jan Odour to attempt something far more ambitious namely to take on the onslaught of Group 5 Porsche 935‘s in the World Sports Car series.

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The Janspeed TR8 ran with a dry sumped twin turbo version of the all alloy Olds/Buick V8 design purchased by Rover and was said to produce over 500 hp, but it failed to set a qualifying time on it’s debut at Silverstone in 1980, where the car was loaned out to ADA Engineering in a vane effort to get the car onto the track.

Later at Le Mans despite being recorded travelling in excess of 200 mph on the Mulsanne the car failed to qualify.

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I remember looking forward to seeing what the TR8 could do when I returned to Silverstone in 1981, despite arriving in time to catch qualifying I was already too late, the car had been crashed and withdrawn from the race much to my disappointment.

Later in 1981 the car ran again at Brands Hatch where it qualified but failed to finish after a spin and a stall, unfortunately I was in Germany at the time so I never did get to see possibly my all time favourite Triumph run.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s twin turbo edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at a truly unique vehicle that was perhaps just an on board sick bag short of reaching production. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Inspiration and Innovation – Prodrive Factory Visit

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I was privileged to join fellow members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams on a factory tour of the Prodrive Factory over the weekend.

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David Richards a qualified chartered accountant and 1981 World Championship Winning Rally co-driver who started his business as a motor sport consultant in the middle east, says of his company that it’s purpose is to ‘inject excitement’.

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That injection of excitement is backed with 25 years of Championship winning motor sports success that includes rallying

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and racing …

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to the very highest levels including two spells in which David Richards ran teams in Formula One.

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In 2006 Prodrive built a fully working concept car, but declined to put it into production,

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After numerous successes running Aston Martin racing teams …

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David Richards led a consortium of investors in a $925 million take over of Aston Martin in 2007,

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a company of which he is now the Chairman.

It was uplifting to see British engineering is alive and well in Banbury, Oxfordshire with a fascinating range of activity including the assembly of a range of competition vehicles, computer operated machining of a huge variety of items from solid blocks of material, and truly mind boggling assembly of competition spec wiring looms, if your into engineering and or motor sport the Prodrive tour run by the effervescent Jackie Irwin, who has petrol running through her veins, is an absolute must.

My thanks to everyone at the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club who organised the tour including Andy who kindly did the driving honours.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s excitement injected edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Gundam vs Godzilla – Nissan GTR

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In 2007 Nissan re launched the Nissan GTR, currently this model is marketed as the first true supercar for anyone, anytime, anywhere with the disclaimer that “Driving is a serious business and requires your full attention. At all times obey traffic laws. Not intended for unpaved off road use. Always wear your seatbelt, and please do not drink and drive.”
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My only experience with any kind of GTR was with the Gran Turismo GT2 and later GT 4 games in which super car performance for the 3 box Skyline GTR could be obtained with 1000 plus hp tunning kits. Polyphony Digital the makers of Gran Turismo were responsible for designing the multifunction display inside the real GTR.

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This car is a must for anyone into hi tech abbreviations, for example the GTR is powered by a 485hp VR38DETT DOHC V6 engine fitted with two parallel IHI turbochargers that meets California Air Resources Board Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards.

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Like the motor the rear mounted Borg Warner designed six speed gear mounted gearbox is built by hand and coupled to a dual clutch, with Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain (ATTESA) and Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC-R) systems to aid stability come as standard.

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The performance of this model, so long as it is not in Japanese limited to a 112 mph spec, on the track is right up their with the Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche GT3 and Ferrari 430 Scuderia, the GTR can cover 402 meters in 11.6 secs from rest and has been tested to 195 mph.

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Nicknamed Godzilla, the GTR takes it’s rear end styling cues from the giant robots featured in the popular Japanese Gundam animated TV series.

My thanks to the petrolhead who bought this Godzilla to the Sunday Service back in January.

I am sure you will all want to join me in wishing all those who are coming to terms with the devastation in Japan condolences and best wishes for the future.

On a happier note I’d like to wish one of GALPOT’s earliest followers Cheryl a Happy Birthday !

Hope you have enjoyed today’s ATTESA edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Wuzzum – WSM Sprite #202

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Douglas Wilson-Spratt the designer of the WSM Sprite had an engineering background with the car division of the Bristol Aircraft Company which included experience as a production test driver. Douglas worked with Jim McManus, founder member of the Healey Drivers Club and former salesman at the Donald Healey Motor company to set up the Healey Centre in London to cater for the performance Healey Market in 1962.

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793 XPP is a 1962 MG Midget fitted with a Douglas designed aluminium body beaten by Peels Coachworks featuring a glass fibre bonnet for Douglas’s son in law Mike Lewis .

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This second Douglas Sprite conversion known as WSM 202 was driven to numerous victories in racing and hill climb events by Mike in 1963.

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The WSM initials of Wilson-Spratt and McManus, only became a marque name after a couple of American owners needed a name for their import documents, WSM’s are occasionally referred to as Wuzzum’s.

Production was suspended after the ninth WSM was completed in 1965 and restarted with Sanction 2 WSM Sprite’s in 2008 which are still available from WSM Cars.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Wuzzum edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Superfast2 – Ferrari 430 Scuderia

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The Ferrari 430 Scuderia, launched in 2007, fell between the standard road F430 and the race only Ferrari F430 GTC as a track day car.

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A 430 Scuderia benefits from a weight saving over the standard F430 of 100 kg / 220 lb.

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Performance of the 430 Scuderia was further enhanced by electronic upgrades including Superfast2 software for the semi – automatic transmission which facilitates 60 ‘millisecond’ shift times.

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The Scuderia engine produces 508 hp at 8500 rpm enough to give the vehicle a rest to 62 mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 198 mph.

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When tested around the test track by a popular TV series the Scuderia proved to be even Stevens with the Nissan GTR and fractionally faster than the Porsche Carrera GT and significantly faster than a Mercedes Benz SLR.

Thanks to the pistonhead who brought this fabulous Ferrari along to January’s Sunday Service.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Scuderia edition of Ferrari Friday and that you’ll join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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