Monthly Archives: July 2014

Americana – San Marino Motor Classic

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San Marino Motor Classic, Horton/ McNabb

The first weekend of June saw Geoffrey Horton take his Jaguar XK140 FHC seen above to the San Marino Motor Classic.

Duesenberg Model A, San Marino Motor Classic, Horton/ McNabb

Among the US vehicles on display was this 1921 Duesenberg Straight Eight also known as the Model A first seen in 1920 but which did not go into production until 1921 by which time the motor had been fitted with an overhead camshaft.

Chrysler Imperial, San Marino Motor Classic, Horton/ McNabb

Powered by a 6.3 litre / 384 cui L head straight 8 the 1932 Chrysler Imperial was also marketed as the ‘Imperial 8’.

Ford Thunderbird, San Marino Motor Classic, Horton/ McNabb

In 1957 Ford built two competition Thunderbirds with supercharged Lincoln motors and Jaguar transmissions, of which I believe only one original, the #98, still exists. The car above appears to be a copy of the #99 which was dubbed the Battlebird by the media back in the day.

Chevrolet El Morocco, San Marino Motor Classic, Horton, McNabb

I had great fun trying to figure out if the vehicle above was either a 57′ Chevrolet or a Cadillac and it turns out to be a bit of both. Cadillac owner Ruben Allender came up with the idea of offering a $1,000 conversion to turn a Chevrolet into a Cadillac in 1956. It is thought 20 examples were built in the first year and possibly 16 more in 1957 when production ceased.

Watson Offy, San Marino Motor Classic, Horton/ McNabb

Finally for today I’ll leave you with this delicious vehicle labelled as a “1961 Indy Roadster”. The #41 was carried by Johnny Boyd’s Leader Card 500 Roadster sponsored Watson Offy in the 1961 Indy 500. Johnny qualified 20th and retired at just over half distance with a broken clutch.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton and Paul McNabb for sharing today’s photographs more of which will appear on Tuesday and Friday next week.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana” 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 !

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I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue – Sonoma Historics

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Most teachers know that they can walk into a room with a dozen students and tease pretty much anything they want to teach out of them, on almost any subject, over the space of an hour or so. In the spirit of such student participation I’m inviting you dear reader to help me out here, because at fast glance I’m sorry to say I haven’t a clue about what any of today’s six featured vehicles are, neither manufacturer or age.

Sonoma Historics

At first sight this green racer looks like a cross between the second incarnation of the Bristol 450 Le Mans racer and the later Bristol Arnolt. The British registration plate on the back reads “SAR 336”. At a guess this vehicle is British and Bristol powered but do you know where the body came from and when ?

Sonoma Historics

Chip slicer radiator grills, as on the vehicle above, often point to a Ferrari or Chevrolet but I cannot think of any models from those manufacturers who built anything that looked like this. If you think you know what this might be, please do not be scared to chip in below.

Sonoma Historics

California is the home of the fiber glass special and the white racer above looks like one of the majority I have not heard of. The HM sticker tells us it probably ran in SCCA events for vehicles up to 750 cc / 45.7 cui. Does anyone recognise this pint size racer ?

Sonoma Historics

My first thought was that the vehicle above was a Kes Kastner & Pete Brock designed Triumph TR250K, but it is not. Confusingly it says Phoenix on the front and advertises Piranha kits on the side, I feel like a fish out of water on this one too, can you help ?

Sonoma Historics

The rear body reminds one of the Lotus 19 and Lotus 23 sports racing cars, but everything forward of the roll bar does not. All suggestions welcome below.

Sonoma Historics

Finally the Can Am type vehicle above looks part McLaren and part Chaparral with out fitting the mould of either, unusually for a vehicle of this type, if it is a Can Am car, it appears to have an aluminium body at a time when fiber glass was very much de riguer.

If you can help identify any of these vehicles please do not hesitate to chip in below, as soon as I have all the answers I’ll do a follow up blog.

My thanks to Karl Kause and Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs taken at Sonoma Historics at the end of May.

Thanks for joining me on this “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the vehicles at the recent San Morino Motor Classic. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Driving The Change – Renault

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Founded in 1899 Renault were not celebrating anything in particular at this years festival of speed but still had a potpurri presence that spanned their competition history as shown by today’s collection of photographs.

Renault Type K, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1902 Marcel Renault drove a Type K similar to Renault built replica above to victory in the 990 km / 615 mile Paris-Vienna covering the distance in 15 hours 47 mins to average 38.95 bone shaking miles per hour.

Renault 40CV Montlhéry Coupé, Goodwood Festival of Speed

By 1925 Renault’s top model was the 40CV one of which one the 1925 Monte Carlo Rally. The following year built this aerodynamic Coupé version for a crack at the 24 hour distance record which it won by averaging 107 mph on the banked Montlhéry Circuit outside Paris.

Alpine M65, Goodwood Festival of Speed

After the ’39-’45 War Dieppe garage proprietor Jean Rédélé started racing Renault 4’s with considerable and founded Alpine to capitalise on it in 1954. For 1965 Alpine built the M65 model with a 1.3 litre / 79 cui tuned Renault motor powerful enough for the M65 to be timed at 266 kph / 165 mph at Le Mans.

Alpine A310, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Fast forward 12 years and the now Renault owned Alpine were not only returning to Le Mans which they won out right in 1978, but they were building the mid engine Peugeot Renault Volvo V6 powered Alpine A310 sports car. A successor to the Alpine A110, Guy Fréquelin drove an A310 like the one above to win the 1977 French Rally Championship.

Renault RE 40, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Alpines success at Le Mans gave them a spring board from which to launch their Formula One team in 1977. Translating the theoretical advantages of turbo charging on to the track in the sports top table proved time consuming and costly but by 1979 Formula One victories started to be achieved. However the unreliability of their ground breaking adventure kept Renault from ever winning a world championship with their turbo charged V6. The 1982 RE 40, driven by Michele Leclere above, came closest, with Alain Prost and Eddie Cheever helping the marque finish second in the Constructors Championship to Ferrari and Alain 2nd in the drivers championship with 4 victories to Nelson Piquet driving a turbo BMW powered Brabham.

Renault Twin Run, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At Goodwood Renault showed us a view of their future in the form of the fully working 2013 concept car the Twin Run which like the Renault 5 Turbo Maxi and Clio V6 has a mid mounted motor boasting 320 hp. No plans have been announced for the vehicle to go into production in this configuration… yet.

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

01/07/14 Errata Tim Murray has kindly pointed out that I incorrectly identified the Renault Type K as a type AK 90CV, when this post first went out, apologies for any confusion.

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