Tag Archives: Andretti

White Elephant – Lotus 63

The thinking behind the Lotus 63 intended to capitalise on the lessons learned from the all wheel drive Lotus 56 Champ Car, which nearly won the Indy 500 in 1968, and replace the Lotus 49 for the 1969 Grand Prix season.

Colin Chapman recognised that the 3 litre / 183 cui Ford Cosworth DFV V8 which he had been responsible for commissioning with Ford finance had more power than the Lotus 49 could properly utilise even with the aid of wings which generated downforce on the wheels when in motion.

Having learned about the benefits of all wheel drive from the Lotus 56 Indianapolis programme Colin Directed Maurice Phillipe to design an all wheel drive car for Grand Prix racing, this was by no means the first such Grand Prix vehicle the 1961 Ferguson P99 featured such a transmission and won the non championship 1961 Oulton Park Gold Cup with Stirling Moss at the wheel.

The fuel cells for the 63 were built into the sides of the car and under the drivers seat !

The mounting of the Cosworth DFV broke with tradition having the clutch at the front driving the four wheels through shafts mounted in tunnels on the left hand side of the car. The second pipe from the left in this photo is connected to the radiator at the front.

To reduce unsprung weight and improve handling the ventilated disc brakes were mounted in board front and rear.

Graham Hill tested the Lotus 63 once and refused to race it feeling the car was unsafe, Jochen Rindt managed a best second place in the non championship 1969 Oulton Park but like Hill was not keen on driving a car with his feet ahead of the front axles and his legs beneath them !

Grand Prix novice John Miles who did the bulk of the testing for the model, because Chapman thought he would lack any preconceptions to hinder development, managed one non points finish from four starts and Mario Andretti crashed in both races he started with the Lotus 63. By the end of 1969 the car was running with a heavy drive bias to the rear thus negating the advantages of four wheel drive and so the car was abandoned as a white elephant in favour of the new Lotus 72 design which would set the Grand Prix world alight in 1970.

The Lotus 63 featured today is regularly on view at the Donington Park Museum.

Owner driver Roger Dawson – Damer lost his life in an accident while driving his Lotus 63 at the 2000 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘White Elephant’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Maserati Merak. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS I hope you will join me in wishing GALPOT contributor Ralf Pickel a speedy recovery from a nasty accident at Hockenheim in which he broke both legs last week.

Choice Of Champions – Lotus 49B #R10 & #R12

8 Replies

The story of the Lotus 49 in all of it’s guises is inextricably linked to the one component that was a decade ahead of it’s time the Ford DFV motor, which did not win it’s last race until 1983 and was still being used in 1985 running against turbocharged powered cars.

The Lotus 49 was originally built to compete in the 1967 Formula One season for drivers Jim Clark and Graham Hill. Colin Chapman had arranged for Ford to finance the building of the 3 litre / 183 cui Ford Cosworth V8 engine which like the BRM H16 Colin had used in 1966 was to be used as an integral component of the chassis, ie, if you take the motor out of the car the rear wheels would no longer be connected to the rest of the car sufficiently to be able to even push it.

The Lotus 49 design, credited to Maurice Phillipe, was based on the 1965 Indy winning Lotus 38 which Len Terry is credited with being responsible for. Jim Clark drove the Lotus 49 to a debut win in the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix. The Type 49 in all it’s guises won 12 Grand Prix in total the last a lucky last lap win at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix with Jochen Rindt at the wheel.

These air ducts, introduced on the 49B in 1969, allowed air to pass through the radiator and escape over the top of the car, where as on the original car the air had passed through the nose cone and out the sides of the car ahead of the front suspension units.

Producing around 400 hp when it first became available, Colin Chapman had an advantage over every other car in the field with the light and reliable Cosworth DFV which had years of development ahead of it that would see it’s output reach just short of 500 hp in 1985. Unfortunately, for Colin Chapman, realising that they needed to be seen running against other competitive teams Ford renegade on it’s exclusive deal with Lotus at the end of 1967 and allowed Ken Tyrrells Matra team to use Ford engines as well in 1968. By the mid 1970’s only Ferrari and BRM were the only regular runners not using Cosworth DFV’s.

In 1968 Brabham and Ferrari copied the high aerofoil concept first seen on the Chaparral 2E Can Am car in 1966 and on the 1967 Chaparral 2F in the World Prototype championship, a month later the Lotus 49B with new rear hubs to carry the 400 lbs of downforce generated by the rear wing appeared at the French Grand Prix.

This photo shows clearly how big an issue rear grip was back in 1968 not only is their a rear wing but the Hewland gearbox is surrounded by a large oil tank in an effort to distribute as much weight to the rear of the car as possible to improve road holding.

The inverted aeroplane wing shape and light construction of the rear wing can be seen here, in 1969 similar wings were attached to the front hubs as well, but two bad accidents caused by collapsing wings for Lotus Team mates Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt led to these devices being strictly controlled from the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix on.

So far as I can tell the chassis seen here, in the first, second and forth photo’s, at Goodwood is #R10. Chassis R10 was probably the original 49 #R5 which for reasons that are not clear was renumbered.

While carrying the #R5 chassis plate the car was raced in his second world championship winning year by Graham Hill to win the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, #R10 was subsequently used by 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti to win pole for his first Grand Prix start in the 1968 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

Future 1970 champion Jochen Rindt was the first to use running with a 2.5 litre / 152.6 cui version of the Ford Cosworth DFV. Jochen won two Tasman Championship races in #R10.

Reigning 1968 World Champion Graham next used #R10 to win the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix. The following season Graham was driving the Lotus 49 #R7 for the privateer Rob Walker team which he crashed beyond immediate repair during practice at Monaco. Fortunately Lotus number 2 driver John Miles had failed to qualify for the race in #R10 and so it was hastily repainted in Rob Walkers colours the night before the race for Graham to drive. He finished 5th despite having broken his legs in the 1969 season ending US Grand Prix driving the same chassis just 7 months earlier !

1972 & 1974 double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi made his Grand Prix debut in Lotus Ford 49 #R10, at the British Grand Prix in 1970.

Finally the first race I ever recall seeing on TV was the 1968 British Grand Prix which was led by first Graham Hill, then his team mate Jackie Oliver before being won by Jo Siffert all three were driving Lotus 49 B’s Jo’s being the odd one out being entered by Rob Walker, who GALPOT regulars may recall had a lot of success running Stirling Moss in his Lotus 18 during the early 1960’s. Jo’s victory was the last to be recorded by a private entrant in a ‘customer’ non works customer car.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Choice Of Champions’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

24 04 12 PS Tim Murray has kindly pointed out that I originally incorrectly attributed the design of the Lotus 49 to Len Terry when it should have been Maurice Phillipe, apologies for any confusion. If you see an error of fact anywhere in GALPOT blogs please do not hesitate to inform me in the comments box. Thanks to Tim for the correction.

03 08 12 Serious Errata further reading of Micheal Olivers “Lotus 49 the story of a Legend” has shown that the car which is seen in the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th photo’s above at the Donington Collection is actually chassis #R12 and not chassis #R10 as seen in the 1st, 2nd 4th photo’s above, there are several distinguishing features which should have made this obvious at the time I originally posted this blog including the black ‘Lotus Ford’ lettering on the nose various decals and the chrome exhaust at the rear !

Chassis R12 was built up as a show car, for the Ford Motor Company, using the floor from the Lotus 49B R6/1 which was crashed by Jackie Oliver at the 1968 French Grand Prix. Built as a non runner chassis #R12 is consequently the only Lotus 49 which has never been raced, it was donated to Tom Wheatcroft’s Donington Collection when Ford no longer had a use for it.

Sincerest apologies for this error.

Just What the Doctor Ordered – Ferrari 126 C2 #061 & #060

1 Reply

Ferrari’s first attempt at designing a turbo powered Grand Prix car was described by lead driver Gilles Villeneuve in 1981 as handling like ‘a big red Cadillac‘.

For the 1982 Ferrari hired Dr Harvey Poslethwaite, who had designed Grand Prix winning cars for both Hesketh and Wolf, to design the 126 C2 which would prove to be the class of the field or as Mario Andretti described it ‘the bomb’.

Despite a lack luster start to the 1982 season for round 4 the San Remo Grand Prix Ferrari had got their act together and cruised to a comfortable One Two victory except for team leader Gilles Villeneuve there was a problem, he had been out fumbled by his team mate Didier Pironi which so enraged the Canadian he promised never to speak to Pironi again.

Two weeks later at the Belgium Grand Prix Gilles met his death after a practice accident, seemingly leaving Pironi seen in the #28 chassis #060 at Brands Hatch above, to win the 1982 Championship but then three weeks after these photographs were taken Didier Pironi was seriously injured an accident during practice for the German Grand Prix in chassis #060. Didier although eventually recovering never entered a Grand Prix car again and died in power boat racing accident in 1986.

Patrick Tambay, seen in the #27 chassis 061 at Brands Hatch at the top of this post, took the place of Gilles for the remainder of the 1982 season wining the 1982 German Grand Prix. While Mario Andretti replaced Didier Pironi scoring a pole position and and third place first time out at Monza and ended his Grand Prix career at Caesers Palace with a retirement driving the chassis #061 seen in Tambay’s hands above.

Ferrari with three wins won the constructors championship from McLaren who had 4 wins but appalling reliability in between. The World Drivers Championship was won by Keke Rosberg driving a non turbocharged Williams Cosworth against all expectations with just a single win and a string of podium (top three) finishes.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Just What The Doctor Ordered’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Debut Winner – Ferrari 312 B2 #005

2 Replies

Last week I looked at the Ferrari 312 B2 with which Clay Regazzoni inadvertently ended Jackie Stewart’s championship run at the German Grand Prix, this week Ferrari Friday features #007’s sister car #005 the first of the 312 B2 chassis built in 1971.

This photo, taken by a school friend, shows Jacky Ickx driving 312 B2 #005 in the 1972 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. Ickx qualified on pole position and stormed away from championship contenders Emerson Fittipaldi and Jackie Stewart in the early going until lap 49 of 76 when the magic flat 12 lost oil pressure as a result of a split oil tank. Fittipaldi and Stewart then battled over the lead which Fittipaldi won.

Two weeks later Ickx won pole position at the German Grand Prix and this time chassis 005 held together to take a dominant victory on the most challenging Grand Prix track in the championship the Nurburgring.

312 B2 #005 was the first of the B2 chassis, readied for Clay Regazzoni in the 1971 season. Clay scored a debut win with #005 at the non championship 1971 Race of Champions but the rest of his 1971 season did not go so well with a pole position at the British GP and two thirds in Holland and Germany marking Clays only visits to the podium amongst 4 retirements and minor placings .

Clay started the 1972 season again with #005 scoring just one points paying 4th place finish in the season opening Argentine GP. In the month between the 1972 Belgian and French GP’s chassis #005 was assigned to Jacky Ickx who scored a further pole position at the Italian GP in addition to his achievements in Britain and Germany outlined above.

Arturo Mezzario drove #005 for the last time in the 1973 South African Grand Prix where he came home 4th.

If you are the school boy who took this photo, thanks for giving it to me all those years ago and please get in touch !

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Debut Winner’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the Formula Junior Lotus 27. Don’t forget to come back now !

Stewart’s Nemesis – Ferrari 312 B2 #007

1 Reply

In 1970 Ferrari launched the first in a long line of Grand Prix cars powered by flat 12 motors that would eventually power Niki Lauda to World Championships in 1975 and ’77 and Jody Scheckter to a Championship in 1979.

The initial incarnation of the flat 12 powered Ferrari Grand Prix challenger was known as the Ferrari 312 B, B for boxer although the motor is actually a 180 degree V12 design ie the crank pins operate pairs of pistons rather than individual pistons as on a true boxer motor. The 312 B in the hands of Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni scored 4 championship Grand Prix wins at the end of 1970 in the absence of Jochen Rindt who would be declared the World Champion posthumously.

For 1971 Mario Andretti joined Ickx and Regazzoni and won the South African GP in a 312B and a non championship race at Ontario before the team introduced the 312 B2 of the type seen here at the Donnington Park Museum. The new car showed some initial promise with Ickx winning the Dutch Grand Prix second time out in part thanks to the superiority of the Firestone wet weather tyres but there after the B2’s suffered appalling reliability with Ickx and Regazzoni and Andretti scoring points on just 4 occasions from 15 further starts between them in the remaining 1971 season.

