Monthly Archives: October 2012

Autumn Classic – Castle Combe

Last Saturday morning I made my way to Castle Combe for the Autumn Classic meeting, regrettably the last but one racing meeting of the season, as you shall see I couldn’t make Sunday’s final Castle Combe meeting due to a commitment elsewhere.

This event marked the first visit by the Vintage Sports Car Club for thirty years. I followed the 1929 Dodge Brothers Senior above in through the gate.

In the paddock Sue Darbyshire was warming up her Morgan Super Sports for morning practice which qualified 6th for the VSCC Pre War Sports Cars race and in which she crossed the finish line of the race in 4th.

Out on the track practice for the Bernie’s V8 Historic V8 Racers Association race was well underway, the series caters for V8 powered cars racing on road legal treaded tyres. I was most pleasantly surprised to find one of less than 600 Maserati Bora’s built among the entries, Graham Burgess is seen above qualifying for 15th on the grid, he finished the race in 11th.

During the lunch break Julian Bronson demonstrated his 1960 Scarab Grand Prix car that was built, maintained and on occasion driven by Chuck Daigh for Woolworth heir Lance Reventlow. This is the third of the three open wheelers built and was raced by Chuck with a regular Offenhauser during 1961 in a couple of non championship Formula One races, with out the ill feted Desmodromic cylinder heads fitted to the first two cars.

After the success of the Spirit of the Sixties event held at Dyrham Park last year the Bristol Motor Club were invited to organise an Essence of Dyrham demonstration at Castle Combe last weekend, Martin Sheppard’s 1958 Stanguellini Formula Junior, was the only open wheeler to take part.

After the lunch break racing got under way in earnest with Chris Woodgate making the most of his pole position in his Aston Martin DB 3 to come home over thirty seconds to the good from Nicholas Ruddell in his #25 Aston Martin DB2/4, Nigel Batchellor seen in second place in the #36 DB 2/4 above dropped out, while Timothy Stamper lost 3rd place for several laps to Anne Reed before claiming back third spot on the podium in his #39 Aston Martin 2/4.

Anthony Reid stamped his authority on the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club Pre 1966 Jaguars race right from the word go, but there was plenty of action going on behind. Above John Burton in the #15 XK 120 carries evidence of cutting a chicane, John managed to hang on to 5th place eventually finishing 10 seconds ahead of Peter Dorlin’s #48 Mark 1 Saloon, after an entertaining battle Peter finished 1 place ahead of his brother Richard, in a Mk 2 Saloon.

The Big Healey Challenge race was interrupted by a pace car incident which virtually handed a one lap lead to forth place starter Anders Schildt from Sweden, but these classics still proved highly entertaining to watch as they grappled with Castle Combes notoriously undulating surface. Above Anders leads eventual third place finisher David Smithie who appeared to be closing Anders down for the lead until the pace car intervened effectively handing Schildt the John Gott Trophy on a plate.

If the Healey’s were struggling with Castle Combes undulations the Bernie’s V8’s fared little better as evidenced when a rear shock absorber failed on the #78 Dodge Challenger of Belgian Bert Smeets. The rare South African #6 Ford Capri Piranha of Andrew Haddon managed to lap the entire field in less than 40 minuets on his way to victory in a race which was also interrupted by a Safety Car period after an incident involving the series organisers Bernie Choodosh’s Chevrolet Corvette.

After lengthy repairs to the Castle Combe crash barrier the 50’s Inter Marque race provided plenty of thrills and spills. Nigel Webb just managed to keep his C-type Jaguar ahead of Nigel Bancrofts indecently quick Lotus Elite which was giving away over two litres / 122 cui in swept volume to the Jaguar. Webb came into hand over to Anthony Reid who regained the lead after the Elite’s mandatory pit stop and headed for his second trip to victory lane of the day. Bancroft who elected to drive solo finished second.

Tom McWhirter driving the unusual 6 wheel #23 Jaguar SS 100 is seen leading the opening lap of the the VSCC Pre War Sports Car race from the #21 HRG Andrew Mitchell and #29 Patrick Blakeney-Edwards Frazer Nash Owlette. Tom won the race by nearly 3 seconds from Andrew who in turn finished just over 16 and a half seconds ahead of Patrick.

The Twilight Challenge featured just seven starters but there were still battles aplenty thanks to the mandatory pit stop requirement. Tim Pearce claimed the victory in his Morgan Plus 8, the #73 Ford Falcon of Chris Clarkson above is hounded by the Jaguar E-Type of Alan Bull. Alan retired the Jaguar, while Chris and co driver Williams came home second 26 seconds adrift of the Morgan.

I hope it is not another 30 years before the VSCC returns to Castle Combe and that Bernies V8’s and twilight racing return early in the new year with bigger grids.

Full results for all last weekends races at Castle Combe can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Autumn Classic’ edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a 1954 Blue Flame powered sports car. Don’t forget to come back now !

Single Year Production – MG PB

The Worlds Oldest Bristol ? – Bristol 16/20 Type T Tourer

Worlds First 200 mph Race Lap – Dodge Charger Daytona

Cut and Bury – Lotus Ford 64

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After coming close to winning the 1968 Indianapolis 500 with the Pratt & Whitney gas turbine powered Lotus 56 driven by Joe Leonard the powers at Indianapolis decided to ban gas turbine power and all wheel drive for the 1969 season, but eventually relented and allowed all wheel drive vehicles that had wheels no more than 9″ wide all round. Rear wheel drive vehicles were allowed to go to 14″ wide wheels at the rear.

Colin Chapman rose to the challenge of building a car to the new regulations with the financial encouragement from Andy Granatelli’s STP Oil Treatment. The Lotus 64 was a new chassis which was powered by a 700hp turbocharged double overhead cam Ford V8 motor driving an all wheel drive system that was lifted from the Lotus 56 as indeed was much of the rest of the chassis.

In order to connect the motor to the mid mounted gearbox the motor had to be mounted backwards so the drive came from the front, as on the ill feted Lotus Ford 63 all wheel drive Grand Prix car.

Mario Andretti, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt were lined up to drive the three team cars and a spare was built just in case of unforeseeable eventualities. Straight out of the box the cars were on the pace of the gas turbine Lotus 56 from the year before setting record speeds. However Mario Andretti’s car had a rear hub failure which sent him into the wall. Mario was lucky to get away with superficial burns to his face and after it was determined the failure was due to a design fault that could not be rectified in the available time frame the three Lotus 64’s were withdrawn from the race.

Mario jumped into the #2 Hawk Ford belonging to Granatelli and promptly qualified 2nd to AJ Foyt and then won the race after Lloyd Ruby was knocked out of contention by leaving the pits with his refueling hose still attached.

Andy Granatelli wanted to buy one of the remaining 64’s but when negotiations broke down Colin Chapman is alleged to have ordered the now engineless cars be returned to Hethel, Lotus home base, where he promised to take a hack saw to them personally cut them up and dig a whole and personally bury them. As it turned out all three cars were put in a shed.

Jochen Rindt’s #80 is seen above sans motor, this is the second of the three remaining 64’s to have emerged in recent years the other one has a correct Ford motor installed.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cut and Bury” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the first car to record a 200 mph average closed circuit lap during a race. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Breadvan – Ferrari 250 GT SWB #2819

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Today’s unique vehicle came to be built after Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata fell out with Enzo Ferrari for financing a rival Formula One team ATS which employed ex Ferrari personnel Carlo Chiti, Giotto Bizzarrini and World Champion driver the American Phil Hill.

#2819 started life as a regular Ferrari 250 GT SWB and was entered in the 1961 Tour de France by Ecurie Francochamps for Olivier Gendebien and Lucien Bianchi who finished 2nd. The car was then acquired by Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata who’s Scuderia Serenissima di Venezia entered the 1961 Paris 1000 kms for Maurice Trintignant and Nino Vaccarella who finished 3rd.

Wanting a third vehicle to enter in his Le Mans team which included one 250 GTO, #3445 and a Ferrari TR/61, #0792TR which won at Sebring, but unable to secure a second 250 GTO from Ferrari, Count Volpi di Misurata had his 1961 250 GT SWB upgraded to 250 GTO spec by the very man responsible for conceiving the original 250 GT SWB and 250 GTO series Giotto Bizzarrini.

Allegedly in just 14 days Giotto Bizzarrini & Piero Drogo modified Count di Misurata’s 250 GT SWB by moving the dry sumped engine back 5 inches behind the front axle so that it could be mounted lower in the chassis. Piero Drogo came up with a staggeringly beautiful body with a cut off ‘Kamm’ tail which led to the name Breadvan. The finished car was 143 lbs lighter than the 250 GTO and 7 mph faster on the 4 mile Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.

The body of the 250 GT SWB Breadvan is so low that a plastic bubble was devised for the hood to cover the six Webber carburettors. The 276 horse power 2953 cc / 180 cui V12 engine weighed nearly half that of the contemporary XK straight six used by Jaguar in it’s D & E Type racers.

#2819 driven by Carlo Maria Abate and Colin Davis was leading the works 250 GTO’s in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours when it retired after four hours with drive shaft failure. After a 4th place finish at Brands Hatch for Abate, and 3rd place in Paris for Ludovico Scarfiotti and Davis the ‘Breadvan’ was used by Count di Misurata as a road car.

The original SWB body from #2819 was fitted to chassis #2439 by Scaglietti in 1962 after Gunnar Anderson had a couple of accidents at Falkenberg and Västkustloppet in Scandinavia.

Apparently Count Volpi di Misurata lent The Breadvan to Gianni Agnelli, then head of FIAT, who had the vehicle painted black by his butler because it reminded him of a hearse, it is not noted if this had anything to do with then delicate state of Ferrari finances at the time, the Ferrari road car division was eventually absorbed by FIAT in 1969.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Breadvan Edition” of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Colin Chapmans 1968 turbo charged all wheel drive Indy challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

Merry Christmas – Lola T70 #SL70/10

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Today’s Americana Thursday blog remembers Jerry Grant the first man to be credited with a 200 mph closed circuit lap in an open wheel car at Ontario in September 1972.

Among the many cars Jerry drove was this 1965 Lola Ford T70 chassis #SL70/10 that was run by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers team in 1966.

Jerry qualified on pole first time out at the USRRC Stardust Grand Prix held in Las Vegas as he did on at least two other occasions for USRRC events at Riverside and Watkins Glen.

Known for always answering the phone “Merry Christmas this is Jerry Grant” what ever time of year, Jerry won the USRRC event at Bridgehampton with this car in May 1965.

After an accident during practice for the Can Am race at Mosport in September 1966 the car was given a new lighter Mark 2 T70 chassis which it carries to this day. Although the Ford V8 could pull higher revs than the Chevrolet motor used by everyone else in the 1966 Can Am season it lacked the torque of the Chevy and team owner Dan Gurney is the only man to have won a Can Am race with Ford Power in a similar Lola T70.

Allegedly on one occasion when his Ford failed Jerry pulled his car up to a stop along the pit wall jumped over the wall picked up a revolver and emptied it’s contents into the motor saying “Well you shoot injured horses, don’t you?”. Jerry conceded that leaving the AAR team at the end of the season was a mistake, AAR went on to become winners of the Indy 500 with Bobby Unser in 1968.

Despite many wins driving sports cars, a close call with Victory Lane at Indy in 1972 when a puncture forced him to pit from a comfortable lead in 1972 and another in the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours when the GT 40 he was sharing with Dan Gurney was pushed over the line for the for the win and subsequently disqualified, Jerry’s most notable achievement was his 200 mph lap at Ontario in 1972 driving an Eagle for Dan Gurney again. Jerry passed away on August 12th, 2012 aged 77.

RIP Mr Grant.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for today’s photographs taken at Carmel By The Sea Concours on the Avenue.

Thanks for joining me on this “Merry Christmas” 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