Tag Archives: Connor

Americana Paddock Questions – Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

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At the end of May Geoffrey Horton popped along to the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival and kindly sent a large number of photographs, including those selected today which have an American theme.

Kurtis 500S, Tom Claridge, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

Built in 1953 Tom Claridge’s Kurtis 500 S #022 was originally supplied with a de Soto motor, after an accident in 1954 the car was rebuilt with the current Chrylser Hemi # C53-8-I5990, this car has been seen at the Goodwood Revival meetings.

Chevrolet Corvette, Bruce Miller, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

I am not sure of the racing provenance of Bruce Millers Sunoco liveried 1963 Chevrolet Corvette, but I understand the chassis number is #30867S118408, if you know more please chip in below.

Mercury Cougar XR7, Ike Keeler, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

The racing provenance of cars raced in the 60’s is never easy, there are references pertaining to Ike Keeler’s #14 Mercury Cougar,chassis #7F91C597587, being the Bob Estes sponsored #79 driven by Mark Waco which do not tie up on the dates I have found elsewhere on the internet, a Burien Mercury sponsored #14 Cougar was driven at least twice in 1967/68 by Dave Tatom, again if you can clarify these anomalies please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Doug Schultz, Dodge Daytona, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

I beleive Doug Schultz’s #7 Hilton Charger is a 1969 Dodge Daytona driven by 1966 and 1973 NASCAR Camping World Series West Champion Jack McCoy who recorded 54 wins during his career from the late 1950’s to early 1990’s.

Ford Boss Mustang, Jim Hague, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

Ken Epsman’s #16 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 appears to be the car Bud Moore entered for Peter Gregg in the 1971 Trans Am series.

Pontiac Firebird, William E. (Chip) Connor, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

After an accident during practice for a Trans Am race at Road America Jerry Titus lost his life in August 1970 after crashing his #8 Terry Godsall Racing Pontiac Firebird similar to the one belonging to William-E.-Chip-Connor above.

Chevrolet Camaro, John Hildebrand, Sonoma Historic

2011 Indy Rookie of the Year JR Hildebrand was inspired to start racing after watching his Dad John race the #56 Peerless Racing Chevrolet Camaro that I believe was raced by Craig Carter from late 1978 to 1979.

If you have any additional information on any of the vehicles above please do not hesitate to chip in below. My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana Paddock Questions” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at five favorite Ferrari’s that have appeared at Silverstone Classic. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm Targa Rally

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A couple of weeks ago I popped along to the Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally an event for novice rally drivers held entirely on Washingpool Farm near Easter Compton.

BMW 318is, Lukas/Bicknell, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

There were 29 starters after a, now, rare Polski FIAT 126 dropped out before the start of the event. Above Dan Lukas and Jason Bicknell kick up a cloud of dust on their way to a 13th place finish in their #26 E30 BMW 318is after borrowing a couple of meters of wire to rewire their fuel pump.

Subaru Justy, Solarski/Tbc, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

High on entertainment value was the Subaru Justy driven by Robert Solarski, who finished 9th, his co driver seemed completely unfazed after Robert gave the plastic barrier a hefty whack before stopping for the last time control.

Vauxhall Corsa, Attiwell/Emery, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm Targa Rally,

Classes were run for Masters, Experts and Novices then further divided above and below 1400 cc. Winners of the Experts Class for smaller cars and 15th overall despite a soft offside front tyre were David Attiwell and Kieth Emery driving their #5 Vauxhall Corsa.

Vauxhall Corsa, Sissins/Earl, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm, Targa Rally,

11th overall and winner of the Novices class for drivers of smaller cars were Ray Sissins and Haydon Earl driving their #110 Vauxhall Corsa.

Peugeot 205 Rallye, McLachlan/Baverstock, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

6th overall and winners of the Masters class for drivers of smaller cars were Richard McLachlan and Andy Baverstock in their #2 Peugeot 205 Rallye.

Citroën Saxo, Potyra/Rudzki, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

Winner of the Novices class for drivers of larger cars and 3rd overall were Robert Potyra and Piotr Rudzski driving the #28 Citroën Saxo.

Ford Fiesta, Lobb/White, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

2nd Overall and winner of the Masters class for drivers of larger cars were David Lobb and Adrian White in their #101 Ford Fiesta.

Renault Clio, Connor/Spencer, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

Steve Conner and Alan Spencer won the event overall with Steve at the wheel of the #6 Renault Clio.

Ford Puma, Spencer/Connor, Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Targa Rally,

Alan and Steve also took the team prize for fastest pair when Alan’s 12th place overall finish in his #106 Ford Puma was taken into account.

If the event goes ahead again next year and my daily driver is still on the road I shall give serious consideration to taking part in what was an entertaining day out.

Thanks for joining me on this “Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm Targa Rally” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for a look at a Cutlass tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Never Beaten In Class – Ferrari 250 GTO #4293GT

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Today’s featured Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #4293GT was originally assigned to Scuderia San Ambreous, the same team who famously fielded Formula One debutant Giancarlo Baghetti in the 1961 French Grand Prix which he promptly won, however for reasons that are not clear to me at the time of writing Scuderia San Ambreous never took delivery of the car which instead ended up in the hands of Belgian Jacques Swaters and his Ecurie Francorchamps equipe in April 1963.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Willy Mairesse drove #4293GT to an overall victory on it’s debut in the 500km race at Spa. The cars next outing was in the Le Mans 24 hours where noted Businessman/Jazz Guitarist/Car Collector and Sponsor Jean “Beurlys” Blaton shared the driving with Gérald Langlois van Ophem to record the 250 GTO models 2nd consecutive second place finish some 16 laps behind the winning prototype Ferrari 250 P driven by Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Connor, Goodwood Revival

“Beurlys” then drove #4293 GT to victory in a race at Zolder before the cars final appearance race appearance in the 1963 12 hour race at Reims where the car appears to have been driven solo by Belgian Lucien Bianchi to a 3rd overall and first in class. #4293 was driven in practice for the 1964 1000kms race at the Nurburgring by Lucien Bianchi, Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella but the car never took the start meaning it record of four starts and four class victories remained intact.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Connor, Goodwood Revival

No further in period races are recorded for #4293GT and by the end of 1963 the car was in the United States where it remained until 1982. From 1982 to to 1996 #4293GT went to Japan and thence to Hong Kong until 2002 when it was acquired by William E. ‘Chip’ Connor of Incline Village, NV who is seen driving the car above in the 250 GTO 50th Anniversary demonstration at Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Never Beaten In Class” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking a my favorite Ginetta model. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Biting The Hand – Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59/60 #0774

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After attracting the attention of US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti in 1957 Dan Gurney found himself at the wheel of a North American Racing Team Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, owned by Chinetti at Le Mans in 1958 and drove the car up to 5th place before handing over to his team mate Bruce Kessler who got caught up in someone elses accident before the car retired. That drive impressed Ferrari sufficiently to earn Dan a drive with the works Ferrari team.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

For their 1959 Le Mans effort Ferrari built today’s featured Ferrari 250 TR chassis #0774 for Gurney to share with Jean Behra the car managed twice as many laps as Dan’s first attempt but still fell way short of a result.

Next time out Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien drove the car at Goodwood in the TT Race where they also failed to score a result both the 1959 Le Mans and Goodwood TT had been won by Aston Martin in what turned out to be a championship winning season for them.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

1960 would see a return of fortune for the Ferrari sports car team and chassis #0744 played an important role winning two championship races first Phil Hill and Cliff Alison won the 1000 kms at Buenos Aires and then Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frére won the Le Mans 24 hours scoring Ferrari’s third win in the Endurance Classic and helping Ferrari to their sixth World Sports Car title.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Between these successes #0774 was loaned to Chinetti’s NART team for Ritchie Ginther and Chuck Daigh to drive in the Sebring 12 hours but they failed to finish and after Le Mans the car was sold to Eleanor von Neumann who entered it for Phil Hill to drive in the 1960 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside where he finished 7th overall.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In 1963 Tom O’Connor bought the car for his Rose Bud racing team which promptly stripped the motor out and fitted it to their Lotus 19 chassis 952 that featured here on GALPOT a couple of years ago.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Under the ownership of Paul Pappalardo #0774 was reunited with it’s original motor in the 1980’s and the car won two class Concours d’Elegance awards at Palm Beach and Pebble Beach in 1993.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In a twist of biting the hand that feeds irony Dan Gurney eventually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 with co driver AJ Foyt driving for Ferrari’s sworn enemy Ford in a Mk IV.

After 26 years in Paul’s custody ownership of #0774 passed to Hong Kong sourcing and logistics magnate William E ‘Chip’ Connor who kindly took it to the 2012 Gooodwood Revival for the Tribute to Dan Gurney Parade.

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

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