Tag Archives: Hamilton

Two Time – Lewis Hamilton

Today’s blog will attempt to put Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 World Championship win into perspective.

The 2014 season was of course dominated by the Mercedes AMG F1 team for which Lewis drives with team mate Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton, MercedesAMGF1

During the season the Mercedes AMG F1 team qualified on pole 18 out of 19 times; Nico started from pole 11 times compared to Lewis’s 6, with Felipe Massa in the Mercedes powered Martini Williams being the only man to break the Mercedes Benz AMG F1 pole monopoly when he qualified on pole for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Mercedes Benz AMG F1 drivers also recorded 13 fastest race laps 7 of which were recorded by Lewis and 6 by Nico. The remaining fastest laps were recorded by Kimi Räikkönen driving a Ferrari, Felipe and team mate Vallteri Bottas driving for Martini Williams, Sergio Perez driving a
for Force India and Daniel Riccardo driving for Red Bull.

Lewis and Nico also won 16 of the 19 2014 Formula One season races; 11 to Lewis, 5 to Nico and 3 to Daniel Riccardo.

Lewis became the 16th multiple Formula One World Champion and the fourth Britain to do so after Graham Hill ’62/’68, Jim Clark ’63/’65 and Jackie Stewart ’69/’71/’73.

The 2014 constructors championship was won by Mercedes Benz for the first time, there were no championships for constructors in 1954 and 1955 when Juan Manuel Fangio won two drivers championships driving for the Mercedes Benz team.

Mika Häkkinen drove Mercedes powered McLaren’s to consecutive drivers championships in 1998/’99 as did Lewis his to his first championship in 2008. McLaren won the constructors championship in 1998, so Mercedes motors have now powered three world drivers champions to six drivers championships, but just two constructors championships.

An interesting aside is that Mercedes Benz bought out the 2009 Constructors champions Brawn GP at the end of 2009 and there is a paper trail at Companies House which links Brawn GP through the Honda Racing F1 Team and British American Racing to the Tyrrell Racing Organisation founded on the 9th of January 1964 with the company number 00787446.

Therefore over the last fifty years the legal entities registered under Company Number 00787446 lay claim to; the 1969 World Drivers and Constructors championships won by Jackie Stewart run by Tyrrell Racing Organisation under the Matra International banner, the ’71 Driver and Constructors Championships won by Jackie running under the Tyrrell Racing Organisation name as was Jackie’s final Drivers title in ’73, the 2009 World Drivers and Constructors titles won by Jenson Button and Brawn GP and now Lewis Hamilton’s and Mercedes Benz AMG F1’s drivers and constructors championships making five drivers championships and four constructors championships in all.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Two Time’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a life times love affair with racing from New Jersey. Don’t forget to come back now !

Wrecked Prototype Reincanated – Nimrod Aston Martin NRAC/1 #001

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With a world caravan speed record in his pocket set with his twin turbocharged Aston Martin ‘Muncher’ Robin Hamilton came to an agreement with Aston Martin Chairman Victor Gauntlet to enter a partnership to form Nimrod in 1981 which set out to build Aston Martin powered prototype Group C and GTP racing cars.

Nimrod Aston Martin NRA/C2, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The design of the cars was credited to Eric Broadley, though I have always had my doubts about the extent of his involvement because the design does not feature ground effect aerodynamics that were de rigeur in Formula One and becoming rampant in prototype sports cars such as Eric’s contemporary Lola T600 Group C / IMSA GTP design shows.

Nimrod Aston Martin NRA/C2, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Nimrod chassis tubs were certainly built by Lola, they were known in the Lola factory as T385’s and the cars do appear to bear a familial resemblance to the smaller open Lola T380 of the type Alan de Cadanet purchased in 1975. The heavily modified Aston Martin V8’s were prepared initially by Aston Martin Tickford and later by Aston Martin Lagonda.

Nimrod Aston Martin NRA/C2, Goodwood Festival of Speed

It is believed that the 1981 car, seen here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, belonging to the Louwman Museum is the rebuilt wreck of the prototype that crashed before ever turning a wheel in open competition, that was never raced subsequently either.

