Tag Archives: Darniche

Not Quite A GT – Ligier Cosworth JS2 #2379 72 03

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In 1970 former international rugby player and construction magnate Guy Ligier set about founding a sports car manufacturing company bearing his own name.

The original production model was to be the JS2 with a chassis designed by Michel Tetu, who would later be part of the Renault Le Mans and Formula One campaigns and a body designed by Pietro Frua.

The JS2 was originally intended to be powered by a 2.6 litre / 158 cui Ford Cologne V6 but that had to be changed to the 3 litre / 183 cui Maserati V6 as used in the Merak and Citroën SM, when Ford thought it might build a rival in the form of the Ford GT70.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Production of the JS2 never reached sufficient numbers for the sporting authorities to consider the car for GT racing so instead racing versions were run as prototypes.

The racing JS2’s were built with aluminium chassis and raced with Maserati V6 engines which proved a tad underpowered and unreliable, although the teams perseverance was rewarded with a victory in the 1974 Le Mans 4 hour race for Guy Chasseuil and in the 1974 Tour de France Automobile where Gérard Larrousse, Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Johnny Rives drove the winning JS2.

A second place finish for today’s featured chassis #2379 72 03 driven by Bernard Darniche and Jacques Jaubert emphasised the team’s mastery of the 1974 mixed discipline event.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

With new sponsorship from Gitanes for 1975 Ligier exploited the Prototype regulations more fully by producing a silhouette JS2 body and fitting more powerful Ford Cosworth DFV motors to two of his three JS2 racing cars including today’s featured chassis.

The two DFV powered JS2s were sent to Mugello and Dijon netting a 7th for Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the former and 6th for François Migault and Jean-Pierre Jarier at the latter.

Perhaps mindful of wanting to preserve their machinery for Le Mans only single car entries were sent to Monza and Spa where Beltoise and Jarrier finished 21st from 7th on the grid and François Migault and Jean-Louis Lafosse finished 12th from 5th on the grid respectively.

Ligier JS2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

At Le Mans the two DFV powered JS2’s were joined by a third Maserati powered JS2 the latter to be driven by Beltoise and Jarier.

Unsurprisingly the Maserati was slowest of the three starting from 9th it was also the first of the three to retire after an accident.

Today’s featured car driven by Henri Pescarolo and François Migault qualified 5th but retired later in the race with a puncture.

The second DFV powered JS2 driven by Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil qualified an impressive 3rd and survived to finish second only one lap down behind the Gulf GR8 shared by Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx.

After Le Mans 1975 Ligier retired from sports car racing in preparation for it Gitanes sponsored appearance in Formula One the following season.

Thanks for joining me on this “Not Quite A GT” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be paying a visit to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Fantastic Futurist – Lancia Stratos Stradale

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In 1970 Bertone built a futuristic concept car called the Lancia Stratos Zero, the car was so low the windscreen also acted as ‘the’ door !

The following year Bertone showed the Lancia Stratos Prototype at the 1971 Turin Show, this car was a little more practical with two side doors and a mid mounted tranverse mounted V6 as per the Ferrari Dino from which it was sourced.

Lancia Stratos Stradale, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

In all 492 of the road going Lancia Stratos Stradales like the 1974 example seen here at last years Classic Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham were built between 1972 and 1974 when production of the V6 Dino GT also ceased.

HF competition versions of the Stradale proved particularly versatile in 1974 Gérard Larrousse and Amilcare Ballestrieri drove a Stratos to victory on the Targa Florio.

The Stratos is probably best remembered as a superb rally car, Sandro Munari and Mario Mannucci won the 1974 San Remo Rally on the Sratos World Rally Championship debut. By 1981, 4 years after the Stratos programe had been closed down by FIAT; Jean-Claude Andruet, Björn Waldegård, Bernard Darniche, Markku Alén, Tony Carello and Antonio “Tony” Fassina had all also helped contribute to a total of 18 World Rally Championship wins credited to the Stratos which included 3 consecutive wins for Munari on the Monte Carlo Rally, ’75 – ’77, and five victories each on the San Marino and Tour de Course Rallies.

Franz Wurz became 1976 European Rally Cross champion in a Stratos and sold his car, later fitted with a 3 liter / 183 cui motor V6 to Andy Bentza who won GT Rally Cross Championship in 1978.

In 1973 Sandro Munari and Mario Manucci won the mixed discipline Tour D’France, the following year Jean-Claude Andruet and “Biche” won the similar Giro di Italia with a similar bodied turbocharged example.

The final competition evolution of the Stratos was a turbocharged Group 5 long tail silhouette racer of the type that Carlo Facetti and P. Sodano drove to victory on the 1976 Giro di Italia.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fantastic Futurist” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a couple of Lotus Indy Cars. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Spirit Of ’76 – Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood #007

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John and Burt Greenwood were the children of a WW2 fighter pilot who worked at the GM Tech Center. As a teenager John was working paper rounds so that he could build a Briggs Stratton powered kart. From there the Greenwood’s moved into street racing, preparing a car, racing it and then selling it to so that they could build up another.

Around 1968 the Greenwoods set up Auto Research Engineering to build engines and tune suspension and the following year started racing. John won back to back SCCA championships in 1970 and 1971. Over the following two years the Greenwood Corvettes had made trips to the Le Mans 24 hours where they had failed to finish having a best 16th place on the grid in ’72 to show for their efforts.

Chevrolet Corvette, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1976 John Greenwood was invited to return to Le Mans and this time he brought a wide bodied car to share with Bernard Darniche. Featuring a body that was developed the the aid of ‘Farther of the Corvette’ Zora Arkus-Duntov and aerodynamicist Randy Wittine that covered a 700 hp fuel injected 7 litre / 427 cui motor.

Chassis #007 had been built up for Rick Mancuso a racer from Illinois who entered the car in the ’76 Sebring 12 hours but crashed it in practice so that it did not start, #007 is not to be confused with John Greenwoods “Spirit of Sebring ’76” which started from pole in the same race, but retired after 36 laps with clutch failure.

Chevrolet Corvette, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At his third attempt John’s Corvette, which was timed at over 215 mph on Mulsanne straight, qualified 9th behind a the turbocharged BMW CSl driven by Brian Redman and Peter Gregg and was one of just 12 cars to get below 4 mins in qualifying beating his own previous best time by a clear 20 seconds.

Unfortunately it was not third time lucky in the race as the car was retired with a split fuel cell during the early hours bringing to an end John’s hugely popular presence at the La Sarthe circuit.

Thanks for joining me on this “Spirit of ’76” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for “Ferrari Friday”. Don’t forget to come back now !

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