Tag Archives: Brands

Flower Power – Lotus 51A

Conceived by Geoff Clarke, manager of the racing school at brands Hatch, Formula Ford was introduced in 1967 for novice drivers as a means of getting a start in racing at an affordable cost.

The original Formula Ford cars were based on those used at the racing school but fitted with a stock 1500cc / 91.5 cui pre crossflow Ford Cortina GT motor in place of the much more expensive to maintain Formula 3 race tuned motors.

Brands Hatch played host to the very first Formula Ford race on July 12th, 1967. The race was one by Ray Allen driving a Lotus 51 similar to the one featured in todays blog.

The first batch of Lotus 51 frames, including Ray Allen’s car, were actually welded up as Lotus 31‘s for use in Formula 3 but were retrospectively given the Lotus 51 tag when built to Formula Ford spec.

Differences between the Lotus 51 and later 51A, seen here at Prescott, were minimal. For example brackets for an oil reservoir were not required on many 51A’s, if they ran with wet sump motor’s.

Of the estimated 251 Lotus 51’s built, one, known as the 51R and unofficially as the Flower Power Lotus, was built as a road legal car complete with lights and mud guards.

Today’s featured Lotus 51A is driven by hill climber Briony Serrell.

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

General Belgrano – Toleman Hart TG 181C #06

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Nearly thirty years ago, July 18th 1982, I had the privilege of taking a couple of day’s off from my summer job, at Golden Arch Foods where I was employed on the production line making 24,000 buns an hour for Ronald McDonald, to visit Brands Hatch for the British Grand Prix.

Niki Lauda driving a McLaren starting from 5th on the grid easily won the race from the Ferrari 126 C2’s of Didier Pironi and Patrick Tambay who had both fought hard from their respective 4th and 13th place starts.

One of the best stories of the race however came from the fledgling Toleman Team which was founded in 1981. Their car was designed by a Formula One novice Rory Byrne who had designed many successful open wheel vehicles first with Royale who manufactured many Ford Kent and Pinto powered racers and then with Toleman in the the second tier Formula 2 who’s Hart powered cars dominated the European Formula 2 championship in 1980 with drivers Brian Henton, who was crowned champion, and Derek Warwick came second.

For 1981 Toleman and Brian Hart made the brave move to step up to Formula one with a car designed by Byrne and a turbocharged 1.5 litre / 90.5 cui 415T four cylinder motor which was a development of the Hart 420R 2 litre / 122 cui motor successfully used in Formula 2. The team ran with unfancied Pirelli tyres who were returning to the top tier of the sport after a prolonged absence of 32 years.

During the 1981 season Henton and Warwick each made 12 attempts at pre qualifying for Grand Prix races each missing the cut for qualifying just once at Monaco. However both drivers only qualified once Henton at Monza where he finished 10th and Warwick in the parking lot at Ceasers Palace where he retired.

For the 1982 season Henton opted out and moved to the Tyrrell team while Warwick, who used to be a regular competitor at Aldershot Raceway had won the World Super Stox Championship aged 16 in 1973, was joined by Formula One novice Teo Fabi who had finished third in the 1980 Formula 2 championship.

From 28 attempts to pre qualify in 1982 Warwick and Fabi both failed make the cut once with Warwick qualifying for 11 races and Fabi 7. Warwick managed to finish just two of his 11 starts with a best of tenth place in Germany equalling Henton’s best result at Monza the year before, while Fabi did not finish any of the races he started.

The hight light of the Toleman Teams 1982 season was however the British Grand Prix, having set fastest lap during the previous Dutch Grand Prix, Warwick qualified
16th and proceeded to march through the field with some breath taking maneuver’s during the race. Having worked his way passed Elio de Angelis in a Lotus, Derek Daly in a Williams he next set about attempting to get past the Ferrari of Pironi which proved a little more troublesome as both cars had similar performance thanks to their turbocharged motors however he eventually went past Pironi on the start finish ‘straight’, it’s actually a curve, out braking the Frenchman into the heart stopping paddock bend.

Now in second place Warwick set about catching Niki Lauda who was well ahead however after 40 glorious laps Warwick retired thanks to a broken CV joint in the back of his car, chassis #06, which had acquired the ‘General Belgrano’ nick name from the ancient Argentinian battleship that had been sunk in the 1982 Falklands Conflict. The next week the hitherto back marker and underdog was on the cover of all the magazines and Toleman, Byrne and Warwick began to enjoy some hard earned respectability.

Toleman started scoring points finishes in 1983 and were taken over by Benetton in 1986. Rory Byrne penned many winning cars for them including those driven to championship victories by Micheal Schumacher in 1994 and 1995. Byrne followed Schumacher to Ferrari after a retirement that became a sabbatical for the 1997 season.
Byrnes cars driven by Schumacher dominated the sport from 1999 to 2004 securing 71 victories and six constructors championships and five drivers championships before he retired for good in 2006.

Brian Henton driving his Tyrell got fastest lap at the 1982 British GP and retired from Formula One at the end of the season. Derek Warwick gained a reputation for never being in the right place at the right time in Formula One his best championship finish being 7th in 1984 when he drove for Renault. Derek was crowned World Sports Car Champion in 1992 when he also won the Le Mans 24 hours driving for Peugeot. His 1982 Toleman Team mate Teo Fabi was crowned 1991 World Sports Car Champion in 1991 driving a Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) Jaguar.

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

Early Doors – Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2025GT

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I’m not sure exactly how many dozens of race meetings I attended between 1985 and 1992, certainly dozens, but curiously I only took one photograph of a Ferrari on track, of the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta coming round Surtees bend at Brands Hatchs seen below.

The prototype 250 GT SWB Berlinetta was first show to the public at the 1959 Paris Auto Show, sans front wing/fender cooling ducts, vents, indicators and recessed number plate holder on the boot / trunk.

Sergio Pininfarina is said to have referred to the 250 GT SWB Berlinetta as “the first of out three quantum leaps in design with Ferrari.” The bodies were manufactured by Scaglietti where like true craftsmen employees typically worked without drawings.

Power was provided by the latest 250 – 280 hp 168B Colombo 60º V12 which can be identified by additional cylinder head studs. The 250 GT SWB Berlinetta was the first Ferrari model to be offered with disc brakes.

167 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlintta’s were built between 1959 and 1963 originally with aluminium bodies “Competizione” bodies and later with steel “Lusso” bodies, some steel shelled cars are also known to have been delivered with Competizione features just to keep things interesting for historians.

Stirling Moss is credited with scoring the SWB’s first significant overall win driving Rob Walkers distinctive blue car with a white nose band in the non Championship 1960 Tourist Trophy. The following year the GT SWB Berlinetta won the GT Class of the Constructors Championship for Ferrari.

Identifying the #1 car above has proved to be another fascinating adventure, At The Nostalgia Forum Peter Stenning recognised this as a Scuderia Campidoglio vehicle driven by Fabrizio Violati and Tim Murray came up with the 1989 FIA GT Championship as the event held at Brands Hatch.

It was suggested at FerrariChat that the #1 was chassis #2021GT, but that car is credited as having been driven to victory, in the same race as seen here, as the #2 with Lindsay Owen-Jones at the wheel.

The #1 and #2 cars looked more or less identical in the race, however during practice the #1 carried a white band across the yellow sunstrip and more importantly the #1 features the original door type with a bent top rail that was straightened on some of the later cars. This eliminated #2021 and another 250 GT SWB #2443GT which had also passed through Fabrizio Violati’s hands.

Finally I managed to pin down the identity of the early door 250 GT SWB Berlinetta in my photograph as most likely to be #2025

#2025 was originally purchased by Edoerdo Lualdi in 1960 who won several class victories on the Italian Hillclimbing circuit in 1960 and 1961, in mid 1961 Luciano Conti acquired the car and continued its successful career on the Italian Hills until the end of 1961.

The following year turned up badly wrecked in Sicily and it’s motor was removed and sold to some one in the USA to be replaced by a motor from a 250 GT Lusso.

Fabrizio Violati acquired the #2025 in 1976 and so far as I know the car is in the Maranello Rosso Museum, founded like Ferrari Club Italia by Violati with the cooperation of Enzo Ferrari.

Violati came to prominence after being photographed jumping 12 barrels with a Vespa Scooter aged 16. After a racing car accident put him in hospital for six months, Fabrizio’s family put a stop to his racing exploits in 1959. He purchased a Ferrari 250 GTO while on honeymoon in Monaco in 1965. Fabrizio has the record for continuous ownership of a 250 GTO.

While mounting an unsuccessful attempt on the 1975 Admirals Cup yacht race Fabrizio started collecting cars including three different 250 GT SWB Berlinetta’s and eventually started competing in historic events with them.

In 1984 he was summoned by Enzo Ferrari to start Ferrari Club Italia and given permission to use the Maranello Rosso name for his collection of cars in San Marino.

Fabrizio who was crowned 1985 European FIA Historic Champion, passed away aged 74 in 2010.

My thanks to Peter Stenning, Tim Murray, Terra and Daytonasme for their help in tracking the identity of today’s featured car.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Early Doors’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring the still born Lotus Indy Car. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS subsequent to my original post the story behind the fate of the original #2025GT motor with photographic evidence has come to light at FerrariChat, turns out the original motor for the car featured today now sits in another 250GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione chassis #1953, for more details see this link.

The Adjustacar – Lotus Ford 77 #R2

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Like the photo’s featured in the Ferrari T2 post a couple of months ago today’s photo’s come courtesy of my school friend Sven Platt and were taken at the 1976 British Grand Prix.

The 1976 Lotus 77 was a second attempt at replacing the Lotus 72 after the underwhelming Lotus 76 was abandoned in 1974. Like the 76 the 77 featured an extremely narrow chassis, but with Lotus 72 style side pods which extended back to the leading edge of the rear wheels for the radiators.

Novel features for the Lotus 77 when it was first seen included air intakes that ran the length of the cockpit, in board brakes, that were mounted between a pencil thin chisel nose and the front wheels, and rocker arm suspension that was fully adjustable to meet the requirements of any track.

By the start of the European season non championship races the cockpit side air intakes for the motor were blanked off and replaced with a conventional airbox. The ‘adjustacar’ suspension proved difficult to set up but was retained, while by the Belgian GP the inboard front brakes were abandoned. At the Dutch Grand Prix an oil cooler was mounted in the nose to move some weight forward of the front axle line.

At the start of the 1976 season drivers came and went like a game of musical chairs, Ronnie Peterson was the incumbent #1 driver and Mario Andretti returned for a one off guest drive, after a six year break in the second car. After qualifying 16th and retiring with accident damage Ronnie swapped places with new boy & countryman Gunnar Nilsson who had been scheduled to drive for the March team. Andretti returned to Vels Parnelli team just in time for it to fold after the 1976 US Grand Prix West. British Formula 5000 champion Bob Evans was given two Grand Prix races at Team Lotus while Nilsson made his Grand Prix debut in South Africa. After failing to qualify for the US GP West Evans was dropped from the team and after trying out the Wolf Williams FWO5 in a non championship race freshly out of work Mario Andretti signed on as the Lotus #1 driver !

After Andretti rejoined the team Nilsson scored a couple of thirds during his rookie year while Andretti went a little better scoring two thirds and winning the thrilling final race of the season run in a monsoon that decided the championship between Niki Lauda and James Hunt that should make a thrilling climax to Ron Howard’s current film project ‘Rush‘.

The three Lotus 77’s, never known as John Player Special II’s as the sponsors might have hoped, were retired from top line competition at the end of 1977, however that was not quite the end of the story as once again David Render, swapping his Lotus 76, and getting hold of Andretti’s Japanese GP chassis, #R1, and using it as an effective hillclimb and sprint machine.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Adjustacar’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be reviewing last weekends Simply Italian event at the National Motor Museum in which a GALPOT regular won a prize ! Don’t forget to come back now !

Henry’s Hot Hatch – Ford Fiesta XR2 Mk I, II & III

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The Hot Hatch was a term for class of hatchback that gained currency with the introduction of the performance orientated Volkswagen Golf GTi in 1976, although I would venture to suggest the first real performance hatch back was the rear wheel drive Austin A40 Countryman which won the 1960 British Saloon Car Championship with Doc Shepherd at the wheel, though pedants may quibble about the fact that only the lower boot / tailgate of the Mk 1 A40, that one the championship, opened where as a hatch back is generally considered to have a rear opening that includes the the rear window and most commonly front wheel drive.

Fords entry vehicle into the front wheel drive hatchback market, ‘Project Bobcat’, was first seen at Le Mans in June 1976. The Fiesta range topping performance XR2 was launched in 1981 with an 84hp 1597cc / 97.5 cui over head valve 4 cylinder motor fitted with a carburetor good for a 0 – 60 mph time of 9.3 seconds and a top speed of 105 mph.

The much modified XR2 above with extended wheel arches is seen in the car park of the Südring shopping mall in Paderborn, Germany. The number plate style indicates it belonged to a member of the British Army On The Rhine (BAOR), and is seen competing in an Autotest a sport in which precision driving is the key skill. If you happen to recognise the car or know it’s drivers please chime in below.

The Mk II Fiesta was launched in 1983 was essentially a reskin of the Mk I with the XR2 version being fitted with a 95hp motor as used in the Ford Escort Mk 3 XR3.

Thanks to Roger Lund, Alan Raine and Tim Wilkinson at The Nostalgia Forum we have a consensus that the #23 Goodliff car seen at Brands Hatch above was driven by Norman Grimshaw, and that the car was shared with Barrie (Whizzo) Williams during a two driver race in the Ford Credit Fiesta Championship at Oulton Park.

In 1989 the third generation Fiesta was launched with a revised chassis pan recognisably similar to the original version and completely new body. Upgraded with a fuel injected 104 hp motor the XR2 became the XR2i, however increased competition in market led Ford to introduce an RS 1800 and RS Turbo versions of the Fiesta which topped and replaced the XR2i name in 1992.

Joining Norman Grimshaw at Goodliff racing in 1989 were ‘one make’ racing specialist James Kaye and Jim Smith in the #1 and #11 respectively seen above heading for a Goodliff 1-2 finish in the Ford Credit Fiesta Championship race at Donington Park on the 16th of May 1989.

Various Fiesta floor pans were used to build Quantum Coupé and Quantum 2+2 convertible kit cars.

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

Turbo Erika – Ford Escort RS Turbo

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Launched with the strap line “Simple is Efficient” the third generation Ford Escort was code named “Erika” while in development taking the name from Fords Product Planning Dept leader Erick A. Reikert.

The Escort MKIII went head to head in the market place with the popular Volkswagen Golf which had turned VW fortunes around after the demise of the ‘Beetle’.

Like the Golf the 3rd iteration of the Escort employed front wheel drive, unlike the Golf the Escort was a conservative hatchback retaining some vestige of a three box shape bodywork at the rear, although the tailgate included the rear sloping window.

The 132hp RS Turbo version of the Escort was launched in 1984 with the 5 speed transmission driving the front wheels through a viscous coupling differential that was a world first for a front wheel drive car. The RS Turbo proved a strong competitor in production saloon racing where it rendered the hitherto dominant Ford Capri 2.8i obsolete in the space of 12 months.

In the top photo national radio DJ Mike Smith and Lionel Abbot shared the #25 to win the 1986 Willhire 24 hour race at Snetterton at their second attempt becoming the first two driver team to win the race since it’s inception in 1980. The #32 was driven by Karl Jones, Patrick Watts and Chris Creswell in the 1987 Willhire 24 hours qualifying 2nd, to a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, and finishing sixth, third in class after a late driveshaft failure. By 1989 the Escort RS Turbo’s driven by Vaughan Richmond, #44 seen at Brands Hatch and Jonathon Harrison, #60 seen at Silverstone, were overwhelmed in class B by half a dozen faster BMW M3’s.

My thanks to Tim Murray on The Nostalgia Forum for the race details on the #32 at Snetterton.

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

Genk Cosworth Part 1 – Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring