Tag Archives: GAPOT

Do Not Touch The Cars – Bugatti Type 13 Brescia

This month’s Tuesday blogs will feature some Vintage Bugatti’s starting with today’s featured Type 13 Brescia.

After the success enjoyed by Bugatti following the second place finish in the 1911 French Grand Prix by Ernest Friderich driving a 1368 cc / 83 cui Voiturette Type 13 to the mighty 10 litre / 589 cui winning FIAT S76 driven by Victor Hemery Bugatti future up until the beginning of the Great War hostilities in 1914.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

At the out break of hostilities Ettore Bugatti took two Type 13’s to Milan and buried the parts of three more for the duration. In 1918 Ettore returned to his factory in Molsheim with his two Type 13’s and built up three more from the buried parts.

These cars were entered into the 1920 VIII Coupe des Voiturettes at Le Mans where Ernest Friderich drove one of the cars two victory Team mate Pierre de Vizcaya was disqualified from the event after Ettore was observed by officials to have touched the radiator of the #18 which counted as receiving outside assistance.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

In September 1921 Ettore sent a team of four cars with slightly larger 1,453cc / 88.6 cui motors to compete in the I Gran Premio delle Vetturette run in Brescia, Northern Italy and after just under 3 hours of racing Ernest Friderich led home a Bugatti sweep of the first four places, subsequently all Bugatti’s with 16 valve heads including the Type 13’s, Type 22’s and Type 23’s fitted with 16 valve head motors, were given the Brescia moniker in memory of the victory.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

The Type 13 was manufactured with 8 valve and 16 valve cylinder heads from 1910 to 1926 being fitted with front brakes as standard only in the final year of production, Ettore having oft been quoted as saying “I make cars to go, not to stop.”

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

The 1921 Type 13 Brescia seen above driven by Michael Ward at Prescott is notable for having front brakes fitted.

My thanks to Michael Fines, Felix Muelas and Barttore at The Nostalgia Forum for their help in determining which cars Ettore sent to Brescia in 1921.

Thanks for joining me on this “Do Not Touch The Cars” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I be looking at how the Mercedes Formula One team got on in 2013. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Sixties Ferrari Covers – GALPOT Automobilia

Continuing to clear some of the motor racing stuff I have collected over the years today’s post features a couple of MotorSport covers that are currently on line on my “lightpress” e-bay account.

MotorSport, Goodwood, April 1966

First up from April 1966 the staff at MotorSport believed that the idea of an apparently arbitrary 3 liter / 183 cui limit on the size of forth coming GT regulations was not either in the interest of the sport, or the British motor industry who’s GT cars from Jaguar and Aston Martin with motors over the new limit would be rendered obsolete despite not being particularly quicker than their competition with smaller motors. The photo shows the start of the 1963 Goodwood Tourist Trophy race featuring four Ferrari 250 GTO’s, 2 Aston Martins and 2 E-type Jaguars which was won by Graham Hill in the #11 250 GTO.

MotorSport, Surtess, Ferrari 312, Siracusa, June 1966

By June 1966 the Ferrari V12 3 litre 183 cui Formula One car was looking a good bet to win the championship with 1964 champion John Surtees at the wheel. John is seen guiding his Ferrari 312 fitted with a downsized sports car V12 motor through the streets of Siracusa on his way to an easy non championship victory. Note how Sicilian spectators are clearly seen ligning the inside of the crash barriers which were presumably installed to protect them. By the end of June John Surtees quit the Ferrari team after a disagreement with Ferrari management which deprived him and Ferrari of Championships which up until then had been theirs for the taking.

MotorSport, Bandini, Ferrari P3/4, Daytona, March 1967

Finally after a humiliating defeat to Ford at Le Mans in 1966 in February 1967 Ferrari stole a little Ford thunder by claiming victory in the Daytona 24 hour race. Seen on the cover of the March 1967 edition of MotorSport is Lorenzo Bandini at the wheel of the #23 Ferrari P3/4 he shared on his way to victory with Chris Amon. The #26 North American Racing Team Ferrari P4 driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet finished second.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sixties Ferrari Covers” 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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Genk Cosworth Part 2 – Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4

The forth and final incarnation of the Sierra Cosworth was built to overcome the short comings of 2wd in Rally competition which since the introduction of the Audi Quattro in 1980 had became dominated by four wheel drive machines. 12,250 of the Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4’s were built in Genk, Belgium.

Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4

The Cosworth 4×4 was timed to coincide with a minor facelift to the Sierra range in 1990, powered by either 224 hp Cosworth YBG with catalytic converter or YBJ motors, without the converter, coupled to a Ferguson patented all wheel drive transmission. The road going variant is distinguished by the return of the bonnet louvre’s seen on the first two RS Cosworth variants and discreet 4×4 badges on the front wings. Note also the return of the Sierra RS Cosworth name to the boot / trunk lid as on the original 3 door version.

Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4

Unfortunately due to it’s size compared to the competition which included the pint size Lancia Delta & Mazda 323 hatchbacks and Toyota Celica Coupé, all with four wheel drive, none of the four Sierra RS Cosworth variations ever won a World Championship Rally, though Francois Delecour managed a couple of 3rds in Monte Carlo and Spain driving the Cosworth 4×4 in 1991..

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Genk Cosworth Part 2’ 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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Fatal Firebird – Lotus Ford 29 #29/3

In May 1961 a piece of successful Formula One technology percolated into the environs of Indianapolis which started a whole sale revolution in the layout of the cars that would dominate the Indy 500 hence forth in the form of the Kimberly Cooper Special driven by Jack Brabham.

The Kimberly Cooper Special was the smallest car in the field and possibly with the least powerful motor, but what everyone present learned from the car that started 19th and came in 9th was that the li’l funny car with the engine in the back could handle the corners so much better than the hitherto dominant front engine Roadster machines that the lack of 150 hp made little or no difference.

Lotus 29 Ford, Indianapolis

Imagine just putting the engine in the back of your car giving a 150 hp advantage ! It was a no brainer, but in 1962 only the Californian Speed King Micky Thompson and ’55 & ’56 Indy winning owner John Zink had rear engined cars prepared for the Indy 500.

Rookie Dan Gurney who passed his Rookie test in a Roadster was keen to drive either of the rear engined cars in the race in an effort to impress Lotus boss Colin Chapman whom he had invited over from Europe at his own expense in an effort to entice Colin into building Lotus indy cars for 1963. Dan gave up on the turbine powered John Zink Track Burner but did manage to qualify 8th in the under powered Thompson Buick and come home in 20th.

Lotus 29 Ford, Indianapolis

Chapman was sufficiently impressed with the Indy 500 and it’s potential rewards to build the Lotus 29 seen here for the 1963 race. The Lotus 29 featured a monocoque chassis, as campaigned in Chapman’s successful 1962 Lotus 25 Grand Prix car, in place of the usual tube space frame and it had a powerful version of a Ford stock block V8 in place of the almost ubiquitous 4 cylinder Offy that had been winning at Indy since the mid 1930’s and could trace their ancestry back to the Millers of the 1920’s.

Jim Clark and Dan Gurney were to race the Lotus challengers Clark qualified chassis 29/3 5th and Gurney chassis 29/1 12th. Towards the end of the race Clark was challenging Parnelli Jones for the lead when Jones Watson developed an oil leak, but the USAC officials managed to refrain from black flagging Jones before the oil stopped leaking which allowed Parnelli to take his one and only Indy 500 victory ahead of the Rookie Clark. Dan came in 7th also completing the full 200 laps. Dan’s chassis #29/1 today sits in the IMS museum painted in the green and yellow colours of Jim Clark’s #92 chassis 29/3.

Indy 1964, Ed Arnaudin

The following year Bob Marshman put #29/2 now known as the Pure Firebird Special on the middle of the front row for 1964 Indy 500 right next to pole sitter Jim Clark in his newer Lotus Ford 34, see above. Bob lost an oil plug going low on the apron while in the lead on lap 37 trying to avoid the slower Johnny White, Bob was eventually classified 25th.

Bob crashed #29/2 at Milwaukee and his owner Lindsey Hopkins bought Clark’s #29/3 as a replacement which Bob drove with no more success than he had with #29/2.

Despite the fireball at Indy in 1964 Bob tested chassis 29/3 at the seasons end wearing nothing but the usual, for the period, t-shirt and jeans at Phoenix. During the session Bob’s car was involved in an accident which ruptured the fuel tank, a week later Bob died of the burns he subsequently sustained.

Ed Arnudins photo’s show Lotus Mechanic Colin Riley at the wheel of Jim Clarks of #92 Lotus 29 Ford being towed through the Indianapolis garage area by another Team Lotus mechanic Dave Lazenby who is at the wheel of the dinky li’l towing tractor in the top photograph.

My thanks to Ed and Steve Arnaudin for the photo’s, Tim and B Squared at The Nostalgia Forum informing me of which chassis is featured in today’s post for identifying Colin and Dave in the photo’s.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Oil Leak ? What Oil Leak ?’ edition of ‘Getting’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

05 02 12 ps Thanks to Brian for pointing out the now corrected Bobby Marshman spelling error and pointing out that Bob did not spin out of the 1964 Indy 500.

12 05 14 Since writing this piece it has come to my attention that Bobby Marshman signed his autographs ‘Bob Marshman’ and it seems fitting and respectful to have removed the references to “Bobby”.

It has also come to my attention that Bob drove #29/2 on the paved surfaces of USAC’s Champ Car Series up until Milwaukee in ’64 and not #29/3 as originally suggested. He also appears to have lost an oil plug rather than damaged an oil line at Indy as originally suggested.

I hope you’ll accept my sincerest apologies for any unintentional confusion caused.

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