Tag Archives: Beltoise

Abundant Noise – MATRA MS11

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Last Tuesday I looked at the prototype Ford Cosworth powered MATRA MS9 Primer Car driven by Jackie Stewart for the Ken Tyrrell run Matra International team in the 1968 South African Grand Prix.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

This weeks car is the MATRA V12 powered MATRA MS 11 run by the works MATRA Sport team, what turned out to be the second prong of MATRA’s bid to win the World Constructors Championship in 1968.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

The Ford powered MS 10 and MS 11 had similar chassis however unlike the Ford DFV V8 the MATRA V12 was not a stressed member of the chassis meaning that the V12 was carried on a separate subframe for which two pontoons were built behind the rear chassis bulkhead as had been used on the 1967 MS7 Formula 2 car.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

Jean Pierre Beltoise was chosen to drive the car initially and he was joined later in the season by Henri Pescarolo in a second MS11 for the last three races of the season.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

The 390hp 60° V12 features 4 valves per cylinder and double over head camshafts per bank that are driven by a train of straight cut gears from the front. Disappointingly the V12 could not match the horsepower of the Ford Cosworth DFV first seen in 1967.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

The elaborate exhausts are said to make “abundant noise” described as either music or a shriek depending on your tastes when mechanical mayhem is unleashed.

MATRA MS11, Donington Park Museum

Beltoise tried the MS11 at the ’68 Spanish Grand but ended up driving Jackie Stewarts Cosworth V8 powered Matra MS10, in which he finished 5th, after the Scot had damaged his wrist ligaments in an earlier Formula 2 race.

Beltoise gave the MS11 it’s debut race at the following Monaco Grand Prix where he retired with bent suspension having qualified 8th 6 places behind the Ford powered MS10 which was now driven by Johnny Servoz Gavin, who also retired with accident damage.

The MS11’s best result came in the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix where Beltoise qualified 16th 11 places behind Jackie Stewart’s MS 10 and ended up finishing 2nd over 30 seconds behind the Scotsman on the occasion of MATRA’s first Formula One Championship win.

The MS11 never did beat the Cosworth powered MS10 in qualifying and in the races only beat the Ford powered car when it lasted longer. Henri Pescarolo’s best result in his MS11 was 9th in Mexico.

At the end of the 1968 season MATRA CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère made the wise choice to drop the V12, pending future development, and the works team and put all of it’s efforts behind Jackie Stewart and the Ford Powered MATRA run by Ken Tyrrell’s MATRA International that I’ll be looking at next Tuesday.

Thanks for joining me on this “Abundant Noise” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the weekends Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Le Point – Rondeau M379 B/C #003

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Le Mans born Jean Rondeau had four cracks at the Le Mans 24 hours with a Chevron, Porsche (twice) and a Mazda RX3 when he decided to build his own 3 litre / 183 cui Ford Cosworth powered cars for the GTP category of the race. In 1976 and 1977 these cars known as Inatera’s the name of his wall paper manufacturing sponsor won the GTP class at Le Mans on both occasions the ’77 class win also netting drivers Rondeau and Jean Ragnotti a 4th place overall finish.

Rondeau 379B, Goodwood Festival of Speed

For 1978 Jean returned to the Le Mans circuit with a car bearing his own name for the first time and sharing his M378 with Bernard Darniche and Jacky Haran scored a third consecutive GTP class win as a manufacturer and his second as a driver coming home 9th overall from 40th on the grid.

Rondeau 379B, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Jean appeared at the 1979 race with updated M379 cars while the GTP entry he shared with Jacky Haran retired at two thirds distance with accident damage. A second car entered in the over 2 litre / 122 chi sportscar class came fifth overall and first in class piloted by well known French Rally drivers Ragnotti and Darniche. Today’s featured chassis M379 #003 came home tenth with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the wheel.

Rondeau 379B, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Going into the 1980 Le Mans 24 hours on a roll of four consecutive class wins for his cars Jean upgraded the M379 to b spec and teamed up with 1978 Le Mans winner Jean Pierre Jaussaud.

Starting from fifth on a very wet grid the Le Point newspaper sponsored Rondeau maintained a steady pace through out the race while the highly fancied privately entered Porsche 908/80 driven by Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest was delayed by an inability to see in the rain from the open cockpit car. When the rain eased the Porsche made up time and hit the front but was then delayed for quarter of an hour when Jacky had to replace the fuel injection pump belt out on the circuit. Jacky and Reinhold had regained the lead for a second time when 18 hours into the race the Porsche required a gearbox rebuild just as the winning Porsche 936 had required in 1977.

This time when the repairs were completed the Porsche had fallen too far behind the leading Rondeau and still had a two lap deficit when the clock turned 4 pm. On the last lap on a wet circuit Jaussaud had a spin while on slicks but managed to avoid hitting anything and crossed the line first in M379 #003 to make Jean Rondeau the only man to win the Le Mans 24 hours in a car he designed and bearing his own name.

Rondeau 379C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

M379 #003 was prepared to C spec, seen above for Francoise Migault and Gordon Spice to race at Le Mans in 1981 they finished 3rd behind the GTP class winning Rondeau M379C #002 driven by Jacky Haran and Philippe Streiff and Jean-Louis Schlesser. M379C #002 had been driven to 3rd overall and 1st in GTP the previous rear by Gordon Spice and the Belgian Martin brother Jean Michele and Philippe.

Todays featured car ran at Le Mans for a fourth and final time in 1982 as a private entry for Pierre Yver, Bruno Sotty and Lucien Guitteny who started 35th and finished 10th.

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

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La Gloire de Legardére – Matra Simca MS 670

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Aerospace company Matra became involved in the motor industry when it started manufacturing fiber glass bodies for René Bonnet’s mid engined Djet sports cars in 1962. In 1965 after Bonnet ran into financial difficulties, as a consequence of it’s racing activities, Matra took over Bonnets manufacturing operations putting Jean-Luc Legardére in charge.

Like Bonnet Legardére saw the sense in promoting the company through motor racing and over a period of several years the company produced winning designs for various open wheel and sportscar series including the 1969 Ford Cosworth powered Matra MS80 which won the World Drivers and Constructors Championships with Jackie Stewart at the wheel of the Matra International team cars run by Ken Tyrrell.

Matra Simca MS670, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tyrrell and Stewart went their own way in 1970 with sponsors Ford and Elf while Matra’s car division was acquired by Chrysler France in December 1969 and the Matra racing cars became known as Matra Simca’s powered by 3 litre /183 cui V12 Matra motors that had been first seen in Formula One and Sports cars in 1968.

The Matra V12 powered Matra Simca MS670 cars won the Le Mans 24 hours in 1972, driven by Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill, ’73 and ’74 with Gérard Larrousse joining Pescarolo at the wheel. For 1972 Le Mans was the sole focus of the sportscar teams activities while Ferrari missed the Le Mans 24 hours to focus on winning the 1972 World Championship for Makes. In 1973 Matra Simca withdrew from Formula One and contested and won the World Championship for Makes with the upgraded MS670B beating strong competition from the Ferrari 312 P, a car that had also unsuccessfully appeared at Le Mans.

Matra Simca MS670, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Thanks in part to Niki Lauda persuading Enzo Ferrari to focus on winning the Formula One championships for the 1974 season Matra Simca easily won both the Le Mans 24 hours and the World Championship for makes in 1974 with it’s further upgraded MS670C, after which the team was disbanded although Matra V12 motors were supplied to Shadow for a limited program in 1975 and to Ligier for full programmes from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1981 to 1982 .

I’m not sure of the exact identity of today’s featured car it carries the MS670B body work of the 1973 Le Mans winning entry driven by Pescarolo/Larrouse, that car chassis #MS670B-02 belonged to Matra driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise until it was sold at auction for over a million dollars in 2005 carrying 1974 MS670C bodywork. It has been documented that the 1972 Le Mans winning chassis MS670 – 01 driven by Pescarolo/Hill was fitted with the 1973 Le Mans wining MS670B body work when it was seen at the Lohéac Museum halfway between Brest and Le Mans.

If you know the identity of this car seen at Goodwood last year with Omni Ventures listed as the owners please do not hesitate to chime in below.

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

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Fifty Fifty – BRM P160E # P160-07

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For 1972 BRM lost their Yardley sponsorship but managed to land an even bigger sponsor in the form of Philip Morris who were interested in stealing some of the lime light Players were basking in thanks to their “Gold Leaf” brand logo’s appearing on the championship winning Lotus cars of Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt in 1968 and 1970 respectively.

BRM P160 E, BRM Day, Bourne

In order to give Philip Morris’s Marlboro brand maximum exposure BRM determined it would enter every Grand Prix of the 1972 season with five 48 valve V12 powered cars of three different designs dating back to 1970 with a roster of eight different drivers. Some how Jean Pierre Beltoise managed to keep his head in the ensuing chaos and won the Monaco Grand Prix in a BRM P160 a design dating back to 1971 and the final non championship John Player Victory Trophy race of the season in the new for 1972 BRM P180. These two races would prove to be the last ever contemporary Formula One race victories for the team ever.

BRM P160 E, BRM Day, Bourne

For 1973 designer Tony Southgate left the chaos at BRM to start afresh with the new Shadow Team while BRM decided to downscale to a three car operation for a more or less regular trio of drivers, using an updated version of the BRM P160. Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni who was on what turned out to be a one year sabbatical from Ferrari and Frenchman Jean Pierre Beltoise BRM’s incumbent winner who was in the middle of a three year stint at British Racing Motors (BRM) were joined by a young Austrian upstart called Niki Lauda who decided that suicide was best avoided in favour of yet another bank loan for one last attempt at hitting the big time in Formula One.

BRM P160 E, BRM Day, Bourne

Clay Regazzoni made an immediate impact by winning pole for the first race of the 1973 season at the Argentinian Grand Prix but from there things went steadily down hill for the team particularly after they had locked out the first three starting positions for the 1973 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch with Beltoise and Lauda sharing the fastest lap of the race with the Lotus of Ronnie Peterson.

BRM P160 E, BRM Day, Bourne

At the very next race the non championship International Trophy held at Silverstone today’s featured chassis #P160-07 the first of four E specification chassis, appeared for the first time with Clay Regazzoni qualifying 8th and finishing a respectable 3rd. Clay drove the car on five more occasions failing to improve on 8th in qualifying and slipping no lower than 12th and finishing similarly.

BRM P160 E, BRM Day, Bourne

#P160-07 was not used for the British Grand Prix and when it reappeared at the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix Jean Pierre Beltoise was at the wheel. Beltoise qualified the car no better than ninth and no worse than 16th in 6 races netting two 5th place finishes and a season high 4th place finish at the Canadian Grand Prix from a 16th place start.

JP Beltoise drove #P160-07 on it’s last in period appearance at the 1973 US Grand Prix where the car finished 9th from a 14th place start after which the car was briefly fitted with a Westlake V12 for testing in 1974 again with Beltoise at the wheel. By now Regazzoni had signed to rejoin Ferrari and on his recommendation Ferrari signed Niki Lauda to join him and so the Austrian finally started repaying his bank loans on his way to becoming a triple World Champion.

Philip Morris moved their Marlboro sponsorship to McLaren in 1974 with whom they won the first of many championships with Emerson Fittipaldi at the wheel in the opening year of their thirty year partnership.

Tony Southgates new for 1973 Shadow DN1 design did not better his BRM P160 design the Shadow team finishing 8th at the seasons end, 3 points and one spot below BRM in the championship table.

Today’s featured car was seen at last years BRM Day in it’s home town Bourne, Linconshire with J Burt at the wheel.

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

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Magnificent Seven – Ferrari F430 GTC

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The F430 was in production from 2004 – 2009 starting with side vents harking back to the Ferrari 250 TR 61 Spyder Fantuzzi this car wreaks racing business from it’s nose to Enzo inspired tail lights.

Particularly popular amongst sports stars and minor TV celebrities the F430 was tasked with going up against the teutonic might of Porsche in sports car classes GT2 and GT3.

These 4 litre F430 GTC photos are from the GT2 Class during the Silverstone 1000 kms last year.

Chassis #2408 Bruni/Bell, JMW Motorsport 23rd overall, 1st GT2.

Chassis #2636 Melo/Garcia/L Mansell, 26th overall, 4th GT2.

Chassis #2608 Kaffer/Montanari, Hankook Team Farnbacher, 27th overall, 5th GT2.

Chassis #2402, Rosa/Montermini/Cadei, FBR, 29th overall, 6th GT2.

Chassis # 2476, Basso/Tenchini/Plati, Easyrace, 34th overall, 11th GT2.

Chassis #2450, Daoudi /Hartshorne/Kutemann, JMB Racing, 35th overall, 12th GT2.

Chassis #2612, Farnbacher/Ehret/Beltoise, FBR, Not Classified.

Missing from this set is the Griffin / Bamford, Advanced Engineering car which came in 33rd overall, 10th GT2.

In case you have still not had enough Ferrari’s I have updated last weeks 250 GTO blog with another photo I found of ‘250 GTO #3757’ taken last year.

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Hope you have enjoyed my first 103 posts and you’ll join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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