Monthly Archives: June 2012

Out Of The Ark – Lotus Elan (Ark Racing)

In 1976 one year after production of the Lotus Elan had ceased the 4th generation Group 5 regulations came into effect for “Special Production Cars” for cars that met the criteria for groups 1 to 4 but were allowed almost unlimited bodywork modifications excluding the bonnet, roofline and railpanel combined with unlimited lightening of the chassis.

Porsche dominated the series overall from 1976 to the series demise in 1981 with numerous variations of the 935 model, though it’s ultimate development ‘Moby Dick’ 935/78 ironically only one one race. Lancia was most successful in the smaller under 2 litre / 122 cui division with it’s Lancia Beta Montecarlo winning two championships with BMW and Ford taking the smaller category once each.

Three different Lotus models were entered into selected Group 5 (Silhouette) races three Elan’s like the one featured today, a Europa and a couple of Lotus Esprit’s. Over the next couple of weeks I will be looking at how three of those teams faired.

In 1968 Derek Mathews built the first of several well known and successful racing cars a Sprite for John Banks, which by 1970 became the Ark Sprite powered by Ford Twin Cam engine. After building and running a Group 6 2 seat open sports car with F Lester Ray originally called the (Derek Matthews) DM6 (sixth car) which became the Vogue Derek built a Lotus Elan for John Evans to race in the 1974 in British Modsports races a combination which recorded many class wins in 1974 and 1975 being crowned BRSCC (British Racing Sports Car Club) Modsports Champions in 1975.

For 1979 Ark Racing built an Elan for Max Payne and John Evans to run in selected World Manufacturers Championship, German DRM, and Belgian events, becoming the third Elan to be used in Group 5. According to ‘The Oracle” and Richard Jenvey the Ark Racing Group 5 Elan, seen above making it’s debut at Silverstone, was built on a Lotus chassis.

At Silverstone the Elan qualified 23rd overall, 3rd last in class and retired with gearbox issues. The car was raced four times in 1979, Max Payne beating a de Tomaso Pantera to win a Benelux race at Zandvoort in The Netherlands.

The last time I saw the Ark Racing Elan was in 1982, again at Silverstone above, when Max Payne was sharing the car with Chris Ashmore they qualified 32nd and were disqualified for a push start. The Ark Racing Elan is thought to have been the last one to have raced taken part in an international ‘in period’ race qualifying 25th and finishing 18th at the 1982 Brands Hatch 1000 kms race with Payne and Ashmore at the wheel.

My thanks to The Oracle, his spokesman Pete Taylor and Edward Fitzgerald for their comments at The Nostalgia Forum and to Richard Jenvey for his private comments.
Thanks for joining me on this “Out Of The Ark” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Une voiture et un film – Ferrari 250 LM #5843

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The Ferrari 250 LM was a development of the 250 P built for customers to race in 1964, Enzo Ferrari tried to get it classified as a GT car however the authorities denied the request because Ferrari could not prove the required minimum of 100 had been built so the cars were raced as prototypes.

Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier driving the Maranello Concesionaires owned chassis #5907 appear to have taken the models first victory at the 1964 Rheims 12 hours finishing ahead of the NART entered 250 LM #5909 driven by John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini.

The 250 LM is known to have won at least 32 races outright, including Ferrari’s last ever outright win at Le Mans. Future World Champion Jochen Rindt and Marsten Gregory shared a 250 LM that after early ignition problems was famously driven flat out in a vane attempt to break the car so the drivers would not miss a nights sleep and ended up winning the race after the faster Ford GT40 Mk II’s had retired and the faster works Ferrari’s required unscheduled pit stops to change their brake discs.

Another future World Champion, Jackie Stewart, scored his only victory at the wheel of a Ferrari at Surfers Paradise in the 1966 12 hour race where he shared a Scuderia Veloce 250 LM with Andy Buchanan.

Thanks Cyril Teste at Ferrari Chat I believe the car seen here at Goodwood Festival of Speed last year, which is not mentioned in the programme, is chassis #5843 a car originally supplied to Ecurie Francochamps in May 1964. If the identity is correct this car is known to have won several races and hillclimbs in the hands of Lucien Bianchi, Armand Blaton and “Beurlys”.

At Le Mans in 1964 Pierre Dumay and Grégoire Langois Von Ophem shared a 16th place finish, this race was used as a background for the 1966 film “Un Homme et une femme” the red painted #5843 carrying the #23 was captured in the film on pit road and during the race.

This car first raced in the Belgian national colour yellow in 1965. I believe the owner of #5843 recently also acquired a 250 GTO for a cool $35 million dollars. Some boys sure have all the fun !

