Tag Archives: Lotus

Zweitakt Dreizylinder – Mitter DKW

Born to a family expelled from his birth place, Krásná Lípa in Czechoslovakia, Gerhard Mitter grew up in Stuttgart and trained as a mechanic.

Mitter, Rudolf Ernst, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

To finance his racing activities Gerhard sold DKW three cylinder two stroke engines to his fellow Formula Junior competitors.

Mitter, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

The related Wartburg and unrelated Saab 3 cylinder 2 stroke motors were also campaigned in Formula Junior.

Mitter, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

From what I have been able to establish Gerhard built his first DKW powered Formula Junior car in 1959 racing it to at least one third place finish, at the Eifelrennen meeting on the Nürburgring in July 1959.

Mitter, Rudolf Ernst, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

It would appear Gerhard sold this car to Herbert Ott for the 1960 season and built today’s featured DKW powered car for himself.

Mitter, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

From the data available it would appear Gerhard drove his Mitter (60) DKW to wins at Rottach-Egern and Berchtesgaden (Hill Climb) before switching to a rear engined DKW powered Lotus 18 with which he won the hill climbs at Freiburg, Deggendorf and Pirmasens to secure the 1960 German Formula Junior championship.

Mitter, Rudolf Ernst, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone,

Gerhard went on to win three consecutive European Hill Climb Championships driving for Porsche from 1966 – ’68 he also drove a Porsche with Udo Schütz to win the 1969 Targa Florio, three months later he was killed at the wheel of a Formula 2 BMW during practice for the German Grand Prix.

Rudolf Ernst is seen in these photo’s at the wheel of the #93 Mitter DKW at last years VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone.

Thanks for joining me on this “Zweitakt Dreizylinder” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a sweet sounding Shadow. Don’t forget to come back now !

European Highlights – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

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As the years roll by going to Goodwood Festival Of Speed is more and more like going to the best toy shop in the world with more and more cool stuff to be found every year, this was my sixth visit since 2009 and already having completely failed to compose my thoughts about some of the highlights of this years event, as I write this I am looking forward to next years event !

Kremer K8, Derek Bell, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

One of the highlights of the event was a collection of 15 vehicles celebrating the career of five time Le Mans 24 hour winner, 3 time Daytona 24 Hour winner and twice World Sports Car Champion Derek Bell, seen above in his 1994 Le Mans 24 Hour entry the Porsche powered Kremer K8 with which he Robin Donovan and Jürgen Lässig qualified 2nd and finished 6th.

Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2, Hannu Mikkola, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 was Audi’s final Group B evolution producing an initial 500hp in 1985 when Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer won the San Remo Rally and over 600hp when Walter Röhrl drove one to victory on Pikes Peak in 1987, above 73 year old Rally Legend Hannu Mikkola show’s he still has no problem handling the cars 0-60mph in 3.1 seconds performance.

Jaguar XJ12C, Andy Rouse, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

In the mid 1970’s one used to hope against hope that British Leyland would get it’s act together and thrash BMW in the European Touring Car Championship, but alas despite starting from pole in 6 from nine events the Jaguar XJ12C’s best result was a second place finish at the Nurburgring in 1977 with Derek Bell and Andy Rouse at the wheel, former works driver Andy Rouse is seen demonstrating the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust’s 1976 example above.

Lotus BRM 43, Andy Middlehurst, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

While Lotus were waiting for the arrival of Ford’s DFV for the 1967 season Jim Clark had to make do with the woefully underpowered Climax powered 1965 Lotus 33 until the arrival of the BRM H16 powered Lotus 43 in time for the last three races of the 1966 season, the car was instantly quick qualifying 3rd at Monza, and 2nd in the USA and Mexico but also unreliable suffering gearbox failure at Monza and Mexico but the car with one of the most complex motor configurations on earth held together at Waltkins Glen where Jim Clark won scoring a fourth consecutive victory at the circuit for a BRM powered car, Andy Middlehurst is seen driving the 43 above.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, Sir Stirling Moss, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Mercedes Benz prepared for the 1955 World Sports Car Championship by building 9 300 SLR’s of the eight survivors seven were at Goodwood, above Sir Stirling Moss demonstrates chassis #0004/55 with which he and navigator Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia ahead of the sister car #0003/55 driven by Juan Manuel Fangio.

FIAT S76, Duncan Pittaway, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

Finally with a Herculean effort Duncan Pittaway got his recreation of a FIAT S76 to Goodwood last year, but did not dare try and start it. With help from Leonardo Sordi he has since got the car running and as can be seen above it is a wonderous sight to be hold as the 28.3 litres / 1,727 cui four cylinder motor belches flame from it’s monstrous exhaust stubs.

Thanks for joining me for this “European Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the American Highlights at Goodwood. Don’t forget to come back now !

Five F1 Classics – Silverstone Classic

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In the last of this series celebrating the Silverstone Classic Silver Jubilee this edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” looks at five decades of Formula One cars.

OSCA G4500, Stephan Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic,

Last year one of the highlights of the Maserati Centenary Trophy was seeing Stephan Rettenmaier exercising the 1951 V12 OSCA G4500, the only purpose built Formula One car built by the Maserati brothers, as opposed to the company bearing their name.

Lotus 25, Silverstone Classic,

Above Bob Dance far right is seen above fettling Andy Middlehurst’s #25 Lotus 25 chassis #R4, just as he did for Jim Clark over 50 (fifty) years ago.

March 2-4-0, Jeremy Smith, Silverstone Classic,

The March 761 was never raced in 2-4-0 configuration as seen above driven above by Jeremy Smith, but it probably helped nurture the interest of many a Scalextric racer into fully fledged Formula One fan.

Williams FW 08, Richard Eyre, Silverstone Classic,

In my humble opinion a Ferrari driver should have won, a Renault driver could have one drivers championship but a well deserving Williams driver Keke Rosberg did win the 1982 Formula One Drivers championship, driving an FW08 like the one seen with Richard Eyre at the wheel above, a six wheel version of the FW08 was also tested in 1981.

Benetton B192, Silverstone Classic,

Finally this year will see the appearance of Legends of Modern Formula One demonstrations featuring cars from the 3.5 litre Formula One era like Lorina McLaughlin’s ex Micheal Schumacher championship winning Benetton B192 seen above at the Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic Press Day.

Entry to Silverstone Classic is by pre booked tickets only which are available from the website linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five F1 Classics” Edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

Soft Alloy Special – Lotus Ford 38/7

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On the back of their success with Jim Clark in 1965 Lotus took orders for two new Ford powered Lotus 38’s for the 1966 season, while the now STP Oil Treatment sponsored works Lotus team intended to use a new car powered by a 4.2 litre / 256 cui version of the fearsome BRM H16.

Lotus were busy preparing new cars for the new 3 litre era Formula One season and so they subcontracted the building of the chassis for these cars, ordered by Dean Van Lines and Sheraton Thompson to be driven by Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt respectively, out to Abbey Panels of Coventry, when it became apparent the BRM H16 would not be available a third Lotus 38 chassis was ordered from Abbey Panels for works driver Al Unser to drive.

Lotus 38, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

For reasons unknown Abbey Panels of Coventry built the three Lotus 38 chassis with regular aluminium instead of the high tensile alloy used to build the first four Lotus 38 chassis and as a consequence the “Soft Alloy Specials”, as they are unofficially dubbed, needed substantial strengthening to make them race worthy.

Mario only practiced his Dean Van Lines Lotus 38 and opted instead to race the Dean Van Lines Brawner Ford, AJ qualified his Sheraton Thompson/Anstead Lotus 38 18th after wrecking his Coyote only to wreck the Lotus in the opening lap meleé of the 1966 Indy 500.

Lotus 38, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Al Unser meanwhile qualified #38/7 23rd and was classified 12th after crashing in turn 4, 39 laps short of the race full race distance.

Once it became apparent the BRM H16 would not be available for the 1967 Indy 500 Team Lotus hastily prepared two Lotus 38’s for ’65 winner / ’66 second place finisher Jim Clark and ’66 Indy 500 winner, aboard a Lola, Graham Hill.

Lotus 38, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Jim was assigned #38/7, which had been “rebuilt” around a new chassis while Graham was given #38/8 and a Lotus 42F, intended for the BRM H16 motor, but fitted with the by now ubiquitous twin cam Ford.

After qualifying #38/7 16th Jim retired with a burned piston classified 31st after 35 laps, lasting 12 laps more than Graham who retired the faster Lotus 42F for exactly the same reason.

Lotus 38, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

#38/7 became the subject of a legal dispute after Colin Chapman and mid west Lotus dealer Jim Spencer managed to sell the car to two parties.

After the dispute was settled Middleton M. Caruthers bought #38/7 and entered it for Wib Spalding into three events in 1969.

Wib only started on his third attempt at Continental Divide where he retired with a clutch problem that may have been responsible for his non starting earlier at Hanford and failure to qualify at Langhorne.

Lotus 38, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Until #38/7 appeared at the Autosport International, as seen in these photographs wearing the 1965 Jim Clark winners livery, the car was believed to have been residing with a collector in Japan.

Thanks for joining me on this “Soft Alloy Special” edition of “Gettin a Li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for the start of a look at the first of next months 26 Le Mans racers. Don’t forget to come back now !

Five Classic Moments – Silverstone Classic

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Continuing an ad hoc series celebrating Silverstone Classic’s Silver Jubilee this weeks post features five race highlights from the last three Silverstone Classic Super Saturdays.

Peter Arundell Trophy, Silverstone Classic,

The Formula Junior cars vying to win the Peter Arundell Trophy traditionally are the opening act for Super Saturday above the #53 Lotus 20/22 of Sam Wilson and #79 Lotus 22 of Andrew Hibberd squabble behind the leading #1 Cooper T59 driven by Jon Melicevic in 2013 when Andrew won the trophy by just half a second.

Sir John Whitmore Trophy, Silverstone Classic

The Sir John Whitmore Trophy for under 2 litre / 122 cui touring cars always provides close racing down the field between the Ford Cortinas, above last year British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) regular Gordon Shedden and Richard Meaden kept us entertained with door handle to door handle racing for half an hour before the #157 retired with an overheating issue leaving Richard and Grant Tromans to win in the tyre smoking #63.

Peter Gethin Trophy, Silverstone Classic

Simon Hadfield and Micheal Lyons provided the early entertainment in the Peter Gethin Trophy race for stock block open wheelers in 2012, unfortunately Simon spun the brown 1973 Trojan T101 to leave the win to Micheal in the red and white Lola T400 seen above hounding the Trojan.

Mustang Celebration Trophy proudly presented by Pure Michigan, Silverstone Classic

Ironically last years Mustang Celebration Trophy was dominated by the model the Ford Mustang was due to replace, Leo Voyazides driving the #1 Ford Falcon is seen above sweeping into a lead, past the #37 Falcon driven by Mike Gardiner, that he did not relinquish for the rest of the race.

Froilan Gonzalez Trophy, Silverstone Classic

The Froilan Gonzalez Trophy for HGPCA Pre’61 Grand Prix Cars proved another thriller two years ago when Bristol’s Julian Bronson driving the blue Scarab #30 had a great to and fro battle with the Tec-Mec of Tony Wood and came out the winner to record the Scarab marques second ever open wheel victory.

Silverstone Classic is an advance ticket only event and the race cards are never the same two years running, for further details about this years Silver Jubilee event see this link.

Five In The Car Park – Silverstone Classic

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To celebrate Silverstone Classic’s Silver Jubilee I thought it would be fun to select 25 highlights from the last four years that I have been attending the event, today I am looking back at 5 of my favourite classics seen in the Sliverstone Classic car park over the years.

Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk2 Touring Spider,Silverstone Classic

My car of the day on my first visit to Silverstone Classic in 2011 was this 1956 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk2 Touring Spider which Mr Alexander Smith won in a Daily Express competition with his catch phrase “Who Said A Spider Couldn’t Fly ?”.

Ferrari 250 GT Europa, Silverstone Classic

Two years later my car of the day was this 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Europa #0373GT in which Oliver Gendebien and his co driver Pierre Stasse finished the non stop 1956 2,000 mile Liege Rome Liege Rally 3rd overall.

Lotus Seven Series IV, Silverstone Classic

By no means the rarest, nor necessarily most popular, of cars, but one I used to lust after as a school kid was the chunky Series IV Lotus Seven this 1970 example on Wolfrace Alloy wheels appeared at the 2012 Silverstone Classic.

Lamborghini Jota, Silverstone Classic

Mr Piet Pulford spent 15 years and large sums of money turning a beaten up Lamborghini Muira he found in the States into this copy of the one off racing spec Jota that was destroyed by fire in Italy in 1972.

BMW 3.0 CSL, Silverstone Classic

One of the more lurid colour schemes seen at Silverstone Classic was that on this 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five In The Car Park” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking a pony. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Ultimate 25 – Lotus 33 #R10

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The Coventry Climax V8 powered Lotus 33 was developed from the 1963 Championship winning Lotus 25 for the 1964 Formula One season to take advantage of the latest 13 inch diameter broad tread tyres which had been developed by Dunlop.