Nimrod Aston Martin NRA/C2, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Nimrods turned out to be underfunded and inevitably disappointed, the works cars best result, in second generation NRAC/2 guise that appeared in 1982, was a 5th place finish in the IMSA GTP series which fell to Reggie Smith, Lyn St. James and Drake Olson in the 1983 Sebring 12 Hours. At the end of the season Nimrod Racing folded.

The best Nimrod finish in the World Sports Car Group C series fell to Ray Mallock and Mike Salmon on the Nimrods debut at the 1982 Silverstone 6 Hours. This private entry by Viscount Downe was independently developed by Ray Mallock until 1984 and proved quicker and more reliable than the works entries scoring the marques only Le Mans finish in 1983 when Ray and Mike were joined by Simon Philips and finished 7th from 23rd on the grid.

In 1983 for the Daytona 24 Hours Nimrod manged to team up both 4 time Indy 500 winner and one time Daytona 500 Winner AJ Foyt up with fellow Daytona 500 winner and three time NASCAR Cup winner Darrell ‘Jaws’ Waltrip and an unknown Argentinian Guillermo Maldonado with Darrell’s sponsor Pepsi in their lead #11 car.

They qualified 13th, but retired with engine failure to be classified 54th. AJ who had not driven the car in the race moved over to join Preston Henn in the Henn’s Swap Shop Porsche 935 and shared a victory with Preston, “Brilliant” Bob Wollek and Claude Ballot-Lena.

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

Company Number 00787446 – Mercedes F1 W04

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On the 9th of January 1964 Ken Tyrrell a wood merchant and amateur racing driver turned his attention to managing his own team and duly registered Tyrrell Racing Organisation Limited at companies house where it was given the Company Number: 00787446.

After winning World Constructors & Drivers Championships in 1969 with Jackie Stewart and the Matra Ford in 1969, with the Tyrrell Ford in 1971 and the drivers Championship in 1973 the team continued competing until 1998 when Company Number: 00787446 was renamed British American Racing Grand Prix Limited who’s defining season came in 2004 when they finished 2nd in the World Constructors Championship despite never winning a race.

Mercedes F1 W04, Hamilton. British Grand Prix, Silverstone

By degrees British American Racing Grand Prix Limited morphed into Honda Gp Limited by 2006 when the Handa team won the Hungarian Grand Prix after which the team underperformed until Ross Brawn organised a management buyout at the beginning of 2009. Using Mercedes motors the Brawn GP won 8 races to secure the World Constructors Championship and Jenson Button’s six wins were enough to win the World Drivers Championship.

At the end of the 2009 season the financially strapped Ross sold out to Daimler AG who were withdrawing their financial interest in their partnership with McLaren. Luring seven time champion Michael Schumacher out of retirement to join hot shot Nico Rosberg the future of Company Number: 00787446 looked rosy but somehow the new team did not gel and between 2010 and 2012 the Mercedes GP team scored 3 podiums in 2010, none in 2011 and one victory and a 3rd place finish in 2012. Michael Schumacher retired from the sport at the end of 2012 and was replaced by 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes F1 W04, Rosberg, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

The design of the F1 W04 was overseen by Geoff Willis showed good speed but was at odds with the tyres for which it was designed, Nico Rosberg seen above, won two consecutive pole positions in Bahrain and Spain but could only finish in 9th and 6th, with Lewis complaining that he was “racing a Williams” out of the point in Spain.

After some secret testing, for which the team was subsequently penalised by being barred from an open test, for Pirelli the teams showed improved form at Monaco where the Nico took pole from Lewis and won with Lewis 4th. At the British Grand Prix Lewis took the first of four consecutive pole positions but thanks to a variety of issues including tyres managed to convert only one of them in Hungary into a victory. Nico ended up winning the British GP after Lewis suffered and survived a high speed puncture.

Mercedes F1 W04, Hamilton. British Grand Prix, Silverstone

After the Hungarian Grand Prix Lewis managed just a single 3rd place in Italy after which the teams performance plummeted to top ten finishes for both drivers interrupted by a 2nd and 3rd for Nico in India and Abu Dhabi respectively.

Lewis finished 2013 4th in the drivers standings despite scoring only one win against the two scored by team mate Nico who finished 6th in the standings behind Kimi Raikkönen who finished his season two races early. Mercedes meanwhile finished 2nd in the constructors championship.

Mercedes F1 W04, Rosberg, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Through out 2013 there were rumours that the position of Ross Brawn, who saved the team from closure, was under threat and at the end of the year Ross left the team and has allegedly retired from the sport, though he himself has been quoted as saying never say never. His place has been taken by Paddy Lowe for 2014 who will oversea the development of the F1 W05’s that Lewis and Nico will drive.

You can follow the progress of, the highly touted for 2014, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team, Company Number: 00787446, on their website linked here, on their facebook page linked here and twitter feed linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Company Number 00787446” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be looking at the first in a series of US vintage vehicles. Don’t forget to come back now !

Caught In A Cat Fight – Ferrari 500TR/625LM Touring Spyder #0642MDTR

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On the 24th of June 1956 Ferrari entered three 2 litre 122 cui Ferrari 500TR’s with bodies by Touring into a sports car race at Monza. Today’s featured car chassis #0642MDTR driven by Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn started 3rd and won the race by 26 seconds from the Maserati 200S driven by Cesrae Perdisa and Stirling Moss with the two remaining factory Touring bodied cars #0632MTDR and #0652MTDR coming home 3rd and 4th respectively.

Ferrari 625LM Touring, Blackhawk Museum

After the fatal tragedy at Le Mans in 1955 and due to low build volumes Ferrari were barred from entering there larger engined 860 Monza or 290MM models which were considered prototypes, a class now restricted to 2.5 litre motors.

Ferrari 625LM Touring, Blackhawk Museum

So in late July 1956 #0642, #0632 and #0644 took part in the Le Mans 24 hours in 500TR/625LM spec fitted with 2.5 litre / 252.5 cui 4 cylinder motors. Olivier Gendebien and Maurice Trintignant drove #0644 to a third place finish behind a Jaguar and Aston Martin both considered to be production cars and consequently allowed to run with larger motors.

Ferrari 625LM Touring, Blackhawk Museum

Phil Hill and André Simon retired #0632 with a rear axle problem while #0642 carrying the #11 and scheduled to be driven by Alfonso de Portago and Duncan Hamilton was involved in an incident between two works Jaguar D-Types that saw all three retire in the opening laps. #0642 was repaired at the factory and returned to 500TR spec with a 2 litre motor re-fitted before being shipped to US agent Luigi Chinetti in New York.

Ferrari 625LM Touring, Blackhawk Museum

From December 1956 to 1963 the car was raced by privateers amongst whom David Ash scored a victory at Thompson when he was driving the car for Robert Publicker in 1957. Lloyd “Lucky” Crasner won at Opa Locka when he was owner of #0642 in 1958, two years later owner William Kimberely also recorded an overall victory in the car at Lime Rock.

Ferrari 625LM Touring, Blackhawk Museum

In 1963 Arthur ‘Art’ Burmeister recorded a class win at Frayling in the cars final year of competition. Up until 1994 #0642 remained in the USA whence it returned after a ten year spell in Japanese ownership.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs of #0642 which were taken at the Blackhawk Museum.

Thanks for joining me on this “Caught In A Cat Fight” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a self build vehicle has a tenuous link to NBA super star Wilt Chamberlain. Don’t for get to come back now !

Going It Alone Again – Trojan Chevrolet T101 #T101-102

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This month’s Saturday posts will feature 4 Formula 5000 cars built for the 1973 season. Formula 5000 was an open wheel Formula for vehicles fitted with stock block motor up to 5 litres / 302 cui which ran from 1967 in the USA 1969 in Europe and 1970 in the Antipodes coming to a stop in 1975 in the Antipodes and 1976 in the US and Europe.

With the fall in competitiveness of the McLaren Can Am and Formula 5000 programmes, in 1972, McLaren Cars focused it’s attention on it’s Formula One and USAC Champ car programmes with the McLaren M23 and McLaren M16 respectively.