Author Archives: psychoontyres

Driver to Sponsor – Simon Lewis

During the early 1980’s Simon Lewis was a regular spectator at Castle Combe where the biggest attraction used to be Formula Libre events run for any car built to known regulations.

At the top end of the entry would be vehicles that had run in Grand Prix like Alo Lawlers McLaren Cosworth DFV M30 resplendent in it’s original colours and bearing the name of it’s original driver Alain Prost,

or Formula 5000 vehicles like Tony Trimmers Lola Chevrolet T330,

and once in a while something extremely exotic like a Can Am 2 Lola Chevrolet T530 would appear.

A car with a large engine was not a pre requisite to be a contender to win as Eddie McLurg found out when he beat the big boys driving a 2 litre Formula 2 March BMW 822 Formula 2 car to victory in May 1989.

When he turned 18 Simon started on the long path to becoming a book mogul, surprisingly he specialised in automotive books with a business called Simon Lewis Transport Book Shop.

As and when resources allowed Simon turned to competing in rally events running against £50,000 Subaru’s in an comparatively archaic gargantuan Rover SDI after three seasons the enlarged to 4.5 litre / 274 cui Rover V8 was put into a Ford Escort shell for a season.

When that project proved fruitless Simon moved to circuit racing at Castle Combe with a Rover Montego Turbo and then with some success he ran the Rover 220 Turbo seen above.

Simon has also tried his hand at Grass Track racing with an MG Maestro, that vibrated so bad in top gear that the bits of roll cage in Simon’s eye line ‘became almost invisible’,

and at hill climbing with a Kawasaki powered Morrish built in Cornwall.

(# 6 Roger Orgee Van Diemen RF00 & #17 Alex Drabble Swift SC92)

Inspired by the reaction to a thread on The Nostalgia Forum Simon has taken a leap of faith and decided to sponsor a new Mono Libre series at Castle Combe in 2011.

(Winner of the first race #85 Peter Bragg Nemesis Mygale)

With a snappy title THE SIMON LEWIS TRANSPORT BOOKS FREE SINGLE-SEATER SERIES is open to any open wheeler that can pass the 108 db noise test.

(# 3 David Cox Ralt RT3)

An interesting array of single seaters took part in the first race was on July the 18th, I caught practice the day before and look forward to seeing the next races on July 24th.

If you have a single seater that can pass the 108 db noise test and is in need of exercise you could do worse than make enquiries at the Castle Combe website.

Hope you will join me in wishing Simon and his series all the best.

Thanks for joining me on this Simon Lewis Transports Books Free Single Seater edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’, join me again tomorrow for a Grand Prix edition of Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Pole Sister – Nissan R90CK

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Like the Lancia LC2 seen in Monday’s post the Nissan R90CK seen here at Colin Bennett’s CGA Engineering Workshop is scheduled to appear at the Silverstone Classic for the Group C race next weekend.

Three serious works teams gathered to contend the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1990, Jaguar with three cars were the eventual winners, Toyota with three cars did not really figure, but Nissan with 5 front line R90CK cars became the first Japanese manufacturer to sit on pole position at this endurance classic.

The Nissan R90CK’s were built around Lola T90/10 chassis

and prepared for the World Endurance Championship by Nissan Motorsports Europe.

This particular vehicle has a rear facing camera connected to the screen seen here to aid reversing. Mark Blundell’s pole winning 3m 27s Le Mans qualifying lap immortalised with cockpit cam can be seen on this mind boggling youtube clip.

It is said that Mark had over 1000 hp available during his qualification lap from his 3.5 litre / 213 cui Nissan VRH35 V8 motor,

thanks to a ceased turbo waste gate.

Mark recorded a top speed of 226.9 mph on the Mulsanne Straight speed strap between the two newly installed chicanes a record that apparently still stands.

Six months after the unlikely Mazda victory at Le Mans in 1991, a NISMO version of the Lola T90/10 the Nissan R91CP won the 1992 Daytona 24 hour race in the hands of Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki.

At the end of the 1990 season Nissan withdrew from the World Prototype Sportscar Championship but continued to develop the RC90CK cars for the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship which the manufacturer won in 1990,’91 and ’92.

This particular car is now owned by Katsu Kubota.

While there is still a good supply of parts for these vehicles

the cost of running one is expensive.

In 1990 the car driven by Kenny Acheson, Olivier Grouillard and Martin Donnelly

qualified in 5th place at Le Mans but was eliminated on the opening lap with a gearbox problem.

I shall look forward to seeing this car in action, 21 years after I first saw one, at the Silverstone Classic next weekend.

That concludes a series of three Group C blogs, my thanks to Colin Bennett for his hospitality and Tony Gallagher for organising the trip to Colin’s workshop.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s ceased wastegate edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

F.A.Turbo Express – Joest Porsche 962 C #962-011

Not Quite ‘The Right One’ – Lancia LC2/85

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Today I am starting a series of three consecutive blogs on cars that competed in the Group C World Endurance Championship, during the 1980’s I had the good fortune to follow the Group C World Endurance Championship for sports cars from it’s inception through some high’s to it’s eventual death.

The series was for closed 2 seater racing vehicles weighing a minimum 800 kgs / 1760 lbs with the only restriction on the engine being fuel consumption. The cars were expected to race for 1000 kms / 621 miles on 600 litres / 131.87 of fuel. It was soon realised by participants that they needed to run vehicles with around 600 hp to go the distance with the available fuel.

This endurance fuel mileage racing series did not always produce the most riveting races though it was certainly had a few outstanding ones, but something about the endurance and fuel consumption formula appealed to me and the cars looked absolutely fabulous.

History will recall the early years 1982 – 1987 were dominated by Porsche with only token resistance from today’s car the Martini Lancia LC2 which was first raced in 1983. Lancia had tried to steal the 1982 World Endurance Championship for Drivers by building the LC1 to older group 6 regulations that only had one year of eligibility.

Not only did Lancia driver Riccardo Patrese come up short by 8 points to Porsches Jacky Ickx, but Lancia also in the process lost a whole years development on their Group C challenger to the all conquering Porsche 956 that Jacky Ickx had been driving.

The first problem the Lancia LC2 faced in 1983 was inferior Pirelli radial tyres which could not take the strain of the ground effect downforce generated by the aerodynamic venturi at the back of the car. The cars proved quick in qualifying but to add to the problems at Lancia the twin turbo Ferrari V8 motors could not back the speed up with reliability.

To cure the tyre issues the LC2’s ran with Dunlop cross ply tyres in 1984, this necessitated a change in suspension geometry. The cars were fast in qualifying as they had been in 1983 but the Speedline wheels were now not up to the job. Again the cars were fast in qualifying but rarely reliable over a race distance.

For 1985 Lancia switched back to radial construction tyres now supplied by Michelin, the Dallara built aluminium chassis were widened with a pronounced step in the side bodywork.

Again the cars were quick in qualifying but the Ferrari engines were unreliable. Though the team did score it’s one and only victory over the works Porsche team at Spa in a race that was called early out of respect foe Stefan Bellof who had been killed in the event. At the following race at Brands Hatch it looked like the Lancia team might score another victory over the works Porsche team when the two leading Lancia’s inexplicably hit it each other causing sufficient delays for the works Porsche to win again.

The Martini Lancia LC2’s only appeared in a couple of races in 1986 before they withdrew from road racing completely. With just one win against the main opposition and a couple of win’s when the works Porsche team were not present the works Martini Lancia effort was justly reflected in three 2nd place finishes from 1983 – 1985 in the World Endurance Championship behind the mighty Porsche team.

This 1985 car features a slippery nose that was only ever seen at Le Mans.

Next weekend there will be a race for Group C cars at the Silverstone Classic in which this Lancia is scheduled to take part, I hope to be there it should be a magnificent event.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Martini edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be taking a look at a Group C challenger from Germany. Don’t forget to come back now !

From Metal Bashing to Autoclave – McLaren MP4/1 #MP4/1-02

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Thirty years ago I was extremely lucky to find my self working for six months in an accounts department of a double glazing manufacturer during the first of two industrial experience segments of my degree course. This meant I had the time and funds not only to spend a week at Le Mans but I also had the time and funds to spend a weekend at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

During the 1980 / 1981 off season McLaren’s long time sponsor Philip Morris, disappointed with three years of under achievement coerced team principle Teddy Meyer into a merger with Project Four a lower tier Formula 2 team run by Ron Dennis which coincidentally was also sponsored by Philip Morris.

Ron Dennis had hired the designer, of the Chaparral 2K Indy Car, John Barnard to design a new car for McLaren which became known as the MP4/1. Outwardly the car was a conventional ‘kit car’ using a Cosworth DFV engine that had been the motor of choice since 1966.

However beneath the paint work John Barnhard’s chassis was the first to be wholly manufactured with carbon composite materials, which until 1981 had been primarily used in the aerospace industry. Carbon composite materials when pressure and heat treated in an autoclave, a process developed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1963, can be used produce objects that have high flexibility, tensile strength and temperature tolerance while at the same time have low thermal expansion and low weight compared to similar metal objects.

By the end of the 1980’s all Formula One chassis were being manufactured from carbon composites along with brake discs and suspension components.

John Watson, seen during practice for the British Grand Prix here, qualified fifth for the 1981 British Grand Prix. At the start of the race the two turbo charged Renaults and Ferraris made the best get away but on lap 3 Gilles Villeneuve clipped a curb and spun,see clip 1m 20secs, an incident which took out Alan Jones on the spot.

Somehow John Watson who was right behind Jones managed to avoid the melee almost coming to a stop as he did so, which in turn caused his team mate Andrea de Cesaris behind him to take evasive action and spin off into the catch fencing.

After loosing a lot of time Watson set off in sixth place behind Piquet, Reutemann, Pironi, Arnoux and Prost. Piquet crashed out with a puncture, Watson then over took first Reutemann and then Pironi who’s engine exploded on the next lap. Prost retired with distributor trouble which put John in 2nd place behind Arnoux who had a comfortable lead.

On lap 53 Arnoux started experiencing the same problems as Prost and 8 laps later a huge roar went round the circuit as Belfast born John took the lead of his home Grand Prix which he held until the end of the race.

This was John’s second Grand Prix victory his first was in the Penske PC4 in 1976 and the first victory for McLaren under the guidance of Ron Dennis. McLaren’s last victory had been with James Hunt in 1977.

John drove this same chassis #MP4/1-02 to victory in the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s British GP edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS It is with great sorrow that I learned of the passing of William ‘Bill’ Boddy MBE known to many as ‘WB’ who edited Motor Sport magazine from 1936 to 1991, an organ which played no small part in my addiction to motoring and motor sport in the 1970’s and ultimately to this blog.

He famously ran Motor Sport magazine through the war years during his spare time while working on important Air Publications.

Bill was a vociferous opponent to the 70 mph speed limits introduced to Britain as a temporary measure by Tom Fraser in 1965 after a spate of accidents in fog and the alleged testing of an AC Cobra at speeds up to 180 mph on the M1 motorway.

WB was aged 98, sincerest condolences to his family and many friends. RIP ‘WB’.

Perfect Car For A Wedding #5 – Vauxhall 14/6

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Todays perfect car for a wedding is a 1934 Vauxhall 14/6 seen here at the Atwell Willson Motor Museum in Calne.

Vauxhall Motors Ltd was founded in 1857 to manufacture pump and marine engines, in 1903 Vauxhall also began manufacturing motor cars.

In 1925 the brand was taken over by General Motors who still own it today. Since the late 1970’s all new Vauxhalls have in essence been badge engineered Opel’s designed in Germany.

The name of the 14/6 derives from the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) taxable horsepower rating which gave HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue and Customs) in the UK a method of collecting road taxes.

RAC h.p. = D²*n/2.5 where D is the diameter of the cylinder bore in inches and n is the number of cylinders.

Like all tax laws this one ended up distorting the market place, in this instance by halting the development of efficient over spare cylinders because the tax laws favoured inefficient narrow bore cylinders with long strokes until the UK taxation structure was rethought in the 1940’s.

Up until WW2 most signals from one driver to another were given by hand, trafficators to indicate when a turning maneuver was about to commence, such as these were optional extra’s and were found on new cars until the early 1960’s.

Distinctive sculpted chrome bonnet details like these were in evidence on some Vauxhall models like the Velox until 1957.

This particular car is available for hire from the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum Trust.

The museum is holding a classic festival this weekend, I hope to pop by on Sunday.

Wishing all those tying the knot today best wishes.

Thanks for joining me on the RAC taxable horsepower edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Towards Standardisation – Ferrari 250 GT PF Cabriolet Series I #9811GT

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A couple of weeks ago I looked at a Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2 which is on view at the Haynes International Motor Museum.

Today’s featured car, seen competing in the regularity competition on the recent Tour Britannia, is the earlier Series I model which is immediately distinguishable by it’s recessed headlights and headlight covers. Notice the chromed edge on the bonnet / hood air intake belies the fact that this in essence a production road car.

This particular Right Hand Drive (RHD), car was delivered painted Yellow to a customer in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1957.

Only 40 examples of this model were built including 4 prototypes of which only two or three appear to have been built to RHD specification. This particular chassis appears to be the 15th in the production run. These models were far from standardised in the traditional sense.

There were for example two distinct variations of the stylised tail lights fitted to the Series I 250 GT PF Cabriolets.

Early examples of this model were supplied with 2 rear quarter bumpers to match the pair of front nudge bars however later examples such as the one seen above were supplied with full width items.

Hong Kong businessman Sir Michael Kadoorie became the owner of this vehicle in 1998, he and co pilot Brian Lewis were not classified in the overall Tour Britannica results. Sir Michael counts among his collection of vehicles a Type 57 Bugatti, a 1932 Rolls Royce Phantom II Thrupp & Maberly and a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Van Vooren Cabriolet.

Thanks for joining me on today’s Ferrari Friday edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil 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