Monthly Archives: June 2014

ALFA Screen – Maserati Tipo 151 #151.006

In order to compete in the top 4.0 litre / 244 cui GT Prototype Class in the 1962 Le Mans 24 hours Briggs Cunningham and Frances Maserati agent John Simone funded the production of 3 Tipo 151’s.

Ing. Giulio Alfieri abandoned the Birdcage construction of his Tipo 60/61 models and returned to using large tube chassis construction as had been used on the one off Maserati 450S, the 151’s body featured a proprietary windscreen sourced from the ALFA Romeo Giuleitta Sprint Speciale parts bin.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

Briggs Cunningham entered two of the Tipo 151’s, chassis 151.004 and 151.006 seen here, and Maserati France chassis 151.002 for the ’62 Le Mans 24 hours.

William Kimberly and Dick Thompson driving #151.006 qualified 3rd behind the Ferrari 330 TRI driven by eventual winners Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill and the 330 GTO driven by Mike Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

During the race William and Dick completed 62 laps before a brake issue caused Dick to crash and retire, the Maserati France car driven by Maurice Trintignant and Lucien Bianchi was withdrawn after 152 laps because the suspension was causing the rear tyres to wear out every 10 laps. The second Cunningham 151 driven by Walt Hangsen and Bruce McLaren retired after completing 177 laps with a blown motor.

#151.006 was then driven in two US events by Augie Pabst whose best result was a 7th place in the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside. Bev Spencer then bought the car for Stan Peterson to drive in the ’62 SCCA meeting at Vacaville, however Stan crashed in the qualifying race and after it was repaired Bev sold the car to Skip Hudson whose best result, from three known starts, was a 3rd place in an SCCA race at Cotati in May 1963.

Joe Colasacco and Derek Hill were drove #151.006, now owned by Lawrence Auriana when it was photographed during practice for the RAC TT Celebration races at Goodwood in 2011 and 2012.

Thanks for joining me on this “ALFA Screen” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a French WM Le Mans entry. Don’t forget to come back now !

To Finish First – Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato #0180/L

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Heading the entry list of the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hour race was the 4 litre / 244 cui GT class made up of three entries all of which were privately entered Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato’s including the left hand drive chassis #0180/L entered and driven by Jean Kerguen and Jacques Dewes, the latter appears to have also been known by the pseudonym “Franc” or “J Franc”.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

The other two DB4 GT Zagato’s were the lightweight right hand models of the Essex Racing Stable best known by their registration numbers ‘1 VEV’ driven by Jack Fairman and Bernard Consten and ‘2 VEV’ driven by Australians Lex Davison and Bob Stillwell.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

During the 1961 Le Mans Test weekend Jean recorded 9th fastest time driving #0180/L, but during qualification for the race Jean and Jacques could only manage 13th fastest time, right behind ‘2 VEV’ and two spots ahead of ‘1 VEV’.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

During the race the Essex Racing Stable Zagato‘s ‘1 VEV’ and ‘2 VEV’ retired early on laps 22 and 25 respectively both with blown head gaskets. #0180/L recorded 286 laps enough to be classified 9th overall and class winners, had it not retired in the final hour with a broken starter motor.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

#0180/L is known to have made at least three further race appearances with Jean recording a best 4th place finish driving the car in the 1961 Coppa Inter-Europa run at Monza.

Gwen and Tom Price from Larkspur CA were the owners of #0180/L when Geoffrey Horton took these photo’s of it at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance last year.

My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing his photo’s and to you for joining me on this “To Finish First” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for Maserati Monday tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1962 Le Mans competitor. Don’t forget to come back now !

V10 Turbo Diesel – Audi R15 #105

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After securing 3 consecutive wins with the Turbo Diesel R10 TDI and fifth win on the trot going back to 2004 when Audi R8 was still active Audi came up with a completely new design with a new motor for their 2009 Le Mans challenge.

The new design was precipitated by a change in regulations mandating reduced air consumption and reduced turbo boost pressure. Audi’s R15 featured a much slimmer monocoque and a lighter 600hp V10 turbo diesel replaced the 700hp V12 of the R10.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Audi started their 2009 R15 programme with a win in the Sebring 12 hours where Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello beat the rival Peugeot 908 driven by Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Bourdais by just over 22 seconds.

At Le Mans Allan, Tom and Rinaldo qualified today’s featured car chassis #105 2nd behind the Peugeot driven by Franck, Stéphan and Sébastian.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During the race it became apparent that Peugeot had the faster cars and #105 eventually lost six laps on the winning 908 driven by David Brabham, Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz. Allan, Tom and Rinaldo eventually finished third in #105 5 laps down on the second place 908 driven by Franck, Stéphan and Sébastian.

The sister R15 driven by Mike Rockenfeller, Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner retired after an accident while the third R15 driven by Alexandre Prémat, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas finished a distant 17th.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Chassis #105, seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed shortly after Le Mans in 2009, was upgraded to R15 Plus spec for 2010, but it only appeared once and then only as a T-Car driven in practice for the 2009 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta for Allan, Tom and Rinaldo.

Thanks for joining me on this “V10 Turbo Diesel” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1962 Aston Martin Zagato. Don’t forget to come back now !

’64 Rebody By Scaglietti – Ferrari 250 GTO #4399GT

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In May 1963 British Ferrari importer Col. Ronnie Hoare took delivery of a 250 GTO chassis number #4399GT and entered it for Mark Parkes to drive in the Whitsun Trophy at Goodwood and Martini Trophy at Silverstone and before the car was a month old it had visited victory lane, twice.

In July ’63 Jack Sears took a class victory with #4399GT at the British Grand Prix meeting, before Graham Hill won the RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in August driving the same car.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

In September 1963 Mike Parkes was back at the wheel at events in Monza and Snetterton finishing 2nd overall in both but with class victories.

Over the winter of ’63/’64 the car was sent back to Scaglietti where the original body was removed and a new 250 GTO ’64 style
body was fitted.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Graham Hill drove the rebodied car to wins in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood and the International Trophy at Silverstone, with Mike Parkes adding a third season victory in the 500km race at Spa.

The hood scoop was fitted in time for the ’64 Le Mans 24 Hours where Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs drove the car to a 6th place finish, 2nd in class to the GTO shared by Belgians Lucien Bianchi and “Jean Beurlys”.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti drove #4399GT to a class victory in the Reims 12 hours and Viscount Rollo Fielding scored the cars final in period class victory at Mallory Park in October 1964.

Mike Salmon drove #4399GT for Dawnay racing in early 1965 with his best result being a 4th place from pole in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood.

In 1969 Anthony Bamford, now Sir Anthony, acquired #4399GT and it has remained in his possession ever since.

Thanks for joining me on this ’64 Redody By Scaglietti edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a diesel Audi. Don’t forget to come back now !

Prototype, Racer, Decoy – Jaguar #E2A

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After Jaguars bitter sweet success at Le Mans in 1955, when the works D-Type driven by Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb won the ill feted race following Mercedes Benz mid race withdrawal, Sir William Lyons concluded, as did the board of Mercedes Benz, that Jaguar’s resources would be better spent turning it’s racing success into commercial production success.

The Jaguar racing department became the Jaguar prototype department as all Jaguar works racing programmes were left to customer teams like Ecurie Eccose who promptly won Le Mans in 1956 and 1957 with their D-Types and Briggs Cunningham, who realised he did not have the resources to build and compete with an American sports car with the best Europe had to offer, but still had the resources to buy top line European cars to race.

Jaguar E2A, Ziegler, Goodwood Revival

The Jaguar prototype team’s first job was to build a production version of the D-Type using monocoque construction and replacing the D-type’s live rear axle with independent rear suspension.

This prototype, known as #E(Type)1A(Aluminium), was a 130 mph 2/3rds scale drivable vehicle built in 1957 which after much testing was broken up and scrapped somewhere between 1959 and 1960 without ever having been shown to the press or public.

Jaguar E2A, Ziegler, Goodwood Revival

Today’s featured car #E2A was a full scale second prototype with a monocoque and aluminium body styled by Malcolm Sayer. The car was fitted with a 3 litre / 183 cui fuel injected aluminium straight 6 motor in order to meet the Le Mans prototype regulations. E2A was entrusted to Briggs Cunninghams team and painted in his teams white with two blue stripes colours.

Before going to Le Mans in 1960 E2A was tested at the oval MIRA test facility and the suspension was set up for this purpose when it arrived at Le Mans unknown to Dan Gurney and Walt Hangsen who were employed to drive it.

Jaguar E2A, Ziegler, Goodwood Revival

Dan and Walt found the car extremely twitchy and it was late before the race that the suspension settings were changed to something more suitable to a public road used as a race track rather than a steeply banked oval at MIRA.

#E2A completed the opening lap of the 1960 Le Mans 24 hours in third place, but after just 3 laps the car was in the pits with a broken injector pipe. This was replaced but a train of damage had been set in motion which resulted in E2A retiring after six hours with a failed head gasket and burned piston.

Jaguar E2A, Dron, Goodwood Revival

Back at the Jaguar factory the 3 litre #E2A engine was swapped for a 3.8 litre / 231 cui unit and the car was shipped to the USA Walt Hangsen drove it to a win in the 2nd Annual Inter-club Championship Bridgehampton and class win in the 500 mile Road America race.

Reigning double world champion “Black” Jack Brabham drove #E2A 10th place finish in the 200 mile Grand Prix Riverside, a twisty track to which E2A was as poorly suited as Laguna Seca where Bruce McLaren drove #E2A in two heats of the First Pacific Grand Prix to 12th and 17th place finishes.

Jaguar E2A, Dron, Goodwood Revival

Thereafter #E2A was returned to Jaguar for further testing which included an early anti lock braking system called ‘Wheel Slide Protector’ as used by the Ferguson P99.

#E2A was eventually put into storage, only to be pulled out and painted green in 1965 so that it could be used as a decoy while testing of the top secret XJ13 was carried out at MIRA.

In 1967 Jaguar customer car competition manager Roger Woodley managed to save E2A from the usual destruction for scrap prototype fate by mediating a deal for his father in law Guy Griffiths Camden Car Collection in the Cotswolds to take it with Jaguars insistence that #E2A should never be used in competition.

Jaguar kindly repainted #E2A in Briggs Cunninghams original racing colours and some time after handing it over manged to supply Guy with a 3 litre fuel injected motor.

In 2008 Roger’s wife sold the car for just short of US$5 million at Bonham’s, owner Stefan Ziegler has since had the car prepared to ‘weapons grade racer’ standard much to the chagrin of some old curmudgeons, myself included.

Stefan is seen at the wheel of the car at Goodwood in the photo’s dated 2012, while Tony Dron is seen driving the car in the older images.

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

185mph Motorway Test – AC Cobra Coupé #A98

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Having concluded that the original AC Shelby Cobra Roadster needed some more straight line speed in order to compete with the Ferrari 250 GT0’s at Le Mans both Shelby and AC set about building Coupé’s independently of one another in late 1963.

AC turned to Alan Turner to design their Cobra Coupé for the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours. The less than complete car was taken to the Le Mans Test Weekend in April 1964 and Paul Bolton recorded the 27th fastest time in the 355 hp Coupé chassis #A98. Upon completion and with a spoiler fitted to help reduce lift the car was tested at the high speed MIRA test facility for which it proved to be too fast.

AC Cobra Coupé, Goodwood Revival

In order to test the cars top speed it was decided to go and test it on Britain’s M1 motorway at 4 am two weeks before the 1964 Le Mans 24 hours and both Jack Sears and Paul Bolton took turns at driving the car up a couple of junctions and returning at a time of day when there was no other traffic on the road.

Based on the revs used as reported by the drivers, axle ratio and tyre sizes the AC engineers calculated on their slide rules that the car had reached 185 mph.

AC Cobra Coupé, Goodwood Revival

One of the people present at the test was AC owner Derek
Hurlock’s nephew Tony Martin, who held an administrative position at the Sunday Times and spilled the beans to reporters with whom he worked later in the day.

Naturally the story was taken up and made front page news, however the incident did not contribute to the implementation of a blanket 70 mph on British Motorways in 1964 as a trial and made permanent in December 1965, as has become myth. The Ministry of Transport had been working on that legislation since far earlier in an effort to reduce death’s on Britain’s motorways which had been unrestricted since the first section of the Preston By Pass that was to become the M6 was opened in 1958.

#A98 was taken to Le Mans where it was qualified in 13th and gave the GT class winning Shelby Daytona Coupé designed by Pete Brock and driven by Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant a good run for it’s money until fuel starvation intervened.

Foul play was suspected when newspaper was found in the petrol tank, after being told by their tyre supplier to not change their tyres Paul suffered a tyre failure on lap 77 which put him in hospital and caused a Ferrari avoiding the incident to leave the track which killed 3 spectators in an unauthorised spectating area.

It took an AC enthusiast 12 years to rebuild the wreck of #A98 into the condition seen here at Goodwood Revival in 2012.

Thanks for joining me on this “185 mph Motorway Test” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a unique British built US entered vehicle that competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Don’t forget to come back now !

Polska Kronika Filmowa ? – Talbot T150 / T26 #82935 / 90202

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Today’s blog tells the story of how I came to wonder if today’s Talbot T26C 90202 seen a couple of months ago at the VSCC Spring Start meeting featured in a 1948 edition of Polska Kronika Filmowa a Polish weekly newsreel.