It’s a Formula Junior with a cutie at the wheel during the 1960 Geneva Motor Show…
VW Beetle front suspension, independent at the rear, any ideas as to make and model anyone?
Credit…
Getty
Archive for July, 2017
1955 Australian Grand Prix…
Posted: July 28, 2017 in Icons & Iconoclasts, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: 1955 Australian Grand Prix, 1959 Australian Grand Prix, Cooper T40 Bristol, Jack Brabham, Maserati A6GCM, Maybach 3, Reg Hunt, Stan Jones
In a Battle of Melbourne Motor Dealers, Stan Jones struggles to keep Maybach 3 in front of Reg Hunt’s Maser A6GCM during the first lap of the 1955 Australian Grand Prix at Port Wakefield, South Australia, October 10…
The two cars were arguably Australia’s fastest special and production racing car at the time. Mind you the ‘special’ descriptor belies the tool-room quality of the Maybach series of cars in terms of both design and execution by Charlie Dean and his team at Repco Research in Melbourne. The Maserati A6GCM/250 and 250F family are members of one the greatest series of production racing cars ever built. Not that either car won this particular contest!
Jack Brabham returned home from his first season in Europe replete with a self-built Cooper T40 Bristol, winning the Port Wakefield race in the 2-litre, 150bhp, 1100lb, mid-engined car. Was it the first time a modern-era post-war mid-engined car won a national Grand Epreuve?
Brabham had luck that weekend in South Australia in a car which later became notorious for its unreliability. He won the race after the retirement of, or problems encountered by some of the event’s heavy-metal including Jones works-Repco 3.8-litre Maybach, Hunt’s Maser 250F engined Maserati A6GCM – A6GCM/250 to some – and another Melbourne motor-trader, Doug Whiteford’s 4.5-litre Talbot-Lago T26C.
Hunt and the Maser were the form combination at the time. Reg took the lead from Jones on lap one and led the race convincingly until the failure of a finger type cam follower forced the Maser onto five-cylinders, Brabham was soon past and into a lead he held for the races duration. Jones had clutch dramas, with Whiteford third, behind Hunt, in a car which raced too late after it’s initial arrival in Australia – devoid of some of the trick bits Doug paid for – shifty furriners! See here: https://primotipo.com/2022/05/04/doug-whiteford-talbot-lago-t26c-take-3/
The 80 lap, 104 mile event was the twentieth AGP and is noteworthy as the first on a purpose built circuit. Port Wakefield is 100km north of Adelaide in flattish, coastal, saltbush country. Previous AGPs were held on closed roads or airfields. ‘Wakefield, 1.3 miles in length, was used from 1953 to 1961, when Mallala, built on a disused Royal Australian Air Force airfield, became the main South Australian circuit.
Not especially clear, but an interesting panorama with Hunts A^GCM in the foreground and a ‘cine-camera’ atop the pits. Makes you wonder if some footage is still kicking around somewhere.
Stan Coffey, Cooper T20 Bristol from Murray Trenberth, Vincent Spl and John Cummins, Bugatti T37 Holden in one of the qualifying heats. Stan again below, this time having passed the spinning Cummins Bugatti in one of the qualifying heats. Cummo did not take the start in the GP.
Etcetera…
Charlie Dean beaming with pride aboard his latest creation, or rather the Repco Research team’s latest. Maybach 3 with its fuel injection system dominant atop the heavy, cast iron Maybach SOHC, two-valve 3.8-litre straight six laid-over at 65 degrees.
Greg Smith notes that the fuel injection system clearly shows the fuel rail and injectors, and that the throttle-bodies are actually single-choke 36DO2 units which were later (after the engine blew at Gnoo Blas with Stan at the wheel in early 1956) used on the Norman Wilson built Laydown Holden Special. See here: https://primotipo.com/2024/01/08/stan-jones-won-the-1954-nz-gp-70-years-ago-today/
Reg Hunt’s Maserati A6GCM above and below. This model is a 2-litre F2 car of the 1952-53 Grand Prix formula fitted with a 250F 2.5-litre SOHC, two-valve, triple Weber fed straight-six. About 240bhp at this early stage of the engine’s development. Hunt raced the car for little more than a year before progressing to a 250F in 1956, his final season in an oh-too-short elite level career. See here: https://primotipo.com/2017/12/12/hunts-gp-maser-a6gcm-2038/
Melbourne businessmen/racers/Light Car Club of Australia supremos Bill (left) and Jim Leech admire the brand new Austin Healey 100S, chassis #3905 perhaps, in the Port Wakefield paddock. Stephen Dalton advises that this car, the first 100S in Australia was driven from Sydney to the meeting by motor dealer and 1949 AGP winner, John Crouch.
Bill Craig’s Alta Holden – 1952 chassis F2/5 ex-Peter Whitehead – (above and below), with its distinctive alloy wheels, and perhaps, BP’s Tom Stevens the onlooker. Ken Devine advises the car was later owned and driven by Murray Trenberth, Jack Ayres and David Rockford in Western Australia before being sold overseas.
Two shots of the famous Eldred Norman built Zephyr Spl s/c. Tony Johns, “The starting grid photo shows the Zephyr alongside #8 Tom Hawkes’ Cooper T23 Bristol, probably a preliminary race.”
Credits…
State Library of Victoria, Reg Fulford Collection, Graham Howard and others ‘The 50 Year History of The Australian Grand Prix’, JA Denniston via Tony Johns, Edward Gobbel, Cummins Collection via Paul Cummins
Tailpiece…
The ’55 AGP third qualifying, 20 lap heat is underway. As a cursory glance of the mix of competitors shows, the race is a Formula Libre event.
On the second row is Brabham’s streamlined, central-single seater Cooper T40 Bristol and thrice AGP winner Doug Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago T26C. It’s rather a neat contrast of post and pre-war technology. On the next row is the Austin Healey 100 of Greg McEwin and Bill Wilcox’ Ford V8 Spl, South Aussies both.
Desolate flat, saltbush country clear.
Finito…
Zwickau Celebration…
Posted: July 24, 2017 in F1, Fotos, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: 1936 German Grand Prix, Auto Union, Auto Union Type C, Bernd Rosemeyer, Zwickau
A parade of Auto Unions through the streets of Zwickau on November 7 1936, Auto Union’s home town to celebrate Bernd Rosemeyer’s 1936 European Championship victory…
The cars were built in the Horch factory located in the town. Bernd Rosemeyer drives the lead car with Hans Stuck, Ernest Von Delius and Rudolf Hasse in the cars behind.
After two years of Mercedes supremacy it was the turn of the mid-engined, 6 litre, 520bhp Type C V16 engined cars. Rosemeyer was the dominant driver winning 3 of the 4 championship rounds- the German, Swiss and Italian GP’s. Rudy Carracciola’s Mercedes W125, powered by a 600bhp 5.6 litre V12 in 1936 took the Monaco race. Rosemeyer also won the Eifelrennen and Coppa Acerbo non-championship events.
Mercedes would be back with a vengeance of course, but for now victory is sweet and to be celebrated…
Rosemeyer’s German GP win 26 July 1936, Auto Union Type C (Getty)
Credit…
Imagno
Amon’s Tasman Dino…
Posted: July 21, 2017 in F1, FeaturesTags: 1968 Australian Grand Prix, 1968 South Pacific Trophy Longford, 1968 Tasman Series, 1969 Tasman Series, Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo, BRM P261, Chris Amon, Ferrari 350 CanAm, Ferrari Dino 246T, Ferrari P4, Frank Gardner, Jim Clark, Pedro Rodriguez
(Mr Reithmaier)
I love the build up and tension before the start of a big race; here it’s the grid prior to the start of the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe, in the north of NZ’s North Island on 6 January 1968…
Chris Amon readies himself and his Ferrari Dino 246T before the first round of the 1968 Tasman Series, a race in which he wonderfully and deservedly triumphed. Missing on the front row is Jim Clark’s Lotus 49T Ford DFW. Car #2 is Pedro Rodriguez’ BRM P261, the Mexican is bent over the cockpit of his car but failed to finish with clutch problems. Car #7 is Alec Mildren’s Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo T33 2.5 V8 with chief mechanic Glenn Abbey warming up the one-off car. Lanky Franky Gardner is adjusting his helmet beside the car, it was a good day for Frank, the car was second.
Look closely and you can see a camera crew behind the Brabham which is focusing on 1967 reigning world champion Denny Hulme and his #3 Brabham BT23 Ford FVA F2 car- Denny’s head is obscured by Frank’s body. Hume boofed the ex-Rindt BT23 during the race badly enough for a replacement chassis to be shipped out from the UK.
I’ve always thought these F2/Tasman Ferrari’s amongst the sexiest of sixties single-seaters.
The 166 F2 car was not especially successful amongst the hordes of Ford Cosworth Ford FVA engined cars in Euro F2 racing, however, the car formed the basis of a very competitive Tasman 2.5 litre Formula car when fitted with updated variants of the Vittorio Jano designed V6 which first raced in F2 form and then powered the late fifties Grand Prix racing front-engined Ferrari Dino 246. It was in one of these cars that Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 World Drivers Championship.
Amon won the Tasman Series in 1969 with Ferrari Dino 246T chassis #0008, fellow Kiwi Champion Graeme Lawrence won aboard the same car in 1970 against vastly more powerful, if far less developed Formula 5000 cars. The story of those championships is for another time, this article is about Chris’ 1968 Tasman mount and campaign.
Amon hooking his gorgeous Ferrari Dino 246T ‘0004’ into The Viaduct in the dry at Longford 1968. Early ’68, we are in the immediate pre-wing era, and don’t the cars look all the better for it! (oldracephotos.com/D Keep)
In many ways Chris was stiff not to win the ’68 Tasman Cup a title, the last title won by the late, great Jim Clark…
Ferrari entered only one car that year, chassis #0004 was assembled in Maranello by longtime Amon personal mechanic Roger Bailey and tested at Modena in November 1967. It was then freighted by plane to New Zealand where it was prepared by Bruce Wilson in his Hunterville workshop in the south of the North Island.
The chassis was Ferrari’s period typical ‘aero monocoque’, a ‘scaled down’ version of the contemporary F1 Ferrari with aluminium sheet riveted to a tubular steel frame thus forming a very stiff structure. The 166 was launched to the adoring Italian public at the Turin Motor Show in February 1967.
In F2 form, the 1596cc, quad-cam, chain driven, 18 valve, Lucas injected engine developed circa 200bhp at an ear-splitting 10000 rpm. It is important to note that this F2 engine, designed by Franco Rocchi, and in production form powering the Fiat Dino, Ferrari Dino 206 and 246GT and Lancia Stratos is a different engine family to the Jano designed engines, evolved by Rocchi and used in the Tasman Dinos.
The F2 166 made its race debut in Jonathon Williams hands at Rouen in July 1967, whilst it handled and braked well it was around 15bhp down on the Cosworth engined opposition. The car was tested extensively at Modena, including 24 valve variants, but was not raced again that year.
Amon, who had not contested the Tasman Series since 1964, could immediately see the potential of the car, suitably re-engined, as a Tasman contender given the success of the small, ex-F1 BRM P261 1.9-2.1 litre V8’s in the 1966 and 1967 Tasmans. The same approach which worked for the boys from Bourne could work for Maranello Chris figured. A parts-bin special is way too crass, but you get my drift of a very clever amalgam of existing, proven hardware as a potential winning car.
In fact Ferrari went down this path in 1965 when a Tasman hybrid of a then current F1 chassis was married to a 2417cc variant of the Jano 65 degree V6 for John Surtees to race in the 1966 Tasman. John had Tasman experience in Coventry Climax FPF engined Coopers and Lola’s at the dawn of the sixties and could see the potential of a small Ferrari.
That plan come to nothing when Surtees was very badly injured in a Mosport Can-Am accident in his self run Lola T70 Chev in late 1965. This car, Ferrari Aero chassis ‘0006’ played the valuable role of proving Surtees rehabilitation when he completed 50 laps in the car at Modena. It was in the same chassis that Lorenzo Bandini finished second in the 1966 Syracuse and Monaco GP’s as Ferrari sought to get the new 3 litre V12 F1 312 up to speed, Bandini elected to race the Dino on both occasions- he also finished third in the car at Spa.
The allocation of this more competitive car to Bandini rather than team-leader Surtees was amongst the many issues which lead to the confrontation between John Surtees and team manager Eugenio Dragoni during Le Mans practice and Surtees departure from the team shortly thereafter.
An unidentified fellow, Jim Clark, Ferrari engineer Gianni Marelli, Chris Amon and Roger Bailey share a joke during the 1968 Longford weekend. Chassis ‘0004’ is fitted with the 24 valve V6 covered in the text. Note the quality of castings, fabrication and finish, inboard discs, sliding spline driveshafts and single plug heads of this very powerful- but less than entirely reliable engine in 1968 form, it’s shortcoming cylinder head seals (oldracephotos.com/Harrison)
The engine of the 166/246T was carried in a tubular subframe attached to the rear of the monocoque which terminated at the drivers bulkhead, the car was fitted with a 5 speed transaxle designed by Ingenere Salvarani and Girling disc brakes.
Suspension was also similar to the contemporary F1 cars in having an front upper rocker and lower wishbone with inboard mounted spring/shocks and conventional outboard suspension at the rear- single top link, inverted lower wishbone, two radius rods and coil spring/shocks.
For the 1968 NZ races- Chris won at Pukekohe after Clark retired and at Levin, leading from flag to flag, was second to Clark at Wigram and fourth at Teretonga- a 3 valve variant (2 inlet, 1 exhaust) of the 65 degree fuel injected V6 was fitted which was said to develop around 285bhp @ 8900rpm from its 2404cc.
Chris crossed the Tasman Sea with a nine point lead in the Series from Clark and the might of Team Lotus. It was a wonderful effort, whilst Ferrari provided the car free of charge and took a share of the prize money, the logistics were of Chris’ own small equipe, and here they were serving it up to Gold Leaf Team Lotus with a couple of World Champions on the strength, plenty of spares and support crew.
Amon just falls short of Jim Clark at the end of the 1968 AGP at Sandown. The official margin, one tenth of a second after 62 minutes of great motor racing. Lotus 49 Ford DFW and Ferrari Dino 246T (unattributed)
Amons heads into the Sandown pitlane to practice- Shell corner or turn 1 behind (G Paine)
Amon’s car in the Sandown paddock. That little four valve engine came so close to pipping Clark’s Ford DFW on raceday (G Paine)
For the four Australian races a 24 valve version of the engine was shipped from Maranello. Its Lucas injection was located within the engines Vee rather than between the camshafts and had one, rather than two plugs per cylinder. This motor developed 20 bhp more than the 18 valver with Chris promptly putting the car on pole at Surfers Paradise, a power circuit- he won the preliminary race and had a head seal fail whilst challenging Clark in the championship round.
At Warwick Farm he qualified with the 18 valve engine and raced the 24 valver having rebuilt it- they only had one of the motors. He was challenging both Clark and Hill in the race and then spun in avoidance of Hill who was having his own moment…he was fourth on the tight technical Sydney circuit.
At Sandown during the AGP, the pace of the car, and Amon, was proved in an absolute thriller of a race in which he finished second to Clark by one-tenth of a second, the blink of an eye. Let’s not forget the best driver in the world driving the best F1 car of the era powered by the Tasman variant of the greatest GP engine ever was his competition- and took fastest lap.
As the team crossed Bass Straight from Port Melbourne on the ‘Princess of Tasmania’ Chris knew he had to win the Longford ‘South Pacific Championship’, with Clark finishing no better than fifth to win the Tasman title.
At Longford, still fitted with the 24 valve engine, which must have been getting a little tired, he qualified a second adrift of Clark and Hill, he finished seventh in a race run in atrocious conditions on the most unforgiving of Australian circuits having initially run second to Clark but then went up the Newry Corner escape road and suffered ignition problems from lap 10.
Piers Courage won in an heroic drive aboard his little McLaren M4A Ford FVA F2 car that streaming day, in a series which re-ignited his career.
Chris and the boys confer about car set-up- in the dry!, at Longford(oldracephotos.com.au/Harrisson)
Chris was a busy boy during the Australian Tasman leg as he also drove David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 350 CanAm/P4 in sports car support events at each round in addition to the little Dino.
These races were outstanding as they involved close dices between Chris and Frank Matich in his self designed and built Matich SR3 powered by 4.4 litre Repco Brabham V8’s- with Frank getting the better of him in each of these races. The speed of the Matich was no surprise to Chris though, both had contested rounds of the Can-Am Championship only months before the Tasman in the US.
Click here for my article on the Ferrari P4/CanAm 350 #’0858’ Chris raced in Australia;
Amon lines David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce Ferrari P4/350 Can Am up for Longford’s The Viaduct during the 1968 Longford Tasman meeting. Matich didn’t take the SR4 to Longford so Chris had an easy time of it that weekend. The sight and sound of that car at full song on the Flying Mile at circa 180mph would have been really something! (oldracephotos.com/D Keep)
Chris Amon, David McKay and mechanic David Liddle with the Can-Am 350 in the Sandown pitlane (G Paine)
For the 1969 Tasman Chris applied all he learned in 1968 returning with two cars, the other driven by Derek Bell, four well developed 300bhp 24 valve engines with the logistics of the two months taken care of by David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce.
He promptly lifted the Tasman Cup in a very successful campaign from Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill and others, with a little more luck or greater factory commitment in 1968 it may have been two Tasmans on the trot for the Maranello team and Chris…
Etcetera…
(G Paine)
(G Paine)
A couple of shots of the SV Ferrari Can-Am 350 being fettled in the 1968 Sandown Tasman paddock.
Bibliography…
oldracingcars.com, sergent.com.au, ‘Dino: The Little Ferrari’ Doug Nye
Photo Credits…
Mr Riethmaier, oldracephotos.com, Rod MacKenzie, Glenn Paine Collection
Tailpiece: Love this moody, foreboding Longford shot by Roderick MacKenzie…
(Rod MacKenzie)
Chris has just entered the long ‘Flying Mile’ in the streaming wet conditions during Monday’s ‘South Pacific Trophy’ famously won by Piers Courage little McLaren M4 Ford FVA F2 car. 4 March 1968.
Finito…
Smile Jack!…
Posted: July 18, 2017 in F1, FotosTags: 1966 Formula 1 Season, Brabham BT19 Repco, Jack Brabham, Repco Brabham RB620 3 Litre V8, Roy Billington
Jack Brabham, long time ‘Brabham Racing Organisation’ Chief Mechanic Roy Billington (left) and another fella, ‘twould be nice to know who, on 25 April 1967…
‘Co-stars’ in this studio shoot, which seems to be one of a series taken that year, is the Brabham BT19 pictured in the background and the Repco Brabham ‘RB620’ 3 litre V8 which is the engine/chassis combination with which Jack won the 1966 F1 Drivers and Constructors titles.
I have written comprehensively about both this engine;
‘RB620’ V8: Building The 1966 World F1 Champion Engine…by Rodway Wolfe and Mark Bisset
and the 1966 F1 Championship Year;
Winning the 1966 World F1 Championships: Brabham BT19 Repco…
I love the shots!…
Credit…
Len Trievnor
Tailpiece: Jack’s ‘Dr Evil’ pose?…
Composition…
Posted: July 14, 2017 in F1, FotosTags: 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix, 1959 BARC 200 Aintree, 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix, Cooper T51 Climax, Ferrari Dino 246 F1, Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Tony Brooks
(Heritage Images)
I’m constantly in awe of the talents of the photographers whose work is displayed in this ‘masterpiece’ of mine…
Take a careful look at the composition and execution of this shot of Phil Hill’s Dino at Monaco in 1959-the use of light, the way the shadows of the palm tree and building architecture frame the shot of the snub-Monaco nosed Ferrari 246 and the expression on the American drivers face. The shadow of the photographer gives a sense of involvement.
(Klemantaski)
Things were pretty tough for the front engined brigade by 1959 of course.
Jack’s first Cooper title was bagged that year. In the process of trying to keep up, Enzo’s brigade created quite the most beautiful cars in these later Dino’s. The snub nosed car not so much but checkout Tony Brooks slinky, curvaceous chassis above during the BARC 200 at Aintree on 19 April ’59. Jean Behra took the win that day in a sister car, the Scuderia may have been lulled into a sense of false security by this non-championship event result.
The 1959 Dinos had more voluptuous bodywork by Medardo Fantuzzi, clothing big-tube frames with coil-sprung de Dion rear ends rather than the transverse-leaf setup used earlier. Dunlop disc brakes and tyres were used with Armstong telescopic shocks replacing the ‘unreliable’ lever-arm Houdailles- Doug Nye wrote that some Ferrari team members blamed the Houdailles as the cause of Peter Collins fatal 1958 German GP accident.
Brabham on the way to his first GP win at Monaco in 1959, Cooper T51 Climax (Cahier)
It was very much a Cooper T51 Climax year.
They won three of the five non-championship events (Moss took 2, Brabham 1) with Ferrari and BRM taking one apiece (Behra and Flockhart). Ignoring the Indy 500 which was part of the world championship back then, there were eight GP events. Cooper won five (Brabham-Monaco, British and Moss-Portugal and Italy two races each for the Aussie and the Brit and McLaren-US 1 win). Ferrari won two (Brooks-French, German) and BRM won one, the break-through first win for the Bourne marque and Jo Bonnier aboard a P25 at Zandvoort.
(unattributed)
Its front is a little ‘fugly’, the looks only a mother could love
‘Snub nosed’ Dino, Hill rounding the Gasworks Hairpin, Quay in the background. Oooh, la, la from the rear tho. All things Italian look great from the back!? Hill hustling his Dino, thru the Mirabeau right hander below.
(LAT)
Have a look at Phil’s car below in August on the hugely picturesque and dangerous Monsanto road course during the Portuguese GP.
DNF when Lotus 16 mounted Hill G spun in his path taking out both cars. Moss won in a T51 Cooper Climax from Masten Gregory similarly mounted, Gurney the best placed Ferrari in 3rd.
I guess by definition these Dino’s are the ultimate expression of the front engined GP car given Enzo persevered at least a year longer than he should have.
(LAT)
Credits…
Heritage Images, Klemantaski Collection, LAT, Cahier Archive, Ferrari Dino article by Doug Nye in Motorsport November 2007
Etcetera- Technical Specifications…
Two rare photographs of Dinos in the semi-nude.
The first, above, is a 156 F2 in the Nürburgring pits in August 1957, both are by Bernard Cahier. The second is of the Taffy Von Trips (DNF) car during the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix weekend at Spa.
Vittorio Jano’s new 65 degree 1.5 litre V6 gave about 180 bhp @ 9000 rpm on the Maranello test-bed, it burst into life about five months after Dino Ferrari’s untimely death due to renal failure on 30 June 1956.
The cars chassis was a scaled down variant of the Lancia Ferrari 801, its tubular frame comprised of two large diameter bottom tubes braced by a welded on superstructure of thinner tubes- not a true spaceframe in a definitional sense.
The engine was angled across the frame, as you can see, this allowed the prop-shaft to run past the drivers seat to the left. The front suspension, clearly shown, is by wishbones and coil springs with the rear suspension by de Dion tube and transverse leaf spring. Drum brakes and Houdaille lever arm shocks were fitted with Scaglietti providing the sexy aluminium body.
The 1957 German GP was a famous victory for Fangio’s Maserati 250F from the Hawthorn, Collins and Musso Lancia Ferrari 801’s. The Dino, if the photo is captioned correctly, was perhaps in the transporter. Whilst entered in the F2 section, the race results show Maurice Trintignant as a ‘no-show’, Denis Jenkinson’s race report also says the car did not arrive so perhaps the date on the caption is wrong and the shot is of a 1958 246.
The first F2 Ferrari Dino, chassis #’0011′ made its race debut at the Naples GP on 28 April 1957. Enlarged engines of 1983 cc, 2195 cc were built over the ensuing months and- then the 2417 cc variant was raced by Peter Collins during the non-championship 27 October Moroccan GP- the Dino 246 was born!
Stricken by flu, Peter spun off, the 85mm bore, 71mm stroke, 2417 cc engine at that stage gave 270 bhp @ 8300 rpm burning 130 octane AvGas, the 1958 mandated fuel.
The 1960 Dino 246/60 (above) were lightened with engines angled across the frame the opposite way to 1959, with the transaxle turned around to match- providing the drivers with the challenge of a reversed gearchange gate.
They also featured pannier fuel tanks without separate covering body panelling (look closely above) smaller fuel tanks and all-independent coil-spring and wishbone suspension.
At Spa Phil Hill used the Ferrari four-cam power advantage but was still overwhelmed by a Cooper Climax 1-3 finish. Jack Brabham led home Bruce McLaren in T53’s whilst Olivier Gendebien was third in an earlier T51.
Tailpiece: And what a tail. I’m cheating really, this is the butt of Phil’s ’58 Dino, this pictorial article is mainly about the 1959 cars…
’58 Moroccan GP; Moss won in a Vanwall VW57 from Mike Hawthorn and Phil, both Dino mounted, Mike won the ’58 World Title at this race (LAT)
The photo is another masterpiece of composition and high-speed shutter work during the Moroccan GP at Ain-Diab, Casablanca Morocco on 19 October 1958.
Check out the different tail treatment from the later cars earlier in the article and ‘three piece’ fabrication of the Ferrari’s rear tail section comprising from driver back- the fuel tank, then oil tank and finally small curvaceous endplate, Italian panel bashing at its best.
Finito…
Repco Technology…
Posted: July 9, 2017 in F1, Fotos, Rodways Repco RecollectionsTags: Michael Gasking, Repco 1967 Ad, Repco RB740 V8
An Australian daily broadsheet newspaper ad to promote Repco’s 1967 Grand Prix successes…
Thats Michael Gasking giving the 1967 F1 RB740 V8 ‘a tug’ on the Maidstone, Melbourne dyno before shipping the usually still warm engine off to the Brabham Racing Organisation in Guildford, England.
Credit…
Michael Gasking Collection
Pierre Levegh’s Talbot-Lago…
Posted: July 7, 2017 in Sports RacersTags: 1952 Le Mans 24 Hours, 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours, Pierre Bouillin, Pierre Levegh, Talbot Lago T26GS
Pierre Levegh relaxed during the 1953 Le Mans weekend beside the Talbot Lago T26GS he drove to 8th place together with Charles Pozzi…
He famously came within an ace, an hour in fact, of winning the race solo in a similar car the year before.
Levegh led the race from about 2am, during his long hours at the wheel the engine developed a vibration, which he felt he could nurse better than his co-pilot given he was in synch with the cars rhythm.
But an hour from the end of the classic the car coasted to a halt at Maison Blanche, about a mile from the pits. The Talbot was mortally wounded, either a conrod let go after a big over rev or a bolt holding the central crankshaft bearing came loose. What was never clear, Pierre was driving with a broken rev-counter, is whether the engine succumbed to the malady present for much of the race or whether in his exhausted state the driver missed a gear.
The Frenchman’s real name was Pierre Bouillin, his racing pseudonym Of Levegh was the surname of an uncle who was a pioneer driver who died in 1904. Alfred Levegh was a leading member of the Mors racing team at the turn of the century. Pierre assumed his uncle’s surname in 1938 but when he commenced racing in a Bugatti 57T in 1937 raced using his own name.
The wealthy Parisian brush company owner was a talented sportsman, being a world class tennis and ice hockey player in addition to his talents behind the wheel, a career he started pre-War in his early thirties but did not flourish until after the cessation of global hostilities.
Pierre, driving a factory Mercedes Benz 300SLR was an unwitting and innocent part of the tragic sequence of events which took his life, and those of 83 others at Le Mans in 1955. Not a subject I care to explore and an incredibly sad and inappropriate epitaph for a driver who was a journeyman in Grand Prix cars but good enough in Sports Cars to be invited into a team containing Moss and Fangio…
Levegh, Talbot Lago T26GS during his heroic but ultimately unsuccessful 1952 Le Mans drive (unattributed)
Credits…
Stanley Sherman, Klemantaski Collection, oldracingcars.com
Max Stephens, Cooper T40 Bristol…
Posted: July 4, 2017 in F1, Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?Tags: 1955 Australian Grand Prix, Cooper T40 Bristol, Cooper T40 Bristol Chassis # CB/1/55, Domain Hillclimb Hobart, Jack Brabham, Longford, Max Stephens, Queens Domain Hobart
Max Stephens powers his 2 litre Cooper T40 Bristol up the Domain Hillclimb, Hobart, Tasmania probably late 1959…
Its not just a T40, it’s THE T40, Jack Brabham’s 1955 Australian Grand Prix winning car- Jack took a somewhat lucky win when the more powerful cars of Stan Jones and Reg Hunt fell by the wayside or were mortally wounded.
Colour isn’t so common in Australian motor racing photography in the period- partially due to its cost and that professionals mainly shot in monochrome given good ole black and white in magazines prevailed. This is a fantastic colour photograph from Lindsay Ross’ oldracephotos.com.au archive, I’m not sure who the ‘snapper is in this particular case but his/her composition took my eye.
The 1959 Australian Hillclimb Championship was held at the Queens Domain on Saturday 14 November 1959, in fact the weekend was a ‘double-banger’ with competitors over from the mainland able to compete at the Baskerville circuit on the Sunday. Perhaps this photo is of Max during the championship meeting, i’m intrigued to know.
The journalist Rob Saward, writing on The Nostalgia Forum had this to say about T40 ‘CB/1/55’ and Stephens…
‘The gearbox was always this cars weakness…It was the usual Citroen based (ERSA modified) box Cooper were using in the early Bobtails and F2 cars, which worked ok with the FWA or FWB Climax, but 2 litres of Bristol power meant it had to be treated very gingerly. Longford was always hard on transmissions, even more so before the railway crossing was rebuilt prior to the 1960 meeting’.
‘Max Stephens never really had the chance to demonstrate his true potential in the car- he was a gifted motorcycle racer, Tasmania’s best in the 1950’s and there is no reason why he could not be good in a car also. I don’t know whether it was his (Max Stephens Motors in Moonah, a car sales, later accessories and motorcycles) business that stopped him getting more involved in car racing or whether money was the issue…he died a few years ago’.
‘The car was sold in about 1962/3 to Alan Robertson of Hobart who converted it from central seat to sportscar format and raced a few times before Bristol engine problems intervened…the car was purchased by Frank Cengia, who restored it in the original Brabham 1955 colours, but in the 1990’s it was unfortunately sold overseas…’when Pat Burke who owned the car fell upon hard times’.
Cooper T40 ‘CB/1/55’ whilst in Stephen’s ownership at Longford in 1959 or 1960. It is the car that Jack built, literally, days before his championship F1 debut at Aintree in the 1955 British GP. The car was constructed on the T39 Bobtail sports jig, with modifications. Note the curved Cooper spaceframe chassis, Bristol 2 litre engine sitting tall in the chassis, alloy wheels…such a clever car (oldracephotos.com)
Talented engineer Geoff Smedley added that ‘the car was prepared (in Tasmania) by the late Eric O’Heaney, one of the old school motorcycle mechanics who gave Max a lot of success in his bike days…Eric himself was an avid bike racer until a serious accident…In my mind Eric was an earlier version of the great Phil Irving, both with the same demeanour in their thinking and dedication to the development of the sport…’
Scott Stephens describes his father Max‘…as a respected car and motorcycle racer. He was the only Australian, whilst riding a Manx Norton 500, who successfully passed Geoff Duke for the race lead whilst Geoff held the mantle of current World Champion, this was achieved during the Australian Grand Prix held at Longford…Observed motorcycle trials was his last competitive stance. He was the Kawasaki and Maserati distributor in Tasmania…In his Hobart store he was the approved reseller of Norton, BSA, Velocette, Triumph, Laverda, Maico, Cotton, AJS, CZ, Montesa, Bultaco, Ossa, Hodaka, Italjet and Suzuki’ makes down the decades. Scott himself was a successful professional racer who rode for Kawasaki Australia, Matich Pirelli Racing and Suzuki quips that Max ‘Loved and was amazed by anything driven by fuel!
Tailpiece: Stephens and T40 on the warm-down lap, Longford…
(P Geard)
Bibliography/Credits…
The Nostalgia Forum- contributions by Rob Saward and Geoff Smedley, scottstephens.com.au, oldracephotos.com.au, Paul Geard Collection
Finito…
primotipo... 