Tag Archives: Prodrive

Drive By Wire Safari – Subaru Impreza WRC99

In 1997 World Rally Car regulations were introduced for the World Rally Championship that were more liberal than the Group A regulations that had been mandated since 1986.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

Subaru with their partner Prodrive in the UK built for WRC evolutions of the 2 door Impreza before the model was replaced by the all new 4 door Impreza GD in 2001.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

The 1999 WRC evolution of the Impreza known as the WRC99 was the first rally car to compete on a World Rally with drive by wire throttle and steering wheel mounted paddle shift for the hydraulically actuated semi automatic transmission, technology that was imported from contemporary Formula One practice.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

Richard Burns was the only Subaru works driver to compete in all rounds of the 1999 World Rally Championship with a Impreza WRC99 and he recorded wins in Greece, Australian and Britain on his way to a second place finish in the 1999 WRC championship.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

Juha Kankkunen recorded two more wins in Argentina and Finland with the Impreza WRC99 to help Subaru finish second, just four points adrift of Toyota, in the 1999 World Rally Manufacturers championship.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen both used the Impreza WRC99 in the first three rounds of the 2000 World Rally Championship and signed the model off with a 1-2 finish on the Safari Rally Kenya with Richard and co driver Robert Reid ahead of Juha and his co driver Juha Repo.

Subaru Impreza WRC99, Prodrive, Banbury,

Richard scored 3 more victories with the newer Impreza WRC2000 and finished 2nd again in the World Rally Championship while Subaru with no additional victories dropped to third in the manufacturers championship.

Richards #3 Safari winning WRC99 is seen in these photographs at Prodrives Head Office in Banbury.

Thanks for joining me on this “Drive By Wire Safari” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a BRM Formula One car. Don’t forget to come back now !

“LMS Series Winner” – Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2

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With the announcement of the discontinuation of Group C, from 1991 on, at the end of 1989 Aston Martin decided to withdraw it’s AMR1 V8 Prototype from the top line Sports Car series with immediate effect as they had no engine to with which to compete under the proposed new rules mandating 3.5 litre / 213 cui motors.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In 2008 the Aston Martin name appeared in the top Le Mans Prototype category with a pair of Lola B08/60’s powered by the 6 litre / 366 cui Aston Martin V12 that had been used in Aston Martin’s class winning DBR9 GT programme. The Lola Aston Martins were run in a collaboration between Prodrive and the Czech Charouz Racing System with Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mücke sharing the driving of a single entry per race.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Charouz and Mücke finished season high 2nd in the Silverstone 1000kms. The following year one car chassis HU01 was sold to Speedy Racing who continue to race the car now under the Rebellion banner having used a motors from Aston Martin, Rebelion V10 and most recently Toyota.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

For 2009 Aston Martin increased their involvement in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) class using Lola chassis again both the second Charouz Racing B08/60 HU02 and newer B09/60 types all fitted with updated body work. Gulf Oil sponsored, two cars entered by Aston Martin Racing, and an occasional single AMR Eastern Europe entry. All three cars are known as Lola Aston Martin DBR1-2’s and are again powered by DBR9 V12 variants producing around 650hp.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke driving the #007 got the 2009 Le Mans Series off to a fine start with a win in the Catalunya 1000 kms, though the #009 of Harold Primat, Miguel Ramos and Darren Turner retired. At Spa the team finished 3rd and 5th in numerical order, while at Le Mans the team were out classed by the works diesel powered Peugeots and Audi’s, which did not take part in the rest of the Le Mans series races.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Silverstone 1000kms

The #007 salvaged a 4th place while the #008 driven by Turner, Anthony Davidson and Jos Verstappen finished 13th and the #009 driven by Primat, Stuart Hall and Peter Kox crashed out while lying 3rd. For some reason the Le Mans 24 Hours was not however part of the Series to which it lent it’s name.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

#007 and #009 next competed at Algarve where the original driver line ups finished 3rd and 5th in numerical order, at the Nurburgring #007 won a 1-2-3 finish followed by the #009 and #008 driven by Stuart Hall, Chris Buncombe and Miguel Ramos the latter had been scheduled to drive the #009.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Silverstone 1000kms

Three cars were again entered at Silverstone, where today’s on track photo’s were taken, and third place for the #007 was enough to clinch the LMS drivers championship for Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke, the #009 in 4th helped seal the Teams championship for Aston Martin Racing and the Manufacturers Championship for Aston Martin.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Over the following two years Aston Martin Racing sent cars to events on an apparently as hoc basis to events in Asia and Europe often joined by a chassis that had been acquired by Signature Racing. No more wins were recorded in 2010, but in 2011 the Aston Martin Racing team now sponsored by Muscle Milk driven by Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr won at Mosport while a Gulf sponsored AMR 1-2 won at Laguna Seca driven by Harold Primat, Stefan Mücke and Adrian Fernandez.

Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2, Silverstone 1000kms

At the end of the 2011 seasons the DBR 1-2’s were retired and scheduled to be replaced by the ill feted AMR-One.

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

Celebrity Car – Ferrari 550 Maranello GTS

The 200 mph front engine rear gearbox 550 Maranello road model was introduced in 1996 with a 485 hp 5474 cc / 334 cui 4 valve quad cam V12 motor that could take the GT car from zero to 62 mph in 4.5 secs.

Prodrive prepared a batch of 20 550 Maranello GTS’s for racing in Europe and the States where they were regular winners in the GT/GTS class in 2001.

In 2003 another Prodrive 550 Maranello GTS beat the Corvettes by 10 laps at the Le Mans 24 hour race coming home 10th overall.

This chassis has taken part in at least 42 Races in the GT/GTS class for at least four different teams from 2002 to 2006 it has never recorded an out right win but has scored several class wins.

In 2004 this chassis (Prodrive 03) driven by Darren Turner, Rickard Rydell and Colin McRae came in 9th overall at Le Mans but was beaten by two Corvettes which finished 16 and 5 laps ahead respectively.

Today’s featured Celebrity Car has been driven by a number of well known drivers including Colin McRae former World Rally Champion, Rickard Rydell former British Touring Car Champion, Alain Menu former British Touring Car Champion, Luc Alphand former World Cup Skiing Champion and Dakar winner, David Brabham, former Japanese GT Champion and Le Mans winner 2009, Jan Magnussen, former Danish Touring Car Champion, Danica Patrick queen of IRL and NASCAR, Darren Manning IRL driver, Christophe Bouchut 1993 Le Mans Winner, and one of my former racing instructors Tim Sugden former British and Asia Pacific GT Champion.

Thanks for joining me on today’s “Celebrity Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I’ll be looking at a Formula One Lotus. Don’t forget to come back now !

2011 GALPOT Review #5 – Ferrari

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The last of my 2011 reviews covers a few more personal firsts and highlights from my Ferrari Friday blogs that I started thanks to a suggestion from Mike also known as Junior Cracker.

With special thanks to the much missed Ed Arnaudin and his son Steve who scanned all of his Dad’s racing slides for me. Eds photo’s have provided a fascinating glimpse of a by gone era of the sport and many interesting stories not least the one behind the Ferrari 375 Pininfarina America seen at Bridgehampton in 1957.

During my visit to the Prodrive factory we were invited to sit in some of the exhibits in the museum and so it was that I came to sit in a Ferrari for the first time, this was not just any old Ferrari either but a 550 Maranello chassis #ZFFZR49B000108462 which was driven to a GTS class winning 10th place over all finish at Le Mans by Tomáš Enge / Jamie Davies / Peter Kox the experience was a mixture of agony and extacy the seat was made for a 12 year old but the feeling of purposefulness was overwhelming. My thanks to everybody at Prodrive who made my visit such a memorable one.

The Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival, which is held every April, brought an overwhelming number of Ferrari’s to town to mark
Ferrari’s sixtieth anniversary, the Ferrari that stood out above all the others, being the first time I had seen an example of this type, was one of the 272 twin turbo Ferrari (288) GTO’s.

Goodwood Festival of Speed has a habit of bringing out top quality Ferrari’s every year, this year two really grabbed me. Above the Ferrari 312 B3 possibly the very first Ferrari I ever saw on the race track driven by Niki Lauda at Brands Hatch in 1974.

The second Ferrari that really grabbed me at the Festival of Speed was this 1973 312 P which I have never seen in action but remember reading about back in my school days.

In September at the Goodwood Revival I came across the last front engined car ever to win a Grand Prix. The Ferrari 246 #0007 was driven to victory in the 1960 Italian Grand Prix by Phil Hill. That same #12 car is seen here with Tony Smith at the wheel.

Finally I have seen several Ferrari 512 M’s this year but while on a recent visit to London I stumbled across this older 1970 Ferrari 512 S with a shorter tail in the ‘Atelier’ of HR Owen at The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. This car is chassis #0126 which after coming third in the 1970 Daytona 24 hours with Andretti/Merzario and Ickx sharing the driving famously beat Peter Revson and Steve McQueen in the Sebring 12 hours when Andretti joined Nino Vaccarella and Ignazio Giunti in chasing down the Solar Porsche 908. #1026 was driven to 4th place finishes at Monza and Spa. After retiring from ‘Le Mans’ in 1970 it was used in the Steve McQueen film of the same name. During filming Derek Bell was sitting in the car prior to a take when it appears to have burst into flames, Derek escaped with minor burns but the car was destroyed. In 1978 Nick Mason (remember him ?), acquired the wreckage and had it ‘recreated’ with the open top spyder bodywork with which the car can be seen here.

I’d like to thank greyboxer, for picking up some spelling mistakes, jtremlett, and DAYTONASME at Ferrari Chat for confirming the identity of #1026.

There are many events and vehicles I have overlooked this past week, but I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed photographs, stories and helped the identities of so many storied vehicles which have made GALPOT the success that it has become.

Special thanks particularly to everyone at Ferrari Chat who helped me identify and uncover the stories behind the vehicles featured on GALPOT Ferrari Friday blogs.

Thanks for joining my on this Ferrari Friday review edition, I hope you will join me again tomorrow, Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

2011 GALPOT Review #1 – Motor Museums

In the week leading up to the season of Goodwill I thought it might be interesting to review some of the places and events I have been privileged to visit in 2011.

In March I joined fellow members of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club for a visit to the Prodrive factory & Museum, the Museum is packed with a fabulous selection of vehicles from Prodrives successful history including Rally Cars, Racing Cars and this one off Prodrive P2.

Next I made the first of several visits to the Haynes International Motor Museum which probably houses one of the worlds largest collection of red cars, of many makes including the obvious ALFA Romeo, Ferrari, and Lambourghini, outside of Italy. The car that really struck a chord for me however was this GAZ M13 Chaika from the Soviet Union.

On my way back from London in June I found time to visit the wonderful Atwell Wilson Motor Museum which houses some real gems including a prototype CVT Mini, and many cars which can be hired for weddings including this Plymouth Fury. I particularly like the collection of every day cars from my youth including the much maligned Austin Maxi, Twin Cam Morris Marina and Opel Manta. The Atwell Wilson is running a raffle for a Triumph Dolomite in 2012 a ticket for which including entrance fee and a cup of excellent tea will probably leave you change from a tenner !

If Grand Prix Cars and open wheelers are your thing then you’ll feel like a kid in a toy shop when you visit Donington Park Museum which has an amazing collection of Grand Prix cars from 1950 to the present day, and a few more besides. One car I was particularly thrilled to see was the Hill GH2 built for 1976 which only completed a single test session before Team Founder Graham Hill, driver Tony Brise, designer Andy Smallman, team manager Ray Brimble along with mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards perished in Graham’s aeroplane when it came down in heavy fog on the 29th November 1975.

One of the surprises of the year was finding a Formula One car at the Cotswold Motor Museum, which has a fine selection of vehicles including Veteran, Vintage and Classic. The exact identity of the Wolf / Fittipaldi, which could do with a bit of TLC, has yet to be positively established, but none the less a wonderful find amongst a quirky selection of vehicles.

Finally the smallest museum I visited this year was the Bugatti Trust situated right next to the Prescott Hillclimb course. Housing just three full size vehicles, they were of the highest quality and well worth the price of admission alone, what really struck me and my companion on the day Tim was how unbelievably knowledgeable and friendly the trusts Chairman Hugh Conway and his staff were about the cars and the many other exhibits of Bugattibilia including a cutaway vertical 16 aero engine, drawings of the Bugatti train, model LSR car and a giraffe by Rembrandt Bugatti. Be warned the enthusiasm at the Bugatti trust is infectious.

Thanks for joining me on this Museum edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ if you have a favorite Motor Museum you’d like to see a blog about in the new year why not drop me a line info(at)psychoontyres.co.uk. ?

I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be reviewing some of the Concours d’Elegance events covered on GALPOT during 2011. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

or

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

The Real McCoy – Mini Cooper S

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Mini Cooper S, Prodrive

The 1964 Monte Carlo Rally boasted a superb entry including factory backed vehicles from Citroen, Ford, Mercedes, Saab, Volvo, Volkswagen and a fleet of 6 works Mini Coopers.

Starting from Athens, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Lisbon, Minsk, Monte Carlo, Oslo, Paris and Warsaw, the field converged on Rheims in France and from there on to 5 competitive stages and a couple of laps of the Monaco Grand Prix track.

The Ford Falcon Sprint of Bo Ljungfeldt won every stage of the rally including the laps around Monaco but in those days the overall results were determined by a handicapping system which translated stage times and engine size into points which meant Ljungfelds 305 hp 4.7 litre 289 cui Falcon did not have a sufficient time margin over the 70hp 1071cc / 65 cui Mini Cooper S seen here crewed by Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon which was declared the winner of the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally.

33 EJB is thought to have been built in 1963 and crewed by Hopkirk and Liddon to 3rd overall and 3rd in class in the 1963 Tour de France prior to winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally.

The car belongs to the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon and is seen here at the Prodrive workshops because the engine was not running properly.

Like the Revenge Mini Replica I blogged about some months ago 33 EJB also has it’s Replica’s like this one built in the USA.

Finally I’d like to correct an oft repeated error reference the registrations of the works Mini’s on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally seen in the 5th paragraph of this link.

What ever BMW or anyone else may say the registrations of the works Minis on the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 were as follows :-

33 EJB #37, Hopkirk/Liddon, Cooper S, 1st overall/1st in class.
570 FMO #182 Makinen/Vanson, Cooper S 4th overall/2nd in class
569 FMO #105 Aaltonen/Ambrose, Cooper S 7th overall/3rd in class
477 BBL #39 Baxter/McMillan, Cooper 43rd overall/2nd in class.
18 CRX #187 Thompson/Heys, Cooper S crashed
277 EBL#189 Mayman/Domleo, Cooper S crashed

My thanks to Alan, Tim, Stephen, Darren, Fred at The Nostalgia Forum who helped me out with the registration numbers.

Hope you have enjoyed to days Handicap edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Bosses Car #2 – Aston Martin Rapide

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Regular readers may remember a couple of months ago when i visited the Morgan factory I happened across Charles Morgan’s limited edition Aeromax.

A couple of weeks ago I happened across Dave Richards, personal transport this fabulous ‘large and in charge’ Aston Martin Rapide while visiting Prodrive.

The Rapide is Aston Martin’s top of the range 4 door saloon, a successor to the Aston Martin V8 based Series 1 Aston Martin Lagonda of 1974/74 of which just 7 were built.

The 2010 Rapide is powered by a 470 hp 5935cc / 362 cui V12 …

that is shared in common with both the DB9 and V12 Vanquish.

This is only the second Rapide I have ever seen and it still surprises me how graceful this four dour DB9 looks.

Surprisingly this range topping model of of a well known British Marque is actually assembled at a dedicated Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria.

The standstill to 62mph performance time of 5.2 seconds and top speed of 184 mph will undoubtedly helped a near standard Rapide take second in class during the 24 hour race at the Nurburgring in 2010.

More on Aston Martin and the Rapide Luxe can be seen up the Drive Channel.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Austrian built edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !