Tag Archives: Piper

Classic Clubs – Silverstone Classic

Today’s blog is dedicated to all the hundreds of car clubs and thousands of classic car enthusiasts who brought classic cars along to Silvertone Classic as we take a look at some of the clubs present.

Aston Martin Owners Club, Silverstone Classic

No less than three, from a total production of 100, of the 2002 limited edition Aston Martin DB7 Zagato’s headed the Aston Martin Owners Club parade.

Berkeley Enthusiasts Club, Silverstone Classic,

Celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary in style was the Berkeley Enthusiasts Club, above a Berkeley Foursome and B105 lap the Silverstone Circuit.

BMW Car Club, Silverstone Classic,

Complementing the 40 metre BMW wheel and Village Green the BMW Car Club was out in strength, above a Z3 and Z1 lap the circuit during one of the parades.

Classic Corvette Club UK, Silverstone Classic

Classic Corvette Club UK was celebrating it’s 35th anniversary, the ’78 Indy 500 Pace Car Limited Edition above was built a year before the formation of the club. This one has the desirable 220hp L82 motor option, the 1978 Indy 500 was won by Al Unser in his Cosworth DFX powered Lola T500.

Daimler & Lanchester Owners Club, Silverstone Classic

The Daimler & Lanchester Owners Club always have a fine display of SP250s at this event and this year was no exception.

Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain, Silverstone Classic

The Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Pony Car, above a ’70 convertible stands next to a ’69 Shelby GT 500.

Ginetta Owners Club, Silverstone Classic

Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of the Ginetta G33, one day when I’m in a position to buy one I’ll become a member of the Ginetta Owners’ Club.

Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, Club, Silverstone Classic

John James of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club was able to help me out with an Otter Switch for GALPOT’s most famous XK140 owner Geoffrey Horton in California.

Lamborghini Club UK, Silverstone Classic

The original competition spec prototype Lamborghini Muira Jota burned to the ground on the, unopened, Brescia ring road in April 1971, a member of Lamborghini Club UK has built this wonderful replica of the Prototype originally built by Bob Wallace.

Mercedes Benz Club, Silverstone Classic

Amongst the Mercedes Benz Club members vehicles was this imperiously tailfined 1967 Mercedes Benz 200.

Morgan Sports Car Club, Silverstone Classic

Wecoming Morganeers was the Morgan Sports Car Club with 5,000 owners world wide.

Piper Sports And Racing Car Club, Silverstone Classic

Catering for just 80 examples ever built is the Piper Sports And Racing Car Club which is primarily concerned with preserving the marque for whom Tony Hilder designed the 30″ GT’s first seen in 1968.

Porsche Club Great Britain, Silverstone Classic

Porsche Club Great Britain is the UK’s only officially recognised club for the marque and has close links with Porsche AG and the marques official importer Porsche Cars Great Britain.

Stag Owners Club, Silverstone Classic

Driven by a zest for life for those united by a common interest in the Triumph Stag classic car is the Stag Owners Club.

Karmann Ghia Owners Club, Silverstone Classic

The Karmann Ghia Owners Club attempts to support all aspects of ‘KG’ ownership from purists who want to see original cars to those whose interests include customisation, lowering and performance modifications.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Classic Clubs’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Americana Thursday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Fiberglass Body – Ferrari 250 LM #8165

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This November sees the 50th anniversary of the unveiling of the Ferrari 250 LM which to date was the last Ferrari to cross the finishing line first at Le Mans in 1965.

Today’s featured car chassis #8165, the last 250 LM to be built, was sold new to Scuderia Filipentti and entered by them in the 1966 1000kms race at the Nurburgring for Willy Mairesse and Herbert Mueller who finished 9th.

Ferrari 250LM, Goodwood Revival

The car was then sold to David Piper and in June 1966 David fitted fiber glass body panels front and rear and painted #8165 BP Green. Subsequently David is known to have driven the car to victories at Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and the 1000kms Paris at Monthlery in 1966 sharing the car with Mike Parkes in the latter.

In 1967 David won at Silverstone and entered the #8165 for Hugh Dibley and Roy Pierpoint for the 1000kms at Brands Hatch where they finished 10th overall and first in class. At Monthlery Richard Attwood and Brian Redman came 6th overall and first in class.

Ferrari 250LM, Goodwood Revival

In 1968 Pedro Rodriguez joined Roy Pierpoint in #8165 for the 1000 kms at Brands Hatch where they finished 5th but only 3rd in class. #8165’s last ‘in period’ appearance was in the 1968 Le Mans 24 hours where Piper and Attwood qualified 28th and came through to a seventh place finish.

David Piper is seen driving #8165 in these photo’s in practice for the Whitsun Trophy at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago. David finished the race in 27th place.

My thanks to Athanase and Miurasv for clarifying the early ownership of this car over at FerrariChat.com.

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

BP Green – Ferrari 250 GTO #3767GT

Gold Cup Classic – Oulton Park

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Oulton Park circuit is one of Britain’s more difficult tracks, while attending racing school there I spun off on two separate occasions, located near Little Budworth in Cheshire.

The last time I was spectating at Oulton Park in Cheshire then future world champion Damon Hill was given a one off drive in the British Formula 3000 Championship race by Colin Bennett and future Oulton Park circuit owner Dr Jonathan Palmer had a one off drive in the Celebrity car that featured in the Honda CRX championship in 1989.

On Bank Holiday Monday I got to the track for the second day of the Gold Cup Classic meeting, just as qualifying got under way for the Sir Stirling Moss trophy race. Former FIA Historic Formula One Champion Bobby Verdon Roe, seen here driving a 1957 Aston Martin DBR1, going through a much altered Druids Corner on his way to qualifying on pole.

Oulton Park now has a tarmac Rally Stage and an interesting variety of vehicles were to be found trying to navigate the slippery conditions, including this Surprising Skoda Estelle, keeping spectators entertained with numerous 360 degree spins.

The Historic Formula Ford race for Ford Kent powered single seaters built from 1969 – 1972 was highly entertaining with Rob Wainright piping Ben Mitchell and Benn Simms in a three way last lap shoot out. Former Grand Prix driver Ian Ashley driving the #62 Lola T200 is seen here passing Stuart Baird in the #6 Merlyn MK11A for fifth prior to Ian’s early retirement.

I missed the Historic Touring Car race won by Mark Jones in favour of having lunch with friends from The Nostalgia Forum, afterwards the Derek Bell Trophy race for a mixture of open wheel cars was run. Richard Evans in a Formula Atlantic March 79B snatched a last lap victory from Michael Lyons Formula 5000 Lola T400. I did not realise it at the time I took the photograph above but this is a recreation of the Lotus Martin built to Formula One regulations in 1966.

Judy Lyons, Michael’s mother, driving the #33 Lola T332 above, gambled on rain returning during the race and opted for intermediate tyres, at the end of the race she showed no sign of disappointment that her strategy had failed or that she was not classified in the final results.

The small grid of Group 6 2 litre / 122 cui cars for the Martini Trophy race included this Martini liveried Chevron B31 belonging to Graeme and James Dodd which failed to finish.

Charlie Kemp did his best to make a race of it driving the 1970 vintage #10 Lola T210 but was eventually unable to keep up with John Burton who took the Martini spoils driving a Chevron B26.

The E Type challenge was probably the race of the day helped by tricky weather conditions, earning my personal vote for driver of the day was Jon Minshaw who worked through the field from the back of the grid to second place behind Martin O’Connell in a race filled with lurid ‘moments’.

John Ure and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards won the Woodcote Trophy driving a Cooper Bristol finishing ahead of the #57 Allard J2 seen here of Malcolm Verey and Dennis Welsh after Stephen Bond, who had rarely been more than a few car lengths behind the Cooper, lost up to a minute making his mandatory pit stop.

Benn Simms made up for his disappointment in the Formula Ford race by winning from the back of the grid in the Classic Formula 3 race driving the #1 March 803B seen here lining up
to pass the Keith White in the blue Ralt RT1.

Brian White and Keith Stantton drove their Triumph TR2 in both the Stirling Moss and Woodcote Trophy races, Brian is seen here exploring the outer limits of the track at Old Hall during Woodcote Trophy on his way to a 19th place finish.

Jon Minshaw teamed up with John Stretton to win the Woodcote Trophy in the #133 ‘Knobly’ Lister Jaguar above lapping the D-Type of Ben Eastick which finished 7th.

Final race of the day was the ‘Amitsead Barnet Financial Services’ Historic Formula Ford 2000 championship race for Pinto powered cars circa 1978 – 1981 which was won by Nelson Rowe. Nelson Duke, in the yellow helmet above driving a Reynard SF79 about to pass the Delta T79 of Robert Trusting, impressed the event race sponsor ‘Mallory Dan’ sufficiently with his drive from the back of the grid to 13th place to win the FF2000 driver of the day award.

In between races and watching the rally car demonstration there was a feast of classic cars on display including my personal nomination for car of the day this Piper GT

After a great day out all too soon it was time to say ‘until next time’ to Barry, Roger, David, Mallory Dan, Alan, Phil and Simon from the Nostalgia forum and head for home.

Thanks for joining me on this Gold Cup edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Continuation Edition – Ferrari P4 #0900

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In keeping with a vaguely 60’s engine behind the driver theme week for Ferrari Friday I take great pleasure in showing you, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful vehicle on the planet bar none a Ferrari P4 which I snapped at the British GP meeting in 1981.

The P4 won the war but lost it’s most important battle against the monstrous onslaught of the Ford GT40 in the 1967 World Sports Car Championship it won the championship but only on a count back of second place finishes. Most importantly the Ferrari could only manage second to the Foyt / Gurney GT40 MK IV at the most prestigious race of the season the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The P4 was powered by a 450 hp fuel injected 4,000 cc 244 cui 60 degree V12 using 3 valve per cylinder heads operated by twin overhead cams.

Thanks to ‘Macca’ at The Nostalgia Forum I believe this is chassis #0900 one of up to four continuation P4s built by David Piper using original drawings for the chassis and a collection of spare parts. As such it has no world championship race history.

Anyone notice the similarity between the rear end of this P4 and and the Fiat 850 Idromatic I started the week off with ?

Thanks for joining me for another Ferrari Friday, hope you have enjoyed today’s continuity edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ tomorrow we will be headed to P’ville NJ for an insight into the heyday of short track racing with my Rowdy buddy Ray Miles. Don’t forget to come back now !

Racing is life – Le Mans the Movie

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While recovering from a particularly pestulant flu virus last week, I took the opportunity to watch one of my favourite films one that was influential in so much as it inspired me not only to visit Le Mans but also to participate in a lesser 24 hour race in 1990.

The film is a classic among many race fans because it is essentially shot in a documentary style, the first 30 mins is a build up to the start of a 24 hour race with only a brief flash back to interrupt the building tension. We see early morning race day footage of the protagonist Michael Delaney (McQueen) arriving at the circuit, in those days entirely on public roads, huge traffic jams, to me now very familiar scenes from the campsite in the middle of the circuit, teams preparing, drivers preparing and then an increasingly slo mo sequence to the 5 min countdown to the start of the race.

The only discernible voice during the build up is a monologue by the race commentator who sets the scene and describes events as they happen during the course of the race.

Unusually for a film with Hollywood involvement their is no love interest, but there is human interest in the relationship between Delaney who the previous year was involved in a fatal accident with a driver called Belgetti, and Belgettis widow (Elga Andersen) which culminates in the films best known quotation.

The film was shot using a mixture of 1970 race footage a host of original cars and drivers.

David Piper seen above at Goodwood in 2009 gets a credit that reads “And Special Appreciation to DAVID PIPER for his Sacrifice During the filming of this Picture” he lost half a leg filming one of the horrifically realistic
accidents in the film.

The essence of the film is a superbly captured Titanic 24 hour battle between the Ferrari and Gulf Porsche teams. The end of the film focuses on a tight finish which is not unusual at Le Mans all though racing is a non contact sport and some of the driving antics seen at the end of the film are more usually seen at the beginning of the race between novices to 24 hour racing.

There is no Holywood finish to the race for McQueens character Delaney though he does his bit for the Gulf Porsche team, which never won at Le Mans in real life despite dominating almost all sports car races from 1970 – 1971 everywhere else. The Porsche Salzburg team won the 1970 race depicted in the film and the following year. By 1972 the Porsche 917’s were banned from racing at Le Mans.

At this time of year, between seasons, race fans love quoting using all or part of the ‘A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it… it’s life. Anything that happens before or after… is just waiting.’ which is Michael Delaney’s response to Mrs Belgetti’s question what is so important about racing ?

The quotation is originally attributable to Maurice Trintignant a French Formula One driver.

To sum up a must see film for race fans, if only to see the Le Mans track at its murderous best and to my mind the most exciting sports racing cars of all time, Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, all captured with inventive camera work and superb editing. The best bit about the film is that the usual Holywood cliche’s are by and large missing leaving us with an experience far closer to a documentary than say the Frankenheimers Grand Prix with its rather laboured with plot, excruciating love interest and painfully cliched dialogue.

Hope you enjoyed today’s film revue, wishing everyone a relaxing Sunday and I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring