Tag Archives: O’Shea

D Modified – Mercedes Benz 300 SLS Replica

After 2 successful seasons winning two SCCA Class D Production (DP) championships the Mercedes Benz supplied team of George D Tilp and driver Paul O’Shea were hoping to make it a threepeat even though they were planning on swapping from the 300 SL Gullwing to the new for ’57 300 SL Roadster model.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLS, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

However the SCCA would not mandate running the 300SL Roadster in the DP class in 1957 on the grounds that insufficient numbers of the Roadster had been built.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLS, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

To get around this problem the Mercedes Benz Rennabteilung built two special lightweight SLS Roadsters for George Tilp to run in the SCCA class D modified for Paul O’Shea.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLS, Dario Franchitti, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Despite sending George Tilp two cars, two Mercedes Benz race mechanics, Erwin Strupp and Karl Bunz with a container load of spares, the plan was to run only one car to give the operation the semblance of a privateer effort, however after Paul crashed one car at Thompson Connecticut and turned up six days later with an apparently completely repaired car at Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin the cat was out of the bag that George Tilp had two cars at his disposal for Paul.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLS, Dario Franchitti, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Paul went on to threepeat his and Mercedes Benz third SCCA class championship and the two SLS Roadsters were returned to the Mercedes Benz factory where they were scrapped, allegedly over fears the lightweight bodies would deteriorate.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLS, Dario Franchitti, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Subsequently numerous SLS variations have appeared most notably Chuck Porter built and raced one very successfully, where the second S stood for scrap, from a burned out Gullwing that closely resembled the 1955 300 SLR’s, several roadsters have also been converted to Tilp / O’Shea SLS replica’s more recently using 300 SL Roadster donor cars, including one by Kienle Automobiltechnik, in Heimerdingen, Germany.

Today’s featured replica seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed with Indy Legend Dario Franchitti at the wheel, was converted to SLS spec by Mercedes Benz who used one of their former test 300 SL Roadsters as a starting point.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for information on his Uncle George Tilp’s racing team.

Thanks for joining me on this “D Modified” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a triumph of presence over elegance. Don’t for get to come back now !

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Beast Of Surbiton – Cooper Monaco T61P

In 1962 Bruce McLaren raced the rear 4 cylinder Coventry Climax engined Cooper Monaco T61 for the first time. It is not clear if the first appearance was in Canada where there was an entry but no known result or in the USA where Bruce finished 4th in the Riverside Grand Prix.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The following year an improved Cooper Monaco ‘T61M’ was raced by 1959 Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori driving for CT Atkins to at least five wins in 1963.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Roger “The Captain” Penske and Skip Hudson had Chevrolet V8’s fitted to their 61M’s and each won at least one race towards the end of of ’63 and early ’64 respectively, while the real T61M success story was Carrol Shelby who bought two T61M’s and fitted them with Cobra 289 V8’s and called them King Cobra’s one of which Dave McDonald drove to win the 1963 USRRC Pro Sports Car Championship.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Micheal O'Shea, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

For 1964 CT Atkins and Roy Salvadori hatched a plan to build a T61 and fit a Maserati Tipo 151 5 litre 302 cui V8. This car became the unique T61P Cooper Maserati featured today.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Too cope with the expected 430hp the teams mechanic Harry Pearce strengthened the chassis by welding and riveting a 20 guage steel sheet to the underside of the chassis frame.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Silverstone

Just as with the original Cooper Monaco T61 the debut of the T61P is unclear some sources show the car started at Oulton Park in 1964 but the result is unknown others show Roy drove the car to a second place finish at the 16th International Trophy meeting run at Silverstone.

Cooper Monaco T61P, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Roy drove the T61P to victory in the 1964 Whitsun trophy at Goodwood and his only other result was a third place finish in the 1964 British Grand Prix meeting at Brands Hatch. After two further retirements CT Atkins closed his team down.

Contemporary accounts all describe the handling of the T61P as wild, possibly due to the weight of the 20 guage steel under tray and absence of any suspension geometry adjustments to compensate.

The car has since had it’s handling sorted and is seen above at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed with owner Micheal O’Shea at the wheel.

Thanks for joining me on this “Beast Of Surbiton” 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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RIP Peter O’Shea – Castle Combe August Cup

Thanks to the generosity of Simon Lewis I was able to see five, of the ten, races at Castle Combe this weekend in between looking after two otherwise empty houses and a dog called Zed, who naturally was not permitted to come with me to the race track.

You could have heard a pin drop as I arrived at the Circuit around mid day on Saturday, as I got out of the car and looked across Dean Straight and saw a large accumulation of circuit vehicles 2 ambulances and a police car the reason soon became clear, there had been an incident.

It transpired that a Formula Ford car had left the circuit at Bobbies Chicane and come to a rest in the infield during the 2nd lap of the Formula Ford qualification race. Seeing the driver motionless the race was immediately red flagged and marshals arrived at the scene seconds later to find the driver had suffered a heart attack, neither the the marshals, the circuit medics or the crew of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance were able to do anything to revive Peter ‘Pete’ O’Shea’ who was pronounced dead on the scene.

An hour or so later the time table for the weekends activities was hastily rescheduled with the planned Formula Ford races postponed for a day and racing resumed with Chaterham 7 Super Graduates reminding us why we were all at Castle Combe with a thrilling race.

Pole sitter Chris Rome was immediately swallowed up by a pack including Toby Briant, Luke Tzoufrou, Reece Somerfield and Neil Shinner who entertained us with a thrilling battle in which at least three of the Caterhams lost rear wings in an otherwise fair and good natured 4 way dice.

Chaterham 7 Super Graduates, Castle Combe

Neil Shinner seen here in 5th place eventually took a well earned win, with the top six finishers being covered by just 2 seconds.

Simon Tilling, Radical SR3, Castle Combe

The Sports & GT Championship proved a bit of a disappointment for Ian Hall who got bogged down at the start and was eliminated when he was clipped by Jeremy Irwin. Both Halls fearsome Darrian Wildcat T98 – GTR and Irwin’s Jertona 85/09 were eliminated on the spot. Pole sitter Simon Tilling did not get away cleanly either which allowed Andrew Shanley, in his #86 Radical Prosport, a few short laps of glory before Simon in his orange #23 Radical SR3 got up to speed and back into the lead and a comfortable race win.

Caterham Sigma and Classic Graduates, Castle Combe

The final race I saw on Saturday was for the Caterham Sigma and Classic Graduates the two classes started on separate grids 10 seconds apart with the Ford Sigma powered cars going first, each of the six starters led the class with victory going to John Gil this time the top 4 finished within 1 second of each other. The Caterham Classic Graduates race also had an interesting battle with the odd wing being lost in combat, John Parker won the class from James Carvey by over 3 seconds which did not reflect the close fought competition during the opening 10 laps of the 15 lap race.

Craig Mitchell,  Lola Duratec T88/90, Catle Combe

On Sunday I arrived at the Circuit just in time to catch the main event of the weekend a one hour race for Sports 2000 cars. These vehicles first seen in the late 1970’s were an extension of the thinking behind Formula Ford and Formula Ford 2000 open wheel series but with closed bodies and like FF2000 used crate Pinto motors. I believe all three categories got started thanks to former Brands Hatch promoter John Webb.

Nowadays SRCC runs a championship for these cars in original Pinto form and for later Duratec powered cars which run with more sophisticated aerodynamic packages. This round of the series took the place of the cancelled round at Donington Park, due to problems with the local authorities regarding number of days permitted for racing. Sports 2000 teams can run either one or two drivers and must make a scheduled 4 minute pit stop during which refuelling is permitted.

After long time leaders Sherrington and Jenvey experienced suspension failure, Craig Mitchell driving the Duratec powered #22 Lola T88/90 won the event overall,

Peter Williams / David Pittard, MCR, Castle Combe

with Peter Williams and David Pittard coming second in the #88 MCR despite this early indiscretion at Bobbies chicane.

Mike Barnby, Tiga SC80, Castle Combe

Mike Barnby won the single driver Pinto powered class in the #7 Tiga SC80 despite ignoring repeated black flags towards the end of the race which earned a formal reprimand from the stewards and 2 points on his racing license.

Peter / Harriet Needham, Tiga SC 82

Peter and Harriet Needham won the two driver Pinto powered class in this Tiga SC82 ahead of

Will Arif, Royale RP42, Castle Combe

the Royal RP42 of William Howe and Formula Ford 1600 star of the 1970’s Wil Arif.

Mike Johns, Royale RP42, Castle Combe

My own retro paint job of the day award went to Mike Johns Duratec Royale RP42 which looked good, but was not classified being 22 laps down at the finish.

Formula Ford 1600, Castle Combe

Twenty Formula Ford 1600’s came out on Sunday and put on a splendid show in memory of Peter O’Shea, Petes Swift Cooper team mates all carried decals remembering their recently departed team mate and all FF 1600 drivers wore black armbands.

Rob Hall, seen leading above from Felix Fisher and eventual winner Ben Norton, were joined by Steven Jensen in an entertaining four way shoot out that was reflected all the way through the field, from the green flag all the way to the checkers

Formula Ford 1600, Castle Combe

as evidenced by Adam Cooper, Edward Moore, Roger Orgee and Luke Cooper seen here entering Bobbies Chicane as one in an ultimately vane pursuit of David Vivian in 5th place.

Formula Ford 1600, Castle Combe

Towards the back of the FF1600 race Pete O’Shea’s friend Darren Hamlen driving the oldest car in the race, the 1980 #74 Royale RP36 managed to pass the #21 Vector of Mike Madge for 12th.

Peter O’Shea was born in Ireland in 1958 and drove in Formula Ford races for three years most recently with the Swift Cooper Team, I hope you will join me in sending condolences to Peter O’Shea’s team, friends and above all his family.

A thread has been started in memory of Peter on this Castle Combe Forum.

My thanks to TSL Sports Timing for the results of all of the weekends races which can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on the Peter O’Shea memorial edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at last weeks action during a test day at Mallory Park. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Heavyweight – Jaguar E- Type 3.8 Coupe

Call me a hopeless romantic but there is something I find irresistible about the notion of walking into a showroom purchasing the fastest vehicle they have in stock, adding a couple towing eyes, a fire extinguisher roll cage and 5 point harness and ignition cut out switch and heading down to the nearest race track.

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This kind of racing used to be called stock car racing in the US and Production racing in the UK.

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Today’s stunning 1961 E-type 3.8 litre Coupe has been kept in more or less original trim since new.

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It still has an all steel shell and opening panels.

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Until recently the current owner; ex power boat racer, Michael O’Shea has been racing a 1958 XK150S, he has a decades experience racing Jaguars and a couple of years racing a Cooper – Maserati.

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Michael first started racing karts at 12 but did not start racing cars for another 34 years.

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Racing has been in Michael’s blood all his life his Dad was the mastermind behind the O’Shea Racing Organisation which ran a car for a then unknown, future world champion, Jack Brabham.

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Michael will be racing his car in the new HSCC Jaguar E-Type Challenge a series created to cater just for E-types on their 50th Anniversary.

My thanks to Jaguar World and Classic & Performance Car for additional information.

Hope you enjoyed todays Heavyweight edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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