Tag Archives: Le Mans

White Yellow Red – Triumph Spitfire #ADU1B

The Triumph Spitfire GT Coupé was originally concieved by Giovani Michelotti and Triumph in 1963 as a Coupé concept version of the 4 cylinder Triumph Spitfire Roadster. The styling won plenty of kudos, but the Spitfire’s 4 cylinder 1147 cc / 70 cui engine struggled to cope with the extra, steel, body weight.

Triumph Spitfire, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

The Triumph racing department saw the advantage of using the sleek GT4 body for it’s upcoming Le Mans programme and grafted fibre glass copies of the fast back roof on to the tuned 1147 cc / 70 cui racers they were building with further body weight saved by using an aluminium bonnet / hood in place of the regular pressed steel item.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

Three Spitfires were entered for the 1964 Le Mans 24 hours in the 3 litre / 183 cui Prototype Class, the #49 bearing the UK licence plate ADU1B and painted with a white nose driven by Mike Rothschild and Bob Tullius qualified 51st but retired on lap 53 after an accident. The #50 bearing the registration ADU2B and painted with a red nose driven by future broadcaster David Hobbs and Rob Slotemaker was the only Spitfire to be classified, 21st from 48th on the grid.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

In 1965 four Spitfires returned to Le Mans. Now competing in the more appropriate 1.15 litre / 70 cui GT Class. Jean – Jaques Thuner and Simo Lampinen driving the #60 registered ADU4B with a Borneo Green nose came home a class winning 13th ahead of the #54 registered ADU3B with a white nose driven by Claude Dubois / Jean-Francois Plot who finished 14th.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

The #53 ADU2B still with a red nose and driven by Bill Bradley and & Peter Bolton retired after six laps with engine failure, while the #52 ADU1B now bearing a yellow nose and driven by David Hobbs and Rob Slotemaker qualified 48th only to retire after an accident on lap 71. The fate of ADU1B is not known to the author at this time, but it is thought the car no longer exists.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

Somewhere around 1990 the owner of today’s featured car Mark Field found a set of four 1960’s old english white painted magnesium alloy wheels being offered for sale at a car boot sale for the price of the tyres mounted on them. Mark established that they came from the works Triumph Spitfire project and soon set about recreating the team car ADU3B which unknown to him at the time still existed in France.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

A suitable donor Spitfire chassis was found and modified in the same way as the original Team cars, the mould for the roof was taken from ADU7B which was used in period as a works rally car. When it became known that ADU3B still existed Mark decided to recreate ADU1B, but with the red nose from ADU2B.

Triumph Spitfire, Classic Motor Show NEC Birmingham

The car was completed with all the mandatory modern day safety equipment in time for the fortieth anniversary of the Spitfire’s first appearance at Le Mans in 2004 and with sufficient original parts to be awarded it’s FIA papers to race in historic events ADU1B took part in the 2004 Le Mans Classic for the first time. The wheels Mark found in the car boot sale proved not to be suitable for further use and so the same pattern was remanufactured with modern materials to fit modern tyre sizes.

During the process of building the car Mark and his brither Jo set up a Triumph restoration business called Jigsaw and they hope to have two further recreations of the Spitfire team cars ready for this years Le Mans Classic.

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

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

3,362 Miles – Audi R15 TDI Plus #204

After the disappointment of losing their first Le Mans in six years to Peugeot in 2009 Audi returned in 2010 with R15 TDI Plus cars developed by a team led by Ulrich Baretzky.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

The immediately obvious difference between the new challenger and the 2009 R15 TDI were the new head light configuration and the loss of some bodywork panels to reveal the front crash structure.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Less obvious differences included lower front wings and a ‘simplified’ approach the previous years aerodynamics.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Despite restrictions mandated to reduce the 2010 Le Mans Cars power by reducing the size of the restrictor plate and reducing the boost pressure of the turbochargers the R15 TDI Plus Audi engineers claimed the output of the 2010 5.5 litre 335 cui Turbo Diesel V10 was around 590 hp as it had been in 2009.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Today’s featured chassis seen at Cholmondley Pageant of Power last year is believed to be #204 which was completed in time for Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller to qualify 2nd for the 2010 Spa 1000kms race in which they finished 5th.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

For the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours a month later the same trio qualified 5th, fastest of the Audi’s, but over two seconds slower than the pole winning Peugeot.

To their advantage the Audi team had better economy and ultimately better reliability so that when the final Peugeot retired Audi were left to sweep the podium with today’s featured car #204 finishing ahead of team mates, André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer in the #8 TDI Plus with Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello finishing third in the #7.

Astonishingly given that the Le Mans track has been slowed down with the addition of chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight and numerous new corners between the pits and Tetre Rouge all three Audi’s covered a greater distance than the Porsche 917 driven by Gils van Lennep and Dr Helmut Marko in 1971, with the winning car raising the record from 3,107.7 miles to 3,362.061 miles, both records requiring 397 laps of the differently configured track to be completed.

#204 made one final appearance during the 2010 season at Petit Le Mans where Allan, Tom and Rinaldo qualified 4th and finished 3rd behind two Peugeot’s.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘3362 Miles’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Le Mans competitor from Triumph. Don’t forget to come back now !

PRIMO, ATS, help! – Orion LM #001

Orion is a French manufacturer of racing cars, which appears to have been founded or at least run by Pierre Devaux, Daniel Legrand and Daniel Lentaigne.

Between 1981 an 1992 Orion are known to have built cars to compete in Formula Renault and Formula Renault Turbo series, in 1983 Christian Braconner is known to have won a Formula Renault Turbo race at Nogaro driving an Orion.

By 1989 sportscar racing was enjoying one of it’s periodic heyday’s with works supported teams from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Toyota all competing in Group C class for the World Sports Car Championship and arguably, for most manufacturers, the more important Le Mans 24 Hour race.

For some reason a complete imbecile in the corridors of motorsports administration decided that the future of top line sports car racing ought be with all vehicles powered by motors to meet the recently introduced normally aspirated 3.5 litre Formula One engine regulations, instead of the variety of normally aspirated and turbocharged Group C motors that were being run in a variety of sizes with V6, flat 6, V8 and V12 configurations all offering competitive solutions.

The idea of using 3 litre Formula One motors had been tried, without success in terms of large numbers of entries, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, but the idea, then, provided Matra with a platform on which to shine as it would provide it’s spiritual successor Peugeot the opportunity to shine in the early 1990’s.

In 1990 Peugeot announced their 3.5 litre V10 powered 905 Le Mans challenger for the 1991 season, Jaguar using a Formula One Ford Motor, Mazda, Mercedes Benz and Toyota would follow, but their efforts apart from Jaguars were by no means convincing.

To run alongside it’s 905 Sports Prototype programme Peugeot announced the Peugeot 905 Spider Cup in 1991, the cars would all feature 2 litre / 122 cui 16 valve 4 cylinder Peugeot crate motors and gearboxes while the chassis was free except that it had to carry a standard body supplied by Peugeot.

The 60th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours could have been full of interesting Group C Cars, but instead only Peugeot appeared committed to wining the race with a three car entry against running against the 3 car 3.5 litre V10 powered Toyota team and 2 car proprietary Judd V10 powered Mazda team.

Orion LM, Le Mans

The rest of the field was made up of regulated overweight Group C cars, chronically underfunded vehicles from Lola and BRM with 3.5 litre motors that had no chance of winning at a competitive speed and at the back of the field two vehicles designed to compete in the National Peugeot 905 Spider series, the Welter Racing WR LM92 and today’s featured car the #66 Orion LM chassis #001.

The Orion was entered by former Formula Renault and Formula 3 driver Eric Bellefroid who had attempted to make it in Formula 3000 in 1988, but failed to qualify his Lola Cosworth for the 3 races he entered.

Sponsorship for the Orion came from PRIMO, ATS and help! and it was driven by Marc Alexandre a former Formula Ford Driver who’s motor racing career highlight was taking part in 10 Formula Renault races in 1992. It is believed Marc was also a French judo champion.

Marc shared the driving with Frank de Vita of whom I could find not trace outside his single participation at Le Mans and Welter Breuer who is similarly conspicuous by his absence, on Google, beyond this event in 1992.

With this overwhelming lack of cockpit experience it is probably no surprise to learn that the #66 qualified 28th, 18 seconds slower than the similarly 905 bodied WR 92LM driven by Patrick Gonin, Didier Artzet and Pierre Petit which qualified 27th, but surprisingly 2 seconds faster than the 3 litre 183 cui V6 Alfa Romeo powered Debora SP92 driven by Didier Bonnet, Gérard Tremblay and Jacques Heuclin that qualified 29th and last.

During the race Mark, Frank and Welter chalked up 78 laps, being just under a minute and a half slower per lap, than the fastest car in the race the 905 Coupé driven by Yannick Dalmas, Derek Warwick and Mark Blundell that secured the win after completing 352 laps.

The Peugeot 905 Spider Cup ran from 1992 to 1995 it’s most noted exponents were Christophe Bouchut and Eric Hélary, both Concessionaire Peugeot sponsored driving Martini chassis, both also made lasting careers in sports car racing, starting with a Le Mans win at their first attempt in 1993 when they shared the winning Peugeot 905 Coupé with Geoff Brabham.

Martini is the only one of the three 905 Spider manufacturers never to have been represented in the Le Mans 24 Hours despite building the most, twenty, chassis to accept the 905 905 Spider chassis and the only one of the three manufacturers I have seen credited with winning any of the Spider Cup races.

Orion is said to have built as many as six 905 Spider chassis one Orion SC2 was entered for William David who finished a season best 4th at Pau in 1992, while Eric Bellefroid finished 7th in the same race driving a car also said to be an Orion SC2 in his only known 905 Spider Cup start.

WR went on to develop their own LM Prototype with new chassis, bodies and turbo charged motors to win the LMP class at Le Mans in 1993 and lock out the front row of the Le Mans grid in 1995.

My thanks to Frank “Duc-man” Christmann, fausto, Tim Murray and Arjan de Roos at The Nostalgia Forum for giving me a few clues about today’s featured Le Mans participants.

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

ALFA Screen – Maserati Tipo 151 #151.006

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In order to compete in the top 4.0 litre / 244 cui GT Prototype Class in the 1962 Le Mans 24 hours Briggs Cunningham and Frances Maserati agent John Simone funded the production of 3 Tipo 151’s.

Ing. Giulio Alfieri abandoned the Birdcage construction of his Tipo 60/61 models and returned to using large tube chassis construction as had been used on the one off Maserati 450S, the 151’s body featured a proprietary windscreen sourced from the ALFA Romeo Giuleitta Sprint Speciale parts bin.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

Briggs Cunningham entered two of the Tipo 151’s, chassis 151.004 and 151.006 seen here, and Maserati France chassis 151.002 for the ’62 Le Mans 24 hours.

William Kimberly and Dick Thompson driving #151.006 qualified 3rd behind the Ferrari 330 TRI driven by eventual winners Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill and the 330 GTO driven by Mike Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini.

Maserati Tipo 151, Colasacco / Hill, Goodwood Revival

During the race William and Dick completed 62 laps before a brake issue caused Dick to crash and retire, the Maserati France car driven by Maurice Trintignant and Lucien Bianchi was withdrawn after 152 laps because the suspension was causing the rear tyres to wear out every 10 laps. The second Cunningham 151 driven by Walt Hangsen and Bruce McLaren retired after completing 177 laps with a blown motor.

#151.006 was then driven in two US events by Augie Pabst whose best result was a 7th place in the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside. Bev Spencer then bought the car for Stan Peterson to drive in the ’62 SCCA meeting at Vacaville, however Stan crashed in the qualifying race and after it was repaired Bev sold the car to Skip Hudson whose best result, from three known starts, was a 3rd place in an SCCA race at Cotati in May 1963.

Joe Colasacco and Derek Hill were drove #151.006, now owned by Lawrence Auriana when it was photographed during practice for the RAC TT Celebration races at Goodwood in 2011 and 2012.

Thanks for joining me on this “ALFA Screen” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a French WM Le Mans entry. Don’t forget to come back now !

To Finish First – Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato #0180/L

Heading the entry list of the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hour race was the 4 litre / 244 cui GT class made up of three entries all of which were privately entered Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato’s including the left hand drive chassis #0180/L entered and driven by Jean Kerguen and Jacques Dewes, the latter appears to have also been known by the pseudonym “Franc” or “J Franc”.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

The other two DB4 GT Zagato’s were the lightweight right hand models of the Essex Racing Stable best known by their registration numbers ‘1 VEV’ driven by Jack Fairman and Bernard Consten and ‘2 VEV’ driven by Australians Lex Davison and Bob Stillwell.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

During the 1961 Le Mans Test weekend Jean recorded 9th fastest time driving #0180/L, but during qualification for the race Jean and Jacques could only manage 13th fastest time, right behind ‘2 VEV’ and two spots ahead of ‘1 VEV’.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

During the race the Essex Racing Stable Zagato‘s ‘1 VEV’ and ‘2 VEV’ retired early on laps 22 and 25 respectively both with blown head gaskets. #0180/L recorded 286 laps enough to be classified 9th overall and class winners, had it not retired in the final hour with a broken starter motor.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Hillsbrough Concours d'Elegance

#0180/L is known to have made at least three further race appearances with Jean recording a best 4th place finish driving the car in the 1961 Coppa Inter-Europa run at Monza.

Gwen and Tom Price from Larkspur CA were the owners of #0180/L when Geoffrey Horton took these photo’s of it at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance last year.

My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing his photo’s and to you for joining me on this “To Finish First” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for Maserati Monday tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1962 Le Mans competitor. Don’t forget to come back now !

V10 Turbo Diesel – Audi R15 #105

After securing 3 consecutive wins with the Turbo Diesel R10 TDI and fifth win on the trot going back to 2004 when Audi R8 was still active Audi came up with a completely new design with a new motor for their 2009 Le Mans challenge.

The new design was precipitated by a change in regulations mandating reduced air consumption and reduced turbo boost pressure. Audi’s R15 featured a much slimmer monocoque and a lighter 600hp V10 turbo diesel replaced the 700hp V12 of the R10.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Audi started their 2009 R15 programme with a win in the Sebring 12 hours where Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello beat the rival Peugeot 908 driven by Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Bourdais by just over 22 seconds.

At Le Mans Allan, Tom and Rinaldo qualified today’s featured car chassis #105 2nd behind the Peugeot driven by Franck, Stéphan and Sébastian.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During the race it became apparent that Peugeot had the faster cars and #105 eventually lost six laps on the winning 908 driven by David Brabham, Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz. Allan, Tom and Rinaldo eventually finished third in #105 5 laps down on the second place 908 driven by Franck, Stéphan and Sébastian.

The sister R15 driven by Mike Rockenfeller, Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner retired after an accident while the third R15 driven by Alexandre Prémat, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas finished a distant 17th.

Audi R15 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Chassis #105, seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed shortly after Le Mans in 2009, was upgraded to R15 Plus spec for 2010, but it only appeared once and then only as a T-Car driven in practice for the 2009 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta for Allan, Tom and Rinaldo.

Thanks for joining me on this “V10 Turbo Diesel” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1962 Aston Martin Zagato. Don’t forget to come back now !

’64 Rebody By Scaglietti – Ferrari 250 GTO #4399GT

In May 1963 British Ferrari importer Col. Ronnie Hoare took delivery of a 250 GTO chassis number #4399GT and entered it for Mark Parkes to drive in the Whitsun Trophy at Goodwood and Martini Trophy at Silverstone and before the car was a month old it had visited victory lane, twice.

In July ’63 Jack Sears took a class victory with #4399GT at the British Grand Prix meeting, before Graham Hill won the RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in August driving the same car.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

In September 1963 Mike Parkes was back at the wheel at events in Monza and Snetterton finishing 2nd overall in both but with class victories.

Over the winter of ’63/’64 the car was sent back to Scaglietti where the original body was removed and a new 250 GTO ’64 style
body was fitted.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Graham Hill drove the rebodied car to wins in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood and the International Trophy at Silverstone, with Mike Parkes adding a third season victory in the 500km race at Spa.

The hood scoop was fitted in time for the ’64 Le Mans 24 Hours where Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs drove the car to a 6th place finish, 2nd in class to the GTO shared by Belgians Lucien Bianchi and “Jean Beurlys”.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti drove #4399GT to a class victory in the Reims 12 hours and Viscount Rollo Fielding scored the cars final in period class victory at Mallory Park in October 1964.

Mike Salmon drove #4399GT for Dawnay racing in early 1965 with his best result being a 4th place from pole in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood.

In 1969 Anthony Bamford, now Sir Anthony, acquired #4399GT and it has remained in his possession ever since.

Thanks for joining me on this ’64 Redody By Scaglietti edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a diesel Audi. Don’t forget to come back now !