Things did not improve much in 1972 when Lotus and Tyrrell’s now joined by McLaren’s superior reliability left only scraps on the table for forth placed Ferrari who’s highlight of the year was a one two finish at the Nurburgring for Ickx and Regazzoni after Regazzoni was involved in contact with Jackie Stewart’s Tyrrell that all but ended the Scotsman’s 1972 World Championship challenge.

For 1973 Ferrari would have it’s first ever monocoque chassis, built in England, prepared in the guise of the 312 B3 for what would be an even more disastrous season than 1972, but for the first three races of the season the old B2 wheeled out and driven by Ickx and Arturo Mezario the B2 scored 11 of the teams 12 points that saw Ferrari plummet to 6th in the constructors championship.

This particular chassis appears to be #007, the four B2 chassis numbers carried on where the B finished off and so were numbered 005 to 008. Andretti drove this car to 4th place finishes in Germany ’71 and South Africa ’72 and Clay Regazzoni drove the car at the ’72 German Grand Prix to the 2nd place finish that all but ended Stewart’s championship run in the process.

My thanks to galbet and Sire Bruno de Losckley at Ferrari Chat for helping to sort out which car this is.

Thanks for joining me on ‘Stewart’s Nemesis’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

King Of Speed – March 86 C

4 Replies

This vehicle, seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed, was driven to Victory Lane at the Indy 500 in 1986 by Bobby Rahal in one of the closest three way finishes in Indy history. Bobby beat Kevin Cogan and Rick Mears to the line with the fastest race lap, ever at the time, of 209.153 mph.

11 days after Rahals win his team owner, Jim Trueman, succumbed to cancer.

The 1986 victory was the first time the Indy 500 had been won in under 3 hours, Rahal completed the distance in 2 hrs, 55 mins, 43.470 secs averaging 170.722 mph breaking a record set by Mark Donohue in 1972.

The March 86 C became a two time Indy 500 winning design the following year when Roger Penske pulled his old March 86 C from a show at the Sheraton Hotel in Reading Pennsylvania so that Al Unser could stand in for an injured Danny Ongais. Starting from 20th Al took his March to his 4th Indy 500 win.

In the process the March Cosworth combination took its 5th consecutive Indy 500 and Al Unser, who in ’78 had taken the first Cosworth DFX to victory also took the tenth and final Cosworth DFX powered victory at the Brickyard.

Bobby Rahal went on to become 1986 CART champion a title he retained in 1987 and won for a third time, now as a driver owner in partnership with Carl Hogan, in 1992. In 1984 Bobby made one NASCAR Cup start as a road ringer in the Wood Bros #21 Seven/Eleven Ford at Riverside, qualifying 20th coming in 40th winning $875 for his trouble.

Last year Bobby was spotted at Mallory Park getting some laps in classic Lola and Cooper sports cars. For those with the time a visit to Mallory Park on a Wednesday morning is a must !

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Haynes International Motor Museum and came across a second March 86C, chassis 5, originally driven by Micheal Andretti. Micheal qualified 3rd one spot ahead of Bobby in a #18 Kraco March 86C and came in 6th one lap down at Indy in 1986.

In an open wheel career spanning 1983 – 2007 spent 18 years driving in CART Championship cars, Micheal won the CART Championship in 1991 driving for Newman / Hass and finished 2nd in the Championship 5 times including the 1986 season during which he won 3 times driving a #18 Kraco March.

Andretti has a remarkable record at Indy of leading 431 laps on nine occasions but never winning the race as a driver, however as an owner of the Andretti Green Racing team his cars won the Indy 500 in 2005 with Dan Weldon at the wheel and 2007 with Dario Franchitti at the wheel AGR has also won three IRL campionships with Tony Kanaan 2004, Weldon ’05 and Franchitti ’07.

The car seen above was on pole at Pocono and won at Phoenix International Raceway by a clear lap. This particular vehicle has appeared at Goodwood Festival of Speed driven by owner Nick Mason, and former Indy 500 winners Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan.

Thank you for visiting this King of Speed 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