Monthly Archives: June 2015

Not Quite A GT – Ligier Cosworth JS2 #2379 72 03

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In 1970 former international rugby player and construction magnate Guy Ligier set about founding a sports car manufacturing company bearing his own name.

The original production model was to be the JS2 with a chassis designed by Michel Tetu, who would later be part of the Renault Le Mans and Formula One campaigns and a body designed by Pietro Frua.

The JS2 was originally intended to be powered by a 2.6 litre / 158 cui Ford Cologne V6 but that had to be changed to the 3 litre / 183 cui Maserati V6 as used in the Merak and Citroën SM, when Ford thought it might build a rival in the form of the Ford GT70.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Production of the JS2 never reached sufficient numbers for the sporting authorities to consider the car for GT racing so instead racing versions were run as prototypes.

The racing JS2’s were built with aluminium chassis and raced with Maserati V6 engines which proved a tad underpowered and unreliable, although the teams perseverance was rewarded with a victory in the 1974 Le Mans 4 hour race for Guy Chasseuil and in the 1974 Tour de France Automobile where Gérard Larrousse, Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Johnny Rives drove the winning JS2.

A second place finish for today’s featured chassis #2379 72 03 driven by Bernard Darniche and Jacques Jaubert emphasised the team’s mastery of the 1974 mixed discipline event.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

With new sponsorship from Gitanes for 1975 Ligier exploited the Prototype regulations more fully by producing a silhouette JS2 body and fitting more powerful Ford Cosworth DFV motors to two of his three JS2 racing cars including today’s featured chassis.

The two DFV powered JS2s were sent to Mugello and Dijon netting a 7th for Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the former and 6th for François Migault and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the latter.

Perhaps mindful of wanting to preserve their machinery for Le Mans only single car entries were sent to Monza and Spa where Beltoise and Jarrier finished 21st from 7th on the grid and François Migault and Jean-Louis Lafosse finished 12th from 5th on the grid respectively.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

At Le Mans the two DFV powered JS2’s were joined by a third Maserati powered JS2 the latter to be driven by Beltoise and Jarier.

Unsurprisingly the Maserati was slowest of the three starting from 9th it was also the first of the three to retire after an accident.

Today’s featured car driven by Henri Pescarolo and François Migault qualified 5th but retired later in the race with a puncture.

The second DFV powered JS2 driven by Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil qualified an impressive 3rd and survived to finish second only one lap down behind the Gulf GR8 shared by Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx.

After Le Mans 1975 Ligier retired from sports car racing in preparation for it Gitanes sponsored appearance in Formula One the following season.

Thanks for joining me on this “Not Quite A GT” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be paying a visit to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Don’t forget to come back now !

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600hp 4 Rotor Wankel – Mazda 767 #001

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For their tenth visit to Le Mans in 1988 Mazdaspeed developed a new longer four rotor Wankel engine that produced 600hp and fitted it into a new Nigel Stroud designed 767 chassis that replaced the 3 rotor Wankel powered 757.

Mazda 767, Kennedy, Terada, Katayama, 1000 kms Silverstone

Yoshimi Katayama, Youjirou Terada, Takashi Yorino drove a 767 to a 7th place finish in the 500km race at Suzuka in April 1988, the following month today’s featured chassis #001 made it’s first appearance at the 1000km race run at Silverstone where the car is seen above, it was driven to a 9th place overall finish and GTP class victory by Youjirou, Yoshimi and David Kennedy.

Mazda 767, Le Mans,

At Le Mans in 1988 chassis #001 was driven to a 17th place finish by Yoshimi, David Leslie and Marc Duez from 29th on the grid finishing two spots ahead of the sister 767 driven by Takashi, Hervé Regout and Will Hoy, but two spots the GTP class wining Mazda 757 driven by Yourjirou, David and Pierre Dieudonné.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Hodgetts, Dieudonné , Le Mans,

Back in Japan Youjirou and David scored the 767’s season high best result in the 500 mile race at Fuji where they finished 4th overall.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Hodgetts, Dieudonné , Le Mans,

For 1989 chassis #001 was upgraded to B spec which is most obviously differentiated from the original 767 spec by the side exhaust exiting the right hand side of the car looking from the rear.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Hodgetts, Dieudonné , Le Mans,

Chassis #001 was sent to the Daytona 24 hours where Yoshimi, Takashi and Elliot Forbes-Robinson finished 5th from 10th on the grid 62 laps behind the winning Porshe 962 crewed by Derek Bell, Bob Wollek and John Andretti.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Hodgetts, Dieudonné , Le Mans,

Back in Japan chassis #001 was retired from races at Fuji and Suzuka with fuel line and gearbox issues before starting it’s 1989 European tour with a 10th place finish overall and GTP class victory at Dijon with David and Pierre at the wheel.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Dieudonné , Brands Hatch,

They were joined at Le Mans by Chris Hodgetts where chassis #001 crossed the line 7th overall with yet another class victory from 28th on the grid.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Dieudonné , Brands Hatch,

These last three photographs show Pierre and David sharing #001 on the way to 13th place finsh and forth consecutive class victory from 18th on the grid at Brands Hatch.

Mazda 767B, Kennedy, Dieudonné , Brands Hatch,

David and Pierre drove #001 to two further 1989 GTP class victories at Spa and Mexico before it was retired.

Thanks for joining me on this “600hp 4 Rotor Wankel” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Le Mans challenger from Ligier. Don’t forget to come back now !

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All Time Greatest One-Two – Mercedes Benz 300 SLR # no.3

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Due to strained financial circumstances at the Mercedes Benz factory Rudolf Caracciola and Wilhelm Sebastian had only a privately entered Mercedes Benz SSKL with Mercedes approval at there disposal when they became the first foreign team in the first foreign car to win the 1931 Mille Miglia and the first to ever do so at an average speed of over 100 km per hour.

When Mercedes Benz returned to the event in 1955 they left nothing to chance sending a team of 60 technicians based at their event headquarters with spares and sufficient for their four 300 SLR entries.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Team manager Alfred Neubauer insisted each of the drivers were to drive the 1000 mile course a minimum of five times in preparation for the event, Karl Kling is believed to have driven at least 30,000 miles in his preparations.

Following the death of his co driver Daniel Urrutia in 1948 while competing in Peru Juan Manuel Fangio never drove in a competitive event with a co driver again, and so Juan made his own preparations for the 1955 Mille Miglia driving a FIAT 1100.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Before the first six hours of the race had been completed both Karl Kling driving solo and the Hans Herrmann / Hermann Eger crewed 300SLR’s had crashed out of the race.

However Stirling Moss aided by directions from 1949 World Champion Motor Cylce side car passenger Denis Jenkinson, who had meticulously made course notes on 15 feet of paper all carefully rolled into a device devised for bomber command during WW2 came home winners covering the 1,000 miles 6 hours faster than Caricciola in just over 10 hours at a record average speed just short of 100 mph, having covered the stretch from Cremona to Brescia at just under 124 mph.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Stirling Moss, Goodwood Revival,

In second place 31m 45 seconds behind the winning #722 came Juan in today’s featured #658 chassis # no.3 despite the fact his eight cylinder 3 litre / 183 cui engine was only firing on 7 cylinders to complete in my humble opinion one of the all time greatest 1-2 finishes in all of sports car racing.

28 days after finishing the Mille Miglia Juan stepped back in to # no.3 to drive it to victory in the Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In August 1955 having wrapped up his third World Formula One championship due to the cancellation of several Grand Prix in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster Juan drove # no.3 for a third time to with the Swedish Grand Prix run for sports cars.

Wolfgang von Trips, André Simon and Karl Kling all drove this car in the Tourist Trophy in September 1955 run at Dundrod to complete a 1-2-3 victory behind the sister cars driven by Stirling sharing with John Fitch and the second placed car driven by Juan and Karl.

Finally in October 1955 Juan and Karl teamed up again this time to drive # no.3 in the Targa Florio to finish second behind the sister 300SLR driven by Moss and Peter Collins.

Stirling Moss is seen in the photograph above demonstrating #658 at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago and the connecting rod seen above was a gift from Mercedes Benz to Denis Jenkinson and comes from the Mille Miglia winning #722.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Time Greatest One-Two” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me for Mazda Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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All Enveloping Compliance – Allard J2X Le Mans #3055

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In 1950 Sydney Allard ventured to Le Mans for the 24 Hours race with American Tom Cole as his co driver and the pair in the Cadillac powered Allard J2 came home with a more than credible 3rd place overall finish, and 8 litre / 488 cui class.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

The following year two J2’s were entered for the 24 Hours, but this time Sydney and Tom retired after completing 134 laps with a broken gearbox team mates were frustratingly unclassified, despite having completed more than 194 laps, due to transmission problems which kept from them running when the clock heralded the end of the race.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

For 1952 new regulations for Le Mans outlawed cycle wings / fenders on cars like the J2, and Talbot T26 by mandating bodies with fully enveloped wheels.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Andy Dee Crowne, Silverstone Classic, Test Day,

Talbot employed Charles Deutsch to simply rebody their existing T26 cars, but Allard took the opportunity to switch to his new J2X chassis which featured an extended frame, trailing radius rods, and the engine mounted 7 1/2 inches further forward to create more space in the cockpit.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Andy Dee Crowne, Silverstone Classic, Test Day,

Two types of body were available for the J2X, cycle mudguard of which 77 are believed to have been built and enclosed J2X Le Mans of which 10 or 11 are believed to have been built.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

Two Chrysler V8 331 cui / 5394 cc powered Allard J2X Le Mans cars were taken to Le Mans for the hour race in 1952, today’s #4 chassis #3055 for Sydney Allard and Jack Fairman and the #5 chassis #3049 for Frank Curtis and Zora Arkus Duntov.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

Frank and Zora qualified 14th on the grid, but retired with brake failure, in front of the sister car of Sydney and Jack which had qualified 18th and retired with a fuel tank issue.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

#3055 was prepared to it’s present condition by Sam Thomas Racing and returned to Le Mans for the first time in 62 years last year.

Allard J2X Le Mans, Silverstone Classic,

Owner Andy Dee Crowne is seen at the wheel in these photographs taken at the Silverstone Classic test day earlier this year.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Enveloping Compliance” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at two of the all time greatest drives in history that gave Mercedes Benz a 1-2 finish. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Another Austrian Hillclimber – Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione #2701GT

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Today’s Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione chassis #2701 GT was taken by the Ferrri factory it’s debut at the 1961 Le Mans test weekend for Fernand Tavano, Mike Parkes and Jo Schlesser to drive.

After setting the 6th fastest time, fastest in class, #2701GT ended the weekend with accident damage and after being rebuilt Count Carlo & Masalmo Leto di Priolo of Milan bought the car for Masalmo to race in 1962.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Rolex Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Austrian Egon Hofer bought #2701GT from German Guenther Peter-Lex for DM 6,000 in February 1967 and is known to have driven it to class victory on the Weerberg and Gaisberg hillclimbs.

Egon then took #2701GT to the 1967 Targa Florio where he shared the car with Anatoly Arutunoff where carrying the #74 it failed to finish.

After the original motor was repaired, sold on and replaced with a Ferrari 330GT unit Anatoly bought the car for $3,900.

Since then it has remained in US ownership and is said to have had an unspecified “American drive train” fitted in the 1970’s, which was replaced by a Ferrari 250 GTE motor in the 1980’s.

Current owner Warren ‘Ned’ Spieker has owned the car since 2004 and he shared driving it at Goodwood in 2005 with Sir Stirling Moss in the TT Celebration race.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who took today’s photograph at the Rolex Reunion a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Another Austrian Hillclimber” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1952 Allard. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Bookended With Class Wins – Dodge Viper GTS-R #C7

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Like the Forent Moulin’s Dodge Viper GTS-R #C30 I looked at last year today’s featured Chrysler example chassis #C7 was originally built for the French Oreca entrant.

Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Oliver Bouquet, Silverstone Classic,

In 1997 the Viper Oreca team entered the car in 10 events with Philippe Gache and Olivier Beretta as #C7’s principle drivers who achieved a season high 10th place overall, 1st In GT2, on the cars debut at the Hockenheimring in April.

Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Oliver Bouquet, Silverstone Classic,

For the 1997 Le Mans Prequalifying weekend the following month later Phillipe and Oliver were joined in the #61 Oreca entry by Soheil Ayari and between them they were classified 44th.

Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Oliver Bouquet, Silverstone Classic,

For the 24 Hour race at Le Mans in June 1997 Soheil was moved over to the #62 Oreca entry replaced in the #61 Oreca entry by Dominique Dupuy. #C7 started from 34th on the grid with a 37th fastest qualifying time of 4m 4.654s, but retired after an accident on it’s 264th lap.

Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Oliver Bouquet, Silverstone Classic,

#C7’s final two appearances were at Le Mans in 1998, Dominique Dupuy was joined in the car now renumbered #53 by Justin Bell for the Prequalifying Weekend during which they were classified 36th.

For the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hour race a month later Dominique was taken out of the car after the preliminary qualifying session and replaced by Luca Drudi and David Donohue who with Justin started 33rd on the grid with a time of 4m 05.648s.

They finished the race 11th overall and bookended the cars career with another GT2 class win.

The car is seen in these photographs taken at last years Silverstone Classic with Oliver Bouquet at the wheel.

Thanks for joining me on this “Bookended With Class Wins” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Wheels Festival – Bournemouth

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A couple of weeks ago David Roots told me he was going to Bournemouth for the weekend over the Festival of Speed, he advised me it was at the friendly price of completely free so I made a note to pop down for the day myself.

Peerless, "Princess" Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

I was not in the least disappointed with the sheer variety of machines on display some of which were static but obviously ready to go like this 1907 Peerless Steam Engine built in Waynesboro PA.

McLaren P1, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

Of greatest interest to me were the demonstration runs along East Overcliff Drive, unfortunately there was no literature advising visitors who the drivers were and the pa system tended to get drowned out by the glorious sounds of the motors, above the a 2014 McLaren P1 was among a group of contemporary supercars that included a tyre smoking Chrysler Viper, Mercedes Benz SLS and Porsche 997 and Ferrari Italia.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4, Sally Mason-Styrron, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

The best sound of the day to my ears came from the 1972 4.4 litre / 267 cui V12 Ferrari which I believe is the former Maranello Concessionaires / JCB chassis #15681 that currently belongs to the Mason-Styrron family and was I believe driven by Sally Mason-Styrron.

Other Le Mans car present included the Ford GT40 chassis #P/1017 shared by Jochen Rindt and Innes Ireland at Le Mans in 1966, and two cars from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, their 1932 4 1/2 litre Blower Bentley and a 1912 3 litre Sunbeam Coupe de l’Auto team car.

Standard Ten, Peter Clements, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

Among the “touring” cars present was this raucous 1959 Standard Ten which I believe is owned by Peter Clements and has been a regular at the Goodwood Revival meetings, other cars in this class included a Mini Cooper, Ford Anglia, ex Roland Ratzenberger BMW M3, and Josh Cooks 2015 Racing For Heroes #80 Chevrolet Cruze.

Toleman Hart TG181C, tba, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

The Formula One display did not disappoint either lined up alongside the well Toleman TG181C “General Belgrano” above were the Benetton B191 driven by Lorina McLaughlin, an Arrows A10B driven by Gerry Harrison, a Lotus Judd 101, Jordan Honda EJ12 and Yamaha Arrows A18.

Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, Mick Wood, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

While among the Rally cars were Mick Wood’s Lancia Delta Integrale Evo seen above, a WRC Subaru Impreza, WRC Martini Ford Focus and Paul Swift indulged in some show boating with a non standard Ford Escort Mk2.

Big Pete, Grim Reaper, Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

At this point I ventured off to look at some of the static displays which included a 1970’s Austin Princess, and wonderful selection of British sports cars of all ages, above Big Pete and Grim Reaper were parked up when I passed but they could be heard in action from the road above.

Maudslay, "Big Maude", Bournemouth Wheels Festival,

One of the many memorable cars on display closer to the city centre was the 1904 Maudsley above, known as “Big Maud” she was one of the first cars to be sold with an overhead cam engine, the 9.6 litre / 585 cui 6 cylinder overhead cam engine powering this car produced an impressive 60hp, and the car cost nearly twice as much as a Rolls Royce !

Thanks for joining me on this “Wheels Festival – Bournemouth” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Chrysler Viper. Don’t forget to come back now !

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