Tag Archives: Delane

Test Day – Donington Park

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With a sunny midweek day off last Thursday I popped along to a Test Day run at Donington Park.

Dallara F308 VW, Robbie Watts, Donington Park

Among the large variety of machines being given a workout was the #7 Volkswagen powered 2008 Dallara F308 which is being prepared by Team Fox Racing for three time Monoposto 2000 champion Robbie Watts’s challenge for the F3 Cup.

Ralt RT1 BMW, Rob Hall, Donington Park

In 1977 Eddie Cheever was midway through a three year spell with the Project Four Formula 2 team run by Ron Dennis, that year he drove the BMW powered Ralt RT1 seen above to two top point’s scoring finishes at the Nurburgring and Rouen to finish second in the F2 Championship to Rene Arnoux, 39 years later I believe Rob Hall is seen testing the car above which I believe belongs to Peter Wunsch.

Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Darren Nelson, Adam Carroll, Donington Park

I believe Darren Nelson and Adam Carroll shared the driving of the #18 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with which they are competing in the 2016 GT Cup, they finished second in Sunday’s opening race of the series.

Tyrrell Ford 001, TBC, Donington Park

So far as I know the Tyrrell family are owners of the original Tyrrell Ford 001 seen above and loaned it to John Delane in exchange for it’s restoration and maintenance. John’s helmet is predominantly white, if you know who is seen at the wheel in this photograph’s please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Aston Martin DB4GT, Simon Hadfield, Donington Park

Simon Hadfield was a busy man driving both Wolfgang Friedrich’s Aston Martin DBR1 and his #10 1961 DB4 GT seen above.

McLaren Ford M23, Scott Walker, Donington Park

Looking for details on who might be driving the 1974 built but now 1976 spec McLaren M23/6 looked after by Hall and Hall I came across someone by the name of Scott Walker who had a similar helmet on what appears to have been his only previous appearance in the car at Jarama way back in 2011, if you know anything else about Scott please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Mini Gen3 F56, James Turkington, Donington Park

All of the above were regularly swamped by many Mini’s in Gen3 F56 spec and earlier JCW R56 spec, James, younger brother of double British Touring Car Champion Colin, Turkington will be completing his first full season of racing in the MINI Challenge with the ExcelR8 Motorsport #61 Gen3 F56 MINI seen three wheeling into Coppice Corner above.

Thanks for joining me on this “Test Day” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Concours winning Packard. Don’t forget to come back now !

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VPJ Backup – Lola Chevrolet T400 #HU7

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As in 1974 1963 Indy Winner Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko “Vel” Miletich planned to enter teams in Formula One for Mario Andretti who would compete in all rounds of the world championship, US Formula 5000 with Mario joined by Al Unser running in all rounds of the championship and a partial USAC (Champ car) season in which Al Unser would run an Eagle until the VPJ6 Champ car that was powered by the VPJ developed turbocharged Cosworth DFX was ready while Andretti ran the a VPJ Eagle in four races.

Lola T400, Silverstone Classic,

Like many others VPJ bought Lola T400’s to replace the T332’s they had run in 1974 exclusively for Mario Andretti who was beaten to the 1974 title by Brian Redman’s slightly more reliable and consistent Carl Haas entered T332.

Lola T400, Michael Lyons, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Like most other T400 customers the team felt their older T332’s were the better bet and today’s featured chassis #HU7 appears never to have been run by the VPJ team in a race.

Lola T400, Silverstone Classic,

The VPJ team’s other T400 #HU6 was only raced on one occasion by Al Unser at Mosport in Canada where he spun out and damaged the car in the heat, an incident that precluded him from starting the final.

Lola T400, Michael Lyons, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Mario driving his faithful 1974 T332 #HU29 again finished the 1975 F5000 season with the same number of wins as Championship winner Brian Redman, but a couple of failure’s to finish cost Mario a shot at the title.

Lola T400, Silverstone Classic,

John Delane appears to have been the first person to have raced #HU7 after he acquired it in 1990 in 1998 the car was sold on and ended up with current owner Frank Lyons in 2007.

Lola T400, Michael Lyons, Gold Cup, Oulton Park,

Michael and his mother Judy Lyons have both raced #HU7 which is seen in these photographs in the Paddock at Silverstone Classic in 2013 an at Oulton Park with Michael at the wheel in 2011 and 2013.

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

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Wide Body – Scirocco BRM SP-1-63

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In 1962 American Tony Settember with backing from compatriot Hugh Powell made his Grand Prix debut driving a Coventry Climax powered Emeryson Mk2 in the British Grand Prix where he finished 11th from 19th on the Grid.

Tony qualified 21st and last for the 1962 Italian Grand Prix and retired, but undeterred Hugh Powell bought out Paul Emery at the end of the season and rebranded the team Scirocco for the 1963 season.

Scirocco BRM, Goodwood Revival,

The team commissioned Roy Thomas to build the chassis which features a combination of monocoque and tube frame elements, John Tojeiro to provide the suspension and Williams & Pritchard to provide the body work.

The new Scirocco’s were powered with V8 motor’s supplied by reigning World Champions BRM which were fitted to Colotti Type 34 six speed gearboxes.

Scirocco BRM, Delane, Goodwood Revival,

Two cars were completed for the 1963 season and were driven by Tony and Englishman Ian Burgess.

The teams world championship effort was disheartening, from 10 entries the team withdrew Ian’s car on three occasions Tony failed to qualify in Italy and the team did not record any finishes although Tony was classified 8th in Belgium despite retiring after an accident 7 laps from the finish.

Scirocco BRM, Goodwood Revival,

The high point of the teams qualifying for world championship races was Tony’s 18th place start in the British Grand Prix.

However alongside their championship programe the Scirocco Powell team made three non championship appearances and at the 1963 Austrian Grand Prix Tony qualified 8th in chassis #SP-1-63 seen in these photographs and brought the car home in 2nd place five laps down Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT3.

Scirocco BRM, Goodwood Revival,

The Scirocco Powell team folded at the end of 1963 and SP-2-63 was sold on to Equipe Scirocco Belge who had Tim Parnell fit a Coventry Climax V8 for André Pelitte who’s best result in 1964 was a 6th place finish in the non Championship News Of The World Trophy at Goodwood.

#SP-1-63 was built a bit wider than #SP-2-63 because Tony was a bit bigger then Ian, it is seen in these photographs at Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago with John Delane at the wheel.

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

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