Thanks for joining me on this “Une voiture et un film” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Development Hack – Ford GT Prototype #GT/105

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The Ford GT Le Mans programme, fueled by Enzo Ferrari’s last minuet snub and refusal to go through with a take over by Henry Ford II, began with a partnership between Ford and Lola. Eric Broadley disagreed with Ford over the use of steel in the construction of the chassis and so the partnership disolved leaving Ford to set up Ford Advanced Vehicles on the same Slough Trading Estate that Lola were operating from.

Chassis #GT/105, seen here at Goodwood, was one of the 12 Ford GT’s manufactured by Ford Advanced Vehicles in 1964, it differs form the earliest examples having built from lighter 22 gauge steel as opposed to the 24 gauge used in the earliest Ford GT’s.

This car was only entered for one race in 1964, the Rheims 12 Hours, where it ran, carrying the #6 on wire wheels, with Richard Attwood and Jo Schlesser qualifying 6th and retiring with transmission problems.

Primarily #GT105 was used for extensive testing as Ford sort to turn the comparatively lumpy beast, compared to the cars used by Ferrari at the time, into a Le Mans contender by spending millions of dollars on optimising every component for durability.

While weight was saved using thinner gauge steel this car was raced with the heavier more powerful 4.7 litre 289 cui iron block Fairlane derived Cobra motor in place of the 4.2 litre 218 cui alloy block Indy derived motor which was originally used on the Ford GT project.

For 1965 development of the Ford GT40 project was moved from Ford Advanced Vehicles to Dearborn where Roger Lunn and his team worked at Kar Kraft on the design of the Mk II version and to Shelby American for race development where the 4.7 litre Cobra motors were prepared and installed, the wire wheels swapped for cast alloys and eventually the Colotti 4 speed gearboxes swapped for ZF 5 speed units.

Team Manager John Wyer remained in Slough where he oversaw the production of the Ford GT based road car project the Ford GT Mk III.

In between private testing chassis #GT/105 was raced at the Le Mans Test weekend in 1965 during which Richard Attwood, John Whitmore amd Maurice Trintignant managed third best time overall behind two Ferrari’s.

In 1966 chassis #GT/105 driven by Peter Sutcliffe and Bob Grossman qualified 19th for the Daytona 24 hours coming home 14th and first in class. At Sebring the same year Innes Ireland and Peter Sutcliffe qualified #GT/105 20th but retired with a blown head gasket.

#GT/105 today belongs to irregular Britcar competitor Richard Meins who is seen at the wheel here. Note the car appears to be fitted with a Mk II nose that has had the bottom edge cut away beneath the radiator, presumably in order to maintain aerodynamic stability and aid cooling.

Thanks for joining me on this “Development Hack” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring a little remembered racing Lotus Esprit. Don’t forget to come back now !

Engine Failure – CD 3 #64/2

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At the risk of appearing parochial today’s featured vehicle, the 1964 CD 3 was not by any stretch of the imagination a great success on the track but it did point the way to aerodynamic developments that took off spectacularly in 1977 with the Lotus 78 and is still in evidence in Formula One and other top motor sports categories today.

The CD 3 would prove to be the last design to use a Panhard motor at Le Mans or indeed any non historic race. Power came from a supercharged horizontally opposed two cylinder 848 cc / 51.7 cui motor that produced up to 70 hp that drove the front wheels.

Beneath the low drag body, which has a drag coefficient, measurement of aerodynamic drag resistance, of just 0.12 was a back bone chassis with inboard disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear.

This photo does not show it but beneath the rear body work is a venturi tunnel which effectively managed airflow beneath the car in such away that it was sucked to the ground, which translated means the faster it went the better it’s road holding and grip.

Despite it’s futuristic shape and aerodynamic innovation even with a top speed of 140 mph the two CD 3’s only qualified for the last two places on the grid for the Le Mans 24 hours and both retired one with mechanical maladies. The chassis #64/2, seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed here, qualified 54th for the 1964 Le Mans 24 hours driven by André Guilhaudin and Alain Bertaut and retired after completing 77 laps due to engine failure. The 55th qualified sister car driven by Pierre Lelong and Guy Verrier made it to lap 124 before the gearbox had cried enough.

As Panhard was about to be wholly consumed by Citroën who planned to switch Panhard’s production capacity to Citroën models 1964 would be the last year the CD or Panhard names would appear at Le Mans.

Charles Deutsch, CD, who had been part of the Deutsch Bonet DB partnership went on to design the body work for the 1971 Porsche 917/20 Le Mans challenger which gained a certain notoriety after being dubbed “le Cochon Rose”

Thanks for joining me on this “Engine Failure” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Jubilee Race Day – Castle Combe

Jubilee Bangers & Smash – Aldershot Raceway

Two Timing – Shakespeare County Raceway

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The day before Memorial day I attended the Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway for an afternoons two timing entertainment.

Situated just outside the Shakespeare central known in the tourists guides as Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare County Raceway is built on the site of Long Marston Airfield which served as a Wellington Bomber base during the 1939/45 war.

Looking like it had just come off the set of “Two Lane Blacktop” was this 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. The crew running it told me the 7.4 litre / 451 cui V8 was “misfiring all over the place”, a possible victim of cavitation in the fuel system thanks to the phenomenal weather we were experiencing.

A strong contingent of European based vehicles were present at the “Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic event including this first generation 103E Ford Popular Coupé rig powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. The Popular was a post ’39/’45 war austerity vehicle that was only ever offered as a saloon / sedan.

There were not many cars present at Shakespeare County Raceway that could boast Farina styling, but this 1098 cc / 67 cui Austin A40 Countryman van was one of them.

Another novelty vehicle was the NC Engineering Ford V8 powered Trabant that was being given it’s first run after it’s former Cadillac motor had been replaced. interestingly everybody who was involved in the preparation of this vehicle has been invited to to drive it in competition.

Among the fabulous US vehicles running at the event was this 1932 High Boy “Roadster” which like the Popular Coupé is powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. This car reminded me of Leonard Williams High Boy Roadster before it became the worlds first privately owned Gas Turbine Car.

From the plethora of vehicles bearing original patina was this 1948 Plymouth Special De Luxe Coupé complete with a 5.2 litre / 317 cui V8.

My undoubted “Star of the Car Park” was this 1958 Buick Special Convertible which looked, as did several other cars present, like it had just come off the golf course at a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Sporting a top of the Le Mans range 5.7 litre / 350 cui motor was this Pontiac, like many competitors present the driver was wielding his own spanners to keep this fine looking car in a top state of tune.

I did not know it when I took this photo but going on the engine size of 7457 cc / 455 cui this is a rare, though I am not at all sure exactly how rare Hurst Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. In 1972 following a fatal accident with the Indy 500 no manufacturer was keen on providing a pace car so transmission specialists Hurst stepped in with a couple of hot 455 cui Cutlass Supremes in both Coupé and Convertible forms. The 1972 pace car became well remembered after Linda Vaughan was hired to appear on the back of one of the convertibles with an outsize Hurst Shifter on the boot / trunk.

One reason I was keen to attend this meeting was to get a photo of fellow Bristol Pegasus Motor Club member Crazy Chris Hartnell pulling a wheely in his slingshot Backdraft, his weather helmet was present, dry, casting a shadow, and not shaking but just like the last time he tried this the cameraman was too slow and will have to try again next time. Chris managed two 145+ mph practice runs on the day.

Since this was a practice day many interesting combinations of vehicles were being run, like the Caterham above which got well and truly dusted by the 425 cui Buick Nailhead powered slingshot ‘Soul Town Shaker’ driven by Keith Crampton.

After doing a lovely burn out while being watched by the driver of the, probably Rover V8 powered, Fiero Euro 427, the seen was set for a slightly more competitive run off than the previous Caterham Slingshot combination.

However all present were to be reminded of Shakespeare’s quote from King Lear “As Flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods, they kill us for their sport” as soon after leaving the Fiero Euro 427 standing on the line the Camaro made a dramatic exit stage left,

punched straight in to the guard railing …

and eventually came to rest at the quarter mile mark. Fortunately “th’ gods’ who would kill us for their sport’ were in benevolent mood and after he had been released from the Camaro the driver was seen walking unaided to the ambulance for a precautionary medical.

The camera gods were also smiling, after the accident I foolishly took my camera strap off to stretch out on my perch in the grandstands, waiting for confirmation that there would be no further activity on track before the curfew. When the announcement finally came I forgot that I’d taken my camera strap off got up and heard the sickening thud of my camera bouncing off the grandstand decking and into the 20 foot void beneath the grandstand and eventually hit the surface below.

I went to survey the damage and amazingly although the battery had dropped out the camera was fine as demonstrated by the fine shot of the 1938 Ford V8 Pickup above.

After all the excitement it was time to head home, but there was one final surprise as I left the gate …

… a Dodge Challenger STR8 bedecked in wedding bands, a perfect car for a wedding.

Thanks for joining me on this “Two Timing” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring