Archive for October, 2023

Ballots and Coopers…

Posted: October 27, 2023 in Features, Obscurities
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
2
(P White)

Ouch. Wow, that’s daffy-ducked isn’t it!? Alan Cooper’s very dead 4.8-litre, straight-eight, 1919 Ballot 5/8LC lies on the front-straight of Olympia Speedway, Maroubra, Sydney on January 2, 1926.

Behind is his brother, Harold ‘Hal’ Cooper’s 2-litre Ballot 2LS #15. In the feature that night, relative novice Alan tried an outside pass on his vastly more experienced younger brother on the last lap, snagged a hub on the fence and cartwheeled along the track at over 100mph and into the sandy area between the track edge and the spectator compound. Alan walked away – shaken and stirred – but the poor riding mechanic wasn’t so lucky, the worst of his injuries was a pair of broken thighs.

Alan Cooper aboard #1004 earlier on the fateful day (Sherwood Collection)

Alan never raced again, but chassis 1004 was repaired by racer/mechanic/engineer John Harkness using an Australian Six chassis, and appeared again at Maroubra with Harkness at the wheel that August. Whatever thoughts I had about the original chassis being repaired have been well set aside…

The Cooper boys were from a family of 11 children. They were brought up in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens where their father was Chief Gardner. Via a familial connection, Alan Cooper met the 30-years-older Stephen Brown not long after he returned from the Great War. The Brothers Brown owned a large vertically integrated Newcastle coal mining and distribution business named J & A Brown (now part of Yancoal Australia). Stephen treated Cooper as his son and lavished stupefying levels of wealth on him including the most exotic racing cars of the time; the Ernest Henry designed Ballot’s were the best there was, the 1919 ‘Indy’ Ballot undoubtedly one of the fastest cars on the planet.

Indy 500 1919. #4 Ralph DePalma, Packard, #32 and 31 are the Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas Ballot 5/8LCs, #3 is Howdy Wilcox – the winner – Peugeot, and #33 Paul Bablot’s 5/8LC. The pace car is a Packard Twin Six V12 (IMS)
Louis Wagner, Ballot 5/8LC #1004 before the off (IMS)

Louis Wagner raced 1004 at Indianapolis 1919 as part of a four-car factory assault on the race. The Ballots where the quickest cars too, but the hastily built machines were geared too-tall. The quick fix, in the absence of an alternative diff-ratio, was the use of smaller diameter locally made wheels and tyres – Goodrich instead of Michelins. These failed, Wagner was out with a broken wheel after only completing 44 of the 200 laps while running third, then Paul Ballot crashed when a wheel failed after 63 laps, so the other two 5/8LCs of Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas cruised home in fourth and 11th places.

While it was a bad day for Ballot all wasn’t lost for Ernest Henry, the winner was Indiana boy Howdy Wilcox in one of Henry’s old Peugeot GP cars. Indy was/is tough and dangerous. Of the traditional 33 cars that started, 18 didn’t finish, four of whom crashed, two fatally: Louis Le Cocq and Arthur Thurman both lost control aboard Duesenbergs. Robert Bandini, Thurman’s mechanic died as well.

As a result of the rise in pole-time speed to nearly 105mph in 1919, and one suspects, perhaps the three deaths, the Indy Formula engine size was reduced from 300cid in 1919 to 183cid for 1920. Ernest Ballot immediately had four very expensive racing cars surplus to requirements, just the thing for a bright-young-colonial with somebody else’s dosh jangling loose in his pockets.

By the time Brown and Cooper swung past Paris’ Boulevard Brune to acquire 2LS #15 – the ex-Jules Goux second-place 1922 Targa machine – Monsieur Ballot was using #1004 as a swish, speedy roadie. Fitted with Perrot brakes, mudguards and a windscreen, he cut quite a dash on the Boulevard St Germain.

Thelma – quite tidy too – at the wheel of #1004 at what became known as Safety Beach, Dromana on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in December 1928 (B King Collection)

That’s why the car before Alan Cooper crashed (pic 2 above) it looks road-equipped, it was. When shipped to Australia it supposedly arrived with three bodies, the one shown and destroyed in the prang, a slipper body which Harkness fitted (or built) when he rebuilt it, and another, a shot of which I’d love to see…

Harold Cooper raced 5/8LC 1004 for a while south of the Murray at Aspendale, the Melbourne Motordrome and other venues. He was described as “Victoria’s best known racing driver” by the Melbourne Herald before racing on the 2-mile 163 yards rectangular gravel course at Safety Beach, Dromana in December 1928, and duly set the fastest time.

Unfortunately Harold didn’t contest the 1927 Australian Grand Prix at Goulburn, nor did he ever give the 2LS a gallop in any of the early (2-litre supercharged and under) Phillip Island Road Races/Australian Grands Prix. Had he done so he would have been a red-hot favourite, he is the most underrated and forgotten Oz driver of the period…

Melbourne racer Jim Gullan and mechanic during practice for the January 2, 1939 Australian Grand Prix at Lobethal, South Australia. The exotic eight let go at warp speed, a rod carved the block in half with expensive shrapnel being spread across the Adelaide Hills countryside. It would be 40 years before the chassis was reunited with another Ballot engine (N Howard)
1004 in the Edgerton suburban garage, date unknown. Other than the Dino I’ve no idea of the identity of any of the other machines (R Edgerton Collection)

Both Ballots raced on. The 2LS’ svelte twin-cam 16-valve four was replaced by a succession of V8s and raced in Western Australia for decades, its mortal Ballot remains survived and are well cared for in Australia. The 5/8LC was restored after being tracked down to a northern Victoria farm by ‘Racing Ron’ Edgerton in the 1970s. The ‘Edgerton’ branded crankcase side covers were a tad vulgar for most but he got the car running and competed in it, a state to which it has never returned in the hands of the UK owner for the last three decades or so.

Check out the May 2021 issue of The Automobile. I wrote a never-published-before long yarn about the Coopers, Ballots, the elusive Stephen Brown and the staggering lifestyle he afforded them, and their later second lives as Captains of The Turf. See here to purchase; https://www.theautomobile.co.uk/may-2021-issue/

(R Edgerton Collection)

Ballots up. Frying tyres, rings or bearings? Ron Edgerton attacks Shell corner (Turn 1 in today’s vulgar parlance) at Sandown on one of 1004s relatively few outings – partially restored by the look of it – before the car was sold overseas. The following Ballot is Wes Southgate’s 2LS, now restored to original bodywork and owned by publisher/hotelier/renaissance-man Douglas Blain, who keeps the car in fine fettle in Victoria. Those Rothmans brake markers are circa 1978-79’ish, so a meeting about then?

Etcetera…

(AD Cook Collection)

Harold Cooper aboard #1004 at La Turbie Hillclimb in 1925. Hal did four ‘climbs: three venues near Nice including this one, and another in Monaco, before the car was shipped from Le Havre to Melbourne. Quite why this slipper-body was removed back at Ballot HQ at Boulevard Brune for the ‘Indy’ body before shipment to Australia is anybody’s guess. The body above is different to the form in which the car emerged Harkness’ workshop after Alan Cooper’s Maroubra accident.

While Alan Cooper makes much of his racing career in the Smiths Weekly serialisation of his life story – a grand, rollicking, bullshitty yarn it is too – in fact he did relatively few competition miles. Harold, on the other hand, competed a lot from 1922 when the 2LS arrived and was a man of great skill. He was far more competent than Alan, had competed in the 5/8LC in France already, so had a level of familiarity with it.

The car was ministered to in Sydney by Giulio Foresti, Ballot factory racer/dealer/mr-fixit who tested it at Maroubra and schooled the brothers in its use and mechanicals. We know from contemporary reports that a planned early Maroubra test by Alan was thwarted by steering problems. Harold should have raced the 5/8LC and Alan the 2LS that fateful night; letting Alan loose in it at Maroubra was akin to a modestly credentialed Formula Ford driver have a lash in Oscar’s F1 McLaren. Alan Cooper was kissed-on-the-dick-by-tinkerbell – to use vulgar Oz slang – many times during his long life, not least on that fateful 1926 evening.

The Argus December 10, 1928

“Thrilling motor-racing was witnessed at the Aspendale Speedway (Melbourne) on Saturday afternoon. The best display of driving was that given by Harold Cooper, who is shown here negotiating a corner at speed in his eight-cylinder Ballot car. He defeated Albert Edwards who drove a front-wheel-drive supercharged Alvis.”

Credits…

Peter White Scrapbook via Colin Wade, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, The Argus, AD Cook Collection, Ron Edgerton Collection, Norman Howard, Bob King Collection, John Sherwood Collection from the wonderful ‘A Half Century of Speed’ by Barry Lake

Tailpiece…

(R Edgerton Collection)

The essential element of Edgerton’s rebuild of #1004 was locating one of the very exotic, Ballot 4.8-litre DOHC, four-valve, straight eight engines or the bones thereof.

As luck would have it, Briggs Cunningham had one, and wanted a Cottin & Desgouttes, Edgerton was happy to oblige. Here is Ron’s (at right) pride and joy (with Silvio Massola) – didn’t he have a lot of those in his automotive lifetime – on a 1977 rally in Tasmania, Australia’s South Island.

Finito…

Mercedes Benz W196R Take 4 or 5…

Posted: October 24, 2023 in F1
Tags: ,
1

I uploaded this butt-shot of a naked Mercedes Benz W 196 R Grand Prix car taken at the factory in 1954 to the primotipo Facebook page the other day, with interest levels as crazy as a frog-in-a-sock since…

So I’ve updated the piece with the shot and a few others from Mercedes’ archive, see here; https://primotipo.com/2015/10/09/mercedes-benz-w196-french-gp-1954/

The photograph shows the spaceframe chassis, two inboard brake drums and rear mounted 5-speed transaxle. The rear suspension comprises swing axles and tubular shocks with the spring medium longitudinally mounted torsion bars, which are not in view.

Credits…

Mercedes Benz

Finito…

Maserati 6CM #1546…

Posted: October 21, 2023 in F1
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0
(SAHB)

The ex-Johnnie Wakefield 1.5-litre, supercharged Maserati 6CM Voiturette, chassis #1546 is the lowest mileage Maserati racer on the planet, it’s been nowhere near a circuit since April 1938.

The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain caption for the beautiful drawing above reads, “Here is the front suspension of the Maserati 6CM produced in 1937 and 1938. Its torsion bar suspension gave much improved roadholding and cornering speed. The torsion bars were 24-inches long, the left-hand bar can be seen extending back from the pivot of the top wishbone. The friction shock-absorber is linked to the front end. The hydraulic drum brake is wide and well-ventilated.”

The confluence of ‘finding’ the drawing above, a period newspaper article about the ex-Wakefield Maserati in Australia, and several photographs of the same chassis, naked in Adelaide are the stimuli for this article.

John Peter Wakefield meeting folks? (D Zeunert Collection)

John Peter Wakefield was born into incredible wealth in Marylebone, London on April 5, 1915. In a tragic childhood, his mother died when he was four, and his father – who ran the family gunpowder business – when he was seven. Brought up by his family in Kendal, in the Lake District, he was a natural athlete who commenced racing bikes: Ariels and Velocettes in 1933.

Wakefield focused on learning to fly 1934-35. Having achieved his wings, he bought a second-hand Gypsy Puss, and shortly thereafter, a new British Aircraft Eagle Gypsy.

Into the deep end, he switched from motorcycles to cars and bought Alta 56S, a monoposto 1.5-litre supercharged machine – which Tony Gaze brought to Australia post-war and was ultimately restored by Graeme Lowe – that he raced regularly throughout 1935-37 with good results.

In 1937 he bought the Maserati 6CM in which he contested 18 meetings into 1938 with his best results two 2nds, four 3rds, two 4ths and a fifth place. Then in April 1938 he crashed it during the Cork GP, hospitalising himself with cuts, abrasions and broken ribs in what was his only serious racing accident.

Wakefield in the Brooklands paddock, Maserati 6CM, chassis 1546. JCC International Trophy 1937, second place. Ray Mays won in ERA R4C (Bill Brunell/Getty Images)
(Bill Brunell/Getty Images)

Undaunted, our intrepid adventurer placed an order for an ERA B-Type. Wakefield raced Ian Connell’s B-Type before he took delivery of R14B; in around 20 meetings with the two cars he did exceedingly well, taking three wins, two 2nds and six 3rd placings until May 1939. Johnnie then raced a new Maserati 4CL, chassis #1569 for the balance of that season, again excelling, with wins in the UK, France and Italy. He was a rising star, a man to watch.

As Hitler and his merry band of perverts took on the world, Wakefield signed up with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves as a sub-lieutenant in September 1939. From then until 1942 he flew 25 different aircraft in eight squadrons. By March ’42 he had resigned his commission to undertake pilot flying test duties with Vickers Aircraft on Spitfire PR MkIVs.

Johnnie was attached to RAF Aldermaston, one of five hangars where Spitfires were assembled. Wargrave Aerodrome (sometimes called Henley Aerodrome) had no formal control tower and Vickers shared the place with a busy RAF pilot training school. On 24 April, as Wakefield took off in his Spitfire (MkIV BR413) for a production test flight he was confronted by a Miles Magister on a collision course, while he swerved in avoidance as he took off, he crashed. The plane burst into flames and he was killed instantly.

Wakefield was on course as a potential great, the BRDC Gold Star, awarded to the most successful driver of the season, was awarded to him posthumously post-war, his wife Kay received it. The Johnnie Wakefield Trophy, is awarded in his honour to the driver who achieves the fastest race lap of Silverstone each year, to this day.

Back to #1546. The doyen of Australian racing historians, John Medley wrote that “Wakefield’s 6CM Maserati was donated engineless (it was sent back to Maserati for a rebuild) to his mechanic, Rex Tilbrook, a South Australian who imported it to South Australia but refused to pay the customs duty…so it became the ‘box of stones’ in the customs store, rescued but unused by one of the Brooks brothers, and eventually bought by Frank Kleinig for the final version of his Kleinig Hudson Special.”

The short story of the car is in the middle of this piece, rather than repeat it all, click here; https://primotipo.com/2018/10/14/melbourne-motorclassica-12-14-october-2018/

The Mercury Hobart, March 4, 1939 (C McLaren Rumblings)

Rex Patterson Tilbrook was a man of immense ambition, an intuitive engineer who left an amazing heritage in motorcycles. An aspiring South Australian racing driver and engine designer, he headed for the UK in 1933 and soon landed a job with Vickers at Brooklands. Before long his capabilities as a mechanic and fabricator were such that he opened his own workshop there. His clientele included some top riders and up-and-comers of the day including Fergus Anderson and Dennis Minett…and some racing drivers such as JP Wakefield.

Disaster struck Tilbrook in 1938 when a failed acetylene gauge caused a fire which gutted his workshop. With the drums-of-war getting louder, Rex opted to return to Australia. He had dreams of motorcycle manufacturing at home and brought six ‘bikes and and an engineless racing car – Wakefield gifted 6CM 1546 to Tilbrook – to sell to raise the working capital for his planned venture. Then the Fiscal Fiend intervened, Australian Customs seized the Maserati to pay for the import duty payable on six motorcycles. See this fabulous article on Rex Tilbrook; https://www.oldbikemag.com.au/remarkable-rex-tilbrook/

The newspaper article above was a catalyst for this piece, it is such a good detailed technical period article on the 6CM. I rather suspect that the journo obtained much of the nitty-gritty from Tilbrook rather than a glossy brochure. The race alluded to was the 1939 Australian Grand Prix held at Lobethal, South Australia on January 2, it was won by Allan Tomlinson’s MG TA Special s/c. Obviously Tilbrook was never going to contest the race ‘coz his nice, one owner, only-driven-on-Sundays Maserati didn’t have a donk under its svelte bonnet.

Maserati built 27 6CMs. The six-cylinder 1493cc engine (65x75mm bore/stroke) had cylinders cast in pairs and twin overhead camshafts driven from the nose of the crank. A single Weber was used and Roots type blower, ignition was by Scintilla magneto and the engine was dry-sumped. Power output was quoted initially as 155bhp @ 6200rpm, and later 175bhp @ 6600rpm.

Anthony Pritchard wrote that “The 6CMs were beautifully engineered, almost like a jewelled motion in comparison with the rather crude ERAs, and gave the impression of being Grand Prix cars in miniature. There were times, however, when Maserati cut corners in the standards of assembly and in the main the British owners became unhappy with the performance of their cars.”

There was a big difference in performance, and as Pritchard wrote, sometimes build quality of the works and privateer cars. The compression ratio of works cars was 6.75:1, of British customer cars, 6:1, supercharger size – 140mm blower for works cars, and 130mm for customers. Blower boost of 15-16psi compared with 11-12psi. Whether or not Giacomo the Junior assembled the machine on a Friday afternoon was doubtless a factor too.

The modified four-speed Fiat gearbox was mated to the engine and, being designed for a 34bhp Fiat 532 taxi, was unreliable. This situation wasn’t remedied until Maserati built their own transmissions. The rigid rear axle, made by Isotta Fraschini, was suspended on semi-elliptic springs.

Another bit of intrigue in all of this is that within Racing-Ron Edgerton’s photo collection are some naked shots of a Maserati chassis which looks suspiciously like that of a 6CM…it is 1546 actually.

Ron’s minimal captions include: ‘Maseratti’ (wrong), ‘1 1/2-litre chassis’ (correct) and ‘4CL Maserati (Brooks) Adelaide 1939’. The latter tells us it is the Wakefield car – he got the 4CL bit wrong – albeit the current orthodoxy is that Bill Brooks bought the car from customs in 1943. My suspicion is that Racing Ron made his notes about the photographs decades after the events themselves, the same blue biro he used throughout aids my forensic conclusion. We know from photographs in the Bob Shepherd Maserati Scrapbook – now in historian, David Zeunert’s care – that the car was not taken apart as shown in the chassis shots in 1939. More about Bob Shepherd here; https://primotipo.com/2021/12/03/werrangourt-archive-13-bob-shepherd-artist-extraordinaire/

Edgerton was a businessman who raced on the circuits and speedways throughout Australia; he got around when not many folks did. It’s highly likely he considered purchase of the car and travelled to Adelaide to do so, his high end automotive road and racing car CV is pretty much unmatched in Australia. More about Racing Ron here; https://primotipo.com/2021/03/17/racing-ron-edgerton/

If you read the first link above you will have seen photos of the car in its restored but unused state as below.

#1546, MotorClassica Melbourne 2018 (M Bisset)
6CM #1546 probably during the Brooks period of ownership, an Adelaide front yard (Bob Shepherd)

Etcetera…

(BRDC Speed Magazine)

Johnnie Wakefield in his Alta, #56S 1.5-litre s/c at Brooklands. Some lengthy research by Stephen Dalton identifies the meeting as the BARC Brooklands Campbell Circuit Meeting on July 10, 1937. The race is the First Short Handicap and the following car is Kay Petre, Austin s/v.

(MotorSport)

Wakefied at Brooklands during the Junior Car Club 200 Mile Race on August 27, 1938. He had a very successful weekend, winning his first major race in ERA R14B, the last B-Type constructed. Bira was second in his Maserati 8CM 34 seconds adrift, and Earl Howe third in an ERA C-type.

(MotorSport)
(unattributed)

Wakefield surprised the Italians on their home ground by winning the 246km Coppa Principessa di Piemonte at Posillipo, Naples on 28 May, 1939 aboard his Maserati 4CL. In an all Maserati field of 14 cars, Johnnie took a very good win, and fastest lap, from Piero Taruffi aboard a Scuderia Ambrosiana 6CM, and works-4CLs driven by Franco Cortese and Gigi Villoresi.

Wakefield was plenty quick in the final races he contested in 1939. A fortnight after Piemonte he won both races of the GP de Picardie, then led the Sporting Commission Cup, French GP support race at Reims on July 9 until his brakes faded, finishing second behind Armand Hug, Maserati 4CM. Off to Albi on July 16 he was victorious in front of Reggie Tongue, Maserati 4CL and Bira, ERA B-Type – then won again in the second race. At Berne Johnnie was third in the Voiturette heat and third in the Voiturette class of the Swiss Grand Prix with Giuseppe Farina and Clemente Biondetti’s Alfa 158s the class of the 1.5-litre field.

Wakefield really looked the goods as the dark years approached.

MotorSport in their September 1940 issue quote a power output of 200bhp @7000rpm for the “short stroke, square” 16-valve four-cylinder 4CL, the Alfa Romeo 158 straight-eight at 195-210bhp @ 7000rpm, the ERA E-Type 220-250bhp @ 8000rpm, and Mercedes Benz W165 V8 250bhp @ 10000rpm; all engines were supercharged.

(D Zeunert Collection)

More #1546…

Bill Brooks with #1546 as bought from Australian Customs circa 1943. It looks shite, is it as crashed at Cork, less engine? Or was the machine subject to some repair prior to being given to Tilbrook?

(D Zeunert Collection)

This series are as purchased by Tom Roberts prior to the restoration work of David Rapley.

Credits…

Cameron McLaren’s Rumblings, ‘Maserati : A Racing History’ Anthony Pritchard, Society of Automotive Historians in Britain, Bob Shepherd Collection via David Zeunert, David Zeunert Collection, BRDC Speed Magazine August 1937 via the Stephen Dalton Collection

Tailpiece…

I love scrap-books, Cam McLaren’s is far more posh than mine too. He lists his address at the time – wartime I guess – as ‘Sub/Lieut C.S. McLaren, 456 Glen Eira Road, Caulfield’ in Melbourne. More about McLaren here, can anybody tell us more? https://primotipo.com/2019/12/20/tooronga-park-light-car-racing/

Finito…

Ted King, Rajo Ford…

Posted: October 17, 2023 in Obscurities, Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: , , ,
2
(Ro Ander Family)

The lighting of this shot of Ted King’s Rajo Ford is poor but it also makes the shot, so very evocative!

Historian Nathan Tasca chased up a fellow who posted another photograph on Facebook and was rewarded with some other shots including these two,. At this point ‘Prof’ John Medley came to the rescue and identified the car, as he does…

As luck would have it, my loan-copy of a ‘Half Century of Speed’ has the shot below of King “after winning a championship at Penrith in 1927.” What follows is a truncated version of the late-great Barry Lake’s narrative.

Ted King lived in Newcastle (NSW) and raced mainly on dirt tracks in that area. King used to ship his car by steamer to Sydney and back to attend meetings. In the mid-late 1930s groups of speedcar drivers would do the reverse of this trip; travel overnight on Friday, race in Newcastle on Saturday, then return overnight on Saturday to be home in Sydney on Sunday.

Is this Ted King at his Newcastle area servo? Ring a bell folks (Ro Ander Family)

In the first half of the twentieth century road travel between cities was long and arduous. Roads were narrow, rough, winding and dusty, with many ferry crossings. Coastal steamers were cost effective alternatives right up until the early post-war years; Sydney to Adelaide an example.

Frontenac ‘Fronty’ and Rajo manufactured overhead valve conversions for T-Model Ford engines. They both used crossflow heads, but Frontenac Fords had the inlet ports on the left and exhaust ports on the right hand side of the car. All Rajo-Fords had the inlet on the right and exhaust on the left.

The Morris bull-nose radiator was a common fitment to locally assembled T-based racers which used Fronty or Rajo parts as they looked like the US built cars of the time at less cost.

Many Fronty and Rajo Fords were raced in Australia but few were fully imported complete cars. Heads, engine parts and other hot bits were brought in then built up with locally sourced T-Model parts to build copies of the US built cars. There are still about 35 on register in Australia.

More reading; https://primotipo.com/2018/11/20/penrith-speedway/

Etcetera…

After posting this piece the following material arrived from David Smallacombe, photo of King at Penrith, and from Andrew Webb, who has the remaining bones of the King machine; the front wheels, Rajo head, Solex carburettors, chain drive magneto and water pump, and log book.

Ted King, Rajo Ford, Penrith, date unknown (D Smallacombe)
Ted King Rajo BB engine (A Webb)
(A Webb)
(A Webb)
(P White Collection)

Ted King in his Rajo Ford at Maroubra, date unknown.

Credits…

Nathan Tasca, John Medley, Ro Ander Family, ‘Half a Century of Speed’ Barry Lake, Tony and Pedr Davis, David Smallacombe, Andrew Webb, Peter White Collection via Colin Wade

Finito…

Le Mans 1928…

Posted: October 14, 2023 in Features, Sports Racers
Tags: , , , , ,
5
(LAT)

Woolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin on their winning Bentley Motors Ltd entered Bentley 4½-Litre at Le Mans, June 17, 1928. The duo completed 155 laps, 2669 km.

Second was the Robert Bloch/Éduard Brisson Stutz DV16 Black Hawk ‘Bearcat’ 5.2-litre straight-eight, with the André Rossignol/Henri Stoffel Chrysler 72 Six 4.1-litre third, having completed 154 and 144 laps respectively.

It was Bentley’s third victory in the race: Frank Clement and John Duff won aboard a 3-litre Sport in 1924 – the second time the event was held – and Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis, 3-litre Speed in 1927. The marque won again in 1929, Barnato/Birkin 6½-Litre Speed Six, 1930, Barnato/Kidston 6½-Litre  Speed Six and most recently the Capello/Kristensen/Smith Speed Eight in 2003.

(LAT)

Tim Birkin/Jean Chassagne Bentley 4½-Litre in front of the other team car driven by the Frank Clement/Dudley Benjafield then the Louis Chiron/Cyril de Vere Chrysler Six Series 72. The Birkin car finished fifth, the other pair were DNFs: the Clement machine with radiator hose/oil issues, and Chiron/De Vere were disqualified after a bump-start.

Barnato/Rubin (unattributed)
Pitstop for the winning car (LAT)

(LAT)
(LAT)

Bentley 4½-Litre chassis ST3001…

The winning Barnato/Rubin machine, chassis ST3001 (above) was the first Bentley 4½-Litre off the Cricklewood production line. Completed in June 1927 with Vanden Plas Le Mans-type body, it was delivered to Barnato for use as a Bentley Motors team car.

Barnato gave ST3001 the nickname Old Mother Gun. YH 3196 debuted at Le Mans in 1927. Driven by Frank Clement and Leslie Callingham the car set a lap record on its second lap with the convertible hood still up. ST3001 retired from the race after 35 laps while leading, having become enmeshed in the infamous White House Crash that eliminated seven cars, including the Bentley team. There was a second 24-hour race held at the Circuit de la Sarthe on August 15-16 that year, the Grand Prix de Paris. Frank Clement and George Duller led from the off and won it by over 80 miles.

In 1928 the car won despite the challenges. Frank Clement’s car was forced out when the chassis frame cracked, disconnecting a water hose and emptying the radiator. All seemed lost again when the frame of Old Mother Gun, leading at the time, also cracked with about 15 miles to go. Despite having to ease, Barnato hung on with the other 4½-Litre of Birkin/Chassagne fifth after losing a lot of time during a wheel change.

ST3001’s chassis was then replaced with a new heavy-pattern chassis frame. OMGs second chassis was later used to rebuild the 4½-Litre MF3157.

In 1929, Old Mother Gun raced again Le Mans, as the only 4½-Litre entered, alongside Bentley’s two 6½-Litre Speed Six’. Victory went to the Speed Six Old Number One with Old Mother Gun second raced by Jack Dunfee and Glen Kidston.

(LAT)

The rest of the field…

(LAT)

The Maurice Benoist/Louis Balart Tracta FWD leads the similar car of Roger Bourcier/Hector Vasena, while below, the Bourcier/Vasena machine passes the stranded – but ultimately eighth placed and first in class – Robert Benoist/Christian d’Auvergne Itala 65S 2-litre.

(LAT)

(LAT)

The Clive Gallop/EJ Hayes FW Metcalfe entered Lagonda OH 2L Speed, DNF accident.

(LAT)

The Sammy Davis/Bill Urquhart-Dykes (ninth) and Maurice Harvey/Harold Purdy (sixth) Alvis TA FWDs and to the right, the Lucien Lemesle/Henry Godard S.C.A.P – Sociéte de Construction Automobile Parisienne – (DNF) in the pitlane before the off, and below, Davis at speed.

(LAT)
(LAT)

Action for the grandstand crowd, the Émile Maret/Gonzaque Lécureul S.A.R.A SP7 (DNF) battles with the Goffredo Zehender/Jérôme Ledour, Chrysler Six 72 DNF radiator.

(LAT)

The Maurice Benoist/Louis Balart Tracta-SCAP (12th) chases the (11th) Baron André d’Erlanger/Douglas Hawkes Lagonda OH 2L Speed.

(LAT)

The Robert Benoist/Christian d’Auvergne Itala 65S passes the crashed Sir Francis Samuelson/Frank King Lagonda, Samuelson was experiencing gearbox problems at the time he crashed.

As the MotorSport report reads, our Knight’s frenzied reversing efforts resulted in his teammate, D’Erlanger, in another FE Metcalfe entered Lagonda, colliding with him and pushing him further into the sand and through a fence. The shot below shows him in this situation, as the Gregoire/Vallon Tracta passes.

(LAT)
(LAT)

The shot above shows Samuelson attempting the difficult task of releasing the left-front guard/wheel from the voracious clutches of the fence and sandbank. A task in which he was unsuccessful.

(LAT)

Front of the field action from the winning Barnato/Rubin Bentley 4½-Litre and second placed Édouard Brisson/Robert Bloch Stutz DV16 Black Hawk ‘Bearcat’.

(LAT)

Journo’s enjoying a Gauloise – with a Pernod closeby no doubt – as they interview a driver atop the pit counter.

(LAT)

Gorgeous Lombard AL3 of Lucien Desvaux/Pierre Gouette, they finished 13th outright and third in the 1100cc class.

(LAT)

Winners are grinners, sort of. Not really at all actually. Bentley Boys Frank Clement, Tim Birkin and Woolf Barnato.

Credits…

LAT Photographic, MotorSport, MotorSport Images, F2-Index, Wikipedia

Tailpiece…

(LAT)

Incredibly evocative, romantic shot of Francis Samuelson trying to extricate his Lagonda from the ‘merde’ while the Maurice Harvey/Harold Purdy Alvis TA FWD passes (sixth)…and the shadows grow ever longer. Marvellous.

Finito…

Numero Uno : Ford GT40 #101…

Posted: October 8, 2023 in Icons & Iconoclasts, Sports Racers
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
2
(FoMoCo)

Ford GT40 chassis 101, the first of 12 prototypes built, on the runway at JFK Airport, New York, in early April 1964…

The machine is on its way to the New York International Auto Show, having been presented publicly to journalists in an open day at Slough, then outside the offices of Trans World Airlines at Heathrow on April Fools Day, before it was flown to the US “to be used for a press conference prior to the Mustang launch,” then display between April 4-12.

The car was a starlet for only the briefest of times, it was destroyed in an accident in the wet while being driven by Jo Schlesser during the Le Mans test weekend on April 18.

Jo Schlesser, Le Mans test weekend, Ford GT40 #101, April 1964 (MotorSport)
Ford GT40 1964 cutaway (FoMoCo)

Ford’s blunt telex on May 22, 1963 announced the end of discussions of the takeover of Ferrari by the Detroit giant. “Ford Motor Company and Ferrari wish to indicate, with reference to recent reports of their negotiations toward a possible collaboration that such negotiations have been suspended by mutual agreement.”

A month later Ford created the High Performance and Special Models Operations Unit – catchy ‘innit? – to design and build a Le Mans winner. Members of that group included Roy Lunn and Carroll Shelby. Kar Kraft was established within FoMoCo to oversee the Ford GT program, with Lunn its manager.

They soon identified and contracted Eric Broadley as project engineer, his monocoque Lola Mk6 GT Ford, which had performed well at Le Mans in 1963, despite not finishing, was a ground-breaking sports-prototype. As part of the deal Ford acquired the two existing Lola GTs, giving them a nice head start. John Wyer was appointed as race manager, a role he had performed at Aston Martin when Shelby co-drove an Aston Martin DBR1 with Roy Salvadori to Le Mans victory in 1959.

“The four pronged team comprised Lunn and Broadley designing and building the cars, Wyer managed the operation with Shelby acting as frontman in Europe,” Ford wrote.

(FoMoCo)

Key members of the Slough design team included Broadley, Lunn, Phil Remington and Len Bailey.

In the 10 months prior to the ’64 Le Mans classic the program got underway at Lola’s premises in Bromley. The Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) operation later moved to a factory in Slough, alongside Lola, who moved as well – in the middle of what is now referred to as Motorsport Valley – in the Thames Valley.

Some development work was carried out in Dearborn, but in essence the Ford GT40 was a British design funded by US dollars. The Ford contribution – most critically was absolute monetary and management commitment from the top to succeed – included engines and aero-modelling in which a scale model of the car was tested in their Maryland wind tunnel. Computer aided calculations related to aerodynamics under braking was undertaken and anti-dive geometry explored. The two Lola Mk6 Fords were used as mobile test-beds in the hands of Bruce McLaren and others until the end of 1963.

Le Mans test weekend (MotorSport)
(FoMoCo)

Let’s go back to the April 1964 logistics of #101. Ford GT40 anoraks shouldn’t get too excited by this piece, the words are a support for a bunch of great Ford Motor Company photos taken at JFK and in the studio I’ve not seen before. After the New York International Auto Show, the car retuned to the UK and was transported to the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) test track at Nuneaton where private shakedown tests took place.

The Le Mans test weekend followed on April 18-19. Jo Schlesser was allocated #101 and Roy Salvadori #102. Jo had already complained about high speed directional instability, when, on his eighth lap, he lost control in the wet at over 150mph. Miraculously, the car didn’t roll or hit trees, but it was destroyed with Schlesser copping only a minor cut to his face. Lady Luck was with him that day…not so at Rouen in 1968.

(FoMoCo)

Chassis and Suspension…

The Abbey Panels built steel monocoque – Eric Broadley wanted aluminium, while Ford wanted steel – incorporated two square tube stiffeners that ran from the scuttle to the nose. At the rear was a lightweight detachable subframe which supported the engine and suspension. Each sill-panel housed a bag-type fuel tank. The car weighed circa 865kg.

(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)

Front suspension was period typical upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/ Armstrong damper units, and an adjustable roll bar, the uprights were made of magnesium alloy. There was nothing radical at the rear either. Again the uprights were mag-alloy, there were single top links, lower inverted wishbones, coil spring/dampers and two radius rods looking after fore-aft location, and an adjustable roll bar.

(FoMoCo)

Brakes were 11.5 inch Girling rotors and calipers, while the wheels were heavy 15-inch Borrani wires, pretty naff by that stage given the modern technology used throughout the design; and addressed by Shelby American when they took over developmental charge of the race program from the end of 1964. The knock-off Borranis were 6.5-inches wide at the front and 8-inches up the back. ‘Boots’ were Dunlop R6s.

(FoMoCo)

Engine and Transmission…

The engine was a Ford Windsor small-block, cast iron, pushrod 90 degree 255cid V8. With a bore-stroke of 95.5 x 72.9mm, the four 48IDA Weber fed 4183cc engine developed circa 350bhp @ 7200rpm and 299lb-ft of torque at 5200rpm using a compression ratio of 12.5:1.

Colotti provided their Type 37 four speed transaxle which incorporated a limited slip diff to get the power to the road via a Borg and Beck triple plate clutch. Gear ratios were of course to choice, with a top speed of 205mph quoted with Le Mans gearing.

(FoMoCo)

Bodywork and Aerodynamics…

The GT40 name came about by picking up on the cars incredibly low height, two inches lower than than Broadley’s Lola Mk6.

Specialised Mouldings, a Lola supplier, based then in Upper Northwood, made the fibreglass bodies, the aerodynamics of which took much time to get right. Shelby ‘perfected’ the sensational, muscularly-erotic shape of the cars which won Le Mans in 1966-68-69 over the winter of 1964-65. The ’67 Mk4 being a different aerodynamic kettle-of-fish.

The headlights were fixed under clear Plexiglass covers with additional spotlights inboard of the brake ducts. Two big air intakes were sculpted into each flank to assist engine cooling with additional ducts on the panels each side of the rear screen.

At the rear were meshed cooling vents through which the raucous V8 exited its gasses. The body was slippery enough but not yet effective.

(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)

Driver ergonomics were very much to the fore. The top off each door was cut deeply into the roof. Once the driver cleared the wide-sill of the RHD, right-hand shift machine, he popped his arse into a light, fabric, perforated seat fixed in location; the pedals were adjustable.

I’m not sure if the 12 prototypes were built in this manner, but Denis Jenkinson described the GT40 production process in MotorSport as follows.

“The steel body chassis unit, made by Abbey Panels, of Coventry arrives in Slough in a bare unpainted form. Front and rear subframes are fitted, for carrying body panels etc, and then the unit goes to Harold Radford Ltd, where the fibreglass doors, rear-engine hatch which forms the complete tail, and front nosepiece, which is a single moulding, are cut-and-shut to fit the chassis/body unit, these panels then being marked and retained for the car in question. The fibreglass components are made by Glass Fibre Engineering of Farnham, Surrey and then delivered to Slough in the bare unpainted state. When the chassis/body unit is returned from Radfords the factory at Slough then assembles all the suspension parts, steering, wiring, engine, gearbox and so on, the final car being painted in the particular colour required by the customer.”

Checkout this evocative piece at Abbey Panels and Le Mans…

Many thanks for the tip-off Tony Turner!

1964 Season…

Given the lack of development time before the GT40 was raced, the initial races were pretty much a disaster.

Ford lost #101 (Schlesser) during the Le Mans test, while Salvadori gave #102 a gentle run, they were 12th and 19th quickest.

Six weeks later #102 contested the Nurburgring 1000km with a modified front clip manned by vastly experienced racer/engineers, Bruce McLaren and Phil Hill. Bruce was the lead test-driver on the GT40 programme. They qualified the car second behind the Ferrari 275P of John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini. Phil ran between second and fourth in his stint but the car was retired with suspension damage early after Bruce took the wheel.

Broadley in brown, McLaren in blue, #102 in white. Nurburgring 1000km 1964 (unattributed)
Business end of one of the GT40s at Reims in 1964 (MotorSport)
Le Mans 1964. Attwood/Schlesser GT40 from the Baghetti/Maglioli, Ferrari 275P and Bonnier/Hill Ferrari 330P (MotorSport)

At Le Mans three cars were entered for Hill/McLaren, Richie Ginther/Masten Gregory and Richard Attwood/Schlesser. While Ford set a lap record, all three cars retired; the Attwood car caught fire, with both other cars retiring with gearbox failure.

The two cars that appeared at the Reims 12 Hours a fortnight after Le Mans were #102 and #103, plus a new car, #105, powered by Shelby prepared 289 V8 giving about 390bhp at a lower 6750rpm – 341lb-ft of torque was up too. New third-fourth selectors were fitted to the Colotti ‘boxes, and the dog-rings hardened. The Surtees/Bandini Ferrari 250LM started from pole, but by lap 10 the Ginther GT40 led McLaren. Richie’s lead ended with crown wheel and pinion failure on lap 34, Atwood’s with a plug that had come out of the gearbox, while the Hill/McLaren car blew its engine.

Chassis 103 and 104 were then raced in the Nassau Speed Week by Hill and McLaren fitted with 289 V8s (4.7-litres). Only Phil made it through the Nassau Tourist Trophy qualifier, Bruce had suspension problems in 104. Hill’s car suffered the same fate in the feature race.

Without a finisher in four meetings, chassis #103 and #104 were shipped to Shelby American in California. “The decision was made in Dearborn to move the (development) work back back to the US, with Carroll Shelby given operational control and Lunn engineering control.” Ford’s website records.

Over that autumn and winter an intensive development programme together with with FAV produced a race winner, not a Le Mans winner mind you, but that would come soon enough…

And what happened to #101 you ask?…

The car’s odometer recorded only 465 miles at the time of its death. It was written off with many parts salvaged…the monocoque may have been repaired and renumbered. Ford has never released the details of what became of the various components, not least the all-important chassis. There is a replica of course, no point letting a vacant chassis number go to waste, it won an award at Pebble Beach, so I guess it’s a very shiny one.

Etcetera…

(FoMoCo)

(FoMoCo)

‘Total Performance’, ‘Going Ford is The Going Thing’, and the rest.

I lapped it all up! What was not to love about a global transnational with such commitment to motor racing in every sphere? From Formula Ford to Formula 1, Bathurst to Brands Hatch and the high banking of Daytona to the Welsh forests…God bless ‘em I say.

#102 and #101, Salvadori and Schlesser, Le Mans test weekend, April 1964 (unattributed)
(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)

Credits…

Ford Motor Company, corporateford.com, MotorSport Images

Tailpiece…

(MotorSport)

If Enzo started it all by ending negotiations with Ford, Eric Broadley finished it, unintentionally.

His Lola Mk6 Ford GT was so late for Le Mans that Eric sent drivers Richard Attwood and David Hobbs ahead and he drove the car to La Sarthe. What a road car…

The two Brits raced it as it arrived at the track; there were no alternative springs, bars or ratios. A missed shift by Hobbs of the tricky Colotti box ended their race too.

Eric Broadley bet-the-farm on that brilliant car but it paid off rather well!

Finito…

Pau Grand Prix 1970 and the Brabham BT30…

Posted: October 3, 2023 in Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0
(MotorSport)

Jack Brabham negotiates the tight confines of Pau during the April 5 weekend. Got his Jet Jackson helmet on too, hasn’t he, see here; https://primotipo.com/2020/07/11/jack-piers-and-helmets/

The car is Brabham BT30 chassis # 17 owned by ex-racer/businessman/team owner John ‘Noddy’ Coombs, the machine was shared by Jack and Jackie Stewart that season

Brabham didn’t finish at Pau fuel metering unit problems intervened. Jochen Rindt won in a works/Jochen Rindt Racing Lotus 69 Ford FVA from four BT30s: the machines of Henri Pescarolo, Tim Schenken, Derek Bell and Francois Mazet.

(MotorSport)

“Yeah, its not a bad little jigger, we’ve won a few races with BT30s in the last twelve months I suppose. It’s a lot tighter than I remember when I tested it for Ron last year mind you…”

Jack gets out of BT30/17 over the June 28, XVIII Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts weekend where he was eighth in the race won by Jo Siffert’s BMW 270.

BT30/17’s best results that season was Jackie’s second place at Thruxton and victory at Crystal Palace, while Jack was second at Tulln-Langenlebarn. Coombs shipped the car to Japan in May, where JYS won the Formula Libre Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji with Ford Cosworth FVC power.

Stewart bagged the Quadrella in the London Trophy at Crystal Palace in May. He won his heat, the final from pole, bagging fastest lap along the way (MotorSport)
(MotorSport)

The Brothers Brambilla compound during the Hockenheim 11, 1970 weekend. The car in shot is Tino’s #7 Brabham BT30/21 (DNF) during the 1970 Preis von Baden – Wurttemberg und Hessen Euro F2 Championship round. Dieter Quester had a home-win for BMW, he prevailed in an M11 powered BMW 270. The exhaust of Vittorio’s car, BT30/22, is at right.

The essential elements of customer F2 Brabhams of the era are on display; a spaceframe chassis, Ford Cosworth 1.6-litre FVA 210bhp engine and Hewland FT200 five-speed transaxle. It was then up to the driver to make these immensely robust, chuckable, fast, Ron Tauranac designed cars do the rest.

Chassis fetishests should check out Allen Brown’s detailed review of all BT30s built on oldracingcars.com, here; https://www.oldracingcars.com/brabham/bt30/

Etcetera…

(MotorSport)

Jack toyed with wings on and off at Rouen, racing without the appendages. Here he is showing the way to customers, Derek Bell (seventh) and Peter Westbury (tenth).

(MotorSport)

Another lovely Pau GP shot, where Tim Schenken was third in the Sports Motors International Brabham BT30.

That year the European F2 Championship was won by Clay Regazzoni’s Tecno 69 and 70 FVAs with 44 points, from Derek Bell’s BT30 (he also bagged one point in a BMW 270) 35 points, and Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 69 FVA on 25.

‘Graded drivers’ – in essence and summary, drivers who had scored points twice in the Top Six of a Grand Prix in the previous two years, and the World, F2, Indy, and Can Am Champs of the previous year – were ineligible for Euro F2 championship points.

In 1970 Rindt won at Thruxton, Stewart at Crystal Palace and Ickx at Tulln-Langenlebarn. Of the non-graded drivers, Regga won at Hockenheim, Enna-Pergusa and Imola – and won his first Grand Prix for Ferrari that September at Monza -, for Derek Bell at Montjuich Park, Barcelona, and Dieter Quester in the final Hockenheim round.

Credits…

MotorSport Images

Tailpiece…

(MotorSport)

The ‘guvnor keeps an eye on his protege during the Rouen weekend. Brabham and John Coombs, who bought his share of Brabhams over the years. See here for a MotorSport interview with John; https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-2009/71/lunch-john-coombs/

Finito…

Ryan Briscoe…

Posted: October 1, 2023 in F1, Features, Sports Racers
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
3
(Glenn Dunbar/LAT)

Ryan Briscoe is one of those Australian internationals I tend to forget about as he raced so little in Australia. His formative Karting years were here and then – Oscar Piastri like – most of his secondary education was in Europe from the age of 15 as he and his family successfully chased The Dream.

Briscoe, born in Sydney on 24/9/1981, is shown above testing the Toyota TF106 Grand Prix car at Jerez in December 2005. He was in on the ground floor of Toyota’s F1 program – from 2002-2004 – but never quite cracked it for a race seat so he was switched to Indycars in 2005, initially racing a Toyota powered Panoz for Chip Ganassi.

With Dad, Geoff circa 1992 (R Briscoe Collection)
Spa 2004 (MotorSport)

During the climb, he won Australian , American and Italian Karting titles in 1994, 1998 and 1999 respectively.He switched to cars, Formula Renault in 2000, winning the Italian F Renault Championship in 2001.

Ahead of the F Renault pack at Monza on April Fools Day 2001 from pole, but DNF as below! Tatuus Renault 2-litre (LAT)
(LAT)

During this most meteoric of rises Ryan also did some F3 in 2001, the shot below is at Zandvoort during the Marlboro Masters event on August 5, 2001. Car is Team Prema Dallara F300 Opel, DNF in the race won by Taka Sato, but third overall.

(LAT)
(MotorSport)

By the end of that year, aged 20, he was front and centre of Toyota’s F1 program as their test driver. Here he is at the launch of the Gustav Brunner designed Panasonic Toyota Racing TF102 V10 in Cologne, where the team was based, on December 17, 2001. The race drivers in 2002 – at the start of a rather grim eight year F1 sojourn for Toyota – were Mika Salo and Allan McNish.

Amongst his testing duties he raced initially in F3000, not going very well in the Nordic run car, and F3 later in 2002, and in 2003, winning the Euroseries that year. He progressed to being Toyota’s third driver, testing on the Friday of each grand prix, in 2004.

Lola TB02/50 Zytec-Judd KV circa 450bhp V8, Formula 3000 Barcelona April 2002 (MotorSport)
During the Pau GP weekend in June 2003, Dallara F303 Opel. Briscoe won a race, and Fabio Carbone the other (Glenn Dunbar/LAT)

Briscoe won eight of the 20 races in the F3 Euroseries in his Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel to take the title from Christian Klien. Other hotshots in the field that year included Niko Rosberg and Robert Kubica.

Briscoe, during practice, Toyota TF104 3-litre V10, Hungary 2004 (unattributed)

Ryan moved to Indycars (I’m using that word as a generic descriptor of the genre) with Chip Ganassi in 2005, showing extraordinary pace for a rookie; two poles and regular top-half qualifying on unfamiliar ovals. Tenth at Indy on debut was stunning, equally so was seven crashes in his 15 starts, the last of which was a massive accident after his Panoz GF09C Toyota climbed atop Alex Barron’s Dallara at Chicagoland Speedway in September that landed him in hospital and rehabilitation for four months.

Zandvoort A1 GP Cup October 2006 – the first meeting of the 2006-7 season – third in the main race won by Nico Hulkenberg. Lola A1GP Zytec 3.4 V6 circa 520bhp (MotorSport)

In 2006 he did a mixed programme of Indycar, V8 Supercars and A1 Grand Prix, but it was a full season in the American Le Mans Series for Penske Racing driving a Porsche RS Spyder in 2007 that pushed his career forward with Penske. He won three rounds sharing with Sascha Maassen.

Ryan at Watkins Glen in June 2006. I rather like the shot of the Dallara IR03 Chev aero elements doing their thing (Dan Streck/LAT)
Briscoe in front of Vitor Meira at Sonoma Raceway, California in August 2006. Racing for Dreyer & Reinhold Racing in a Dallara IR03 Chev V8. 16th in the Indy GP of Sonoma won by Marco Andretti (Dan Streck/LAT)
Briscoe, American Le Mans Series, Northeast Grand Prix, Lime Rock July 2007, Penske Porsche RS Spyder. Ryan won the LMP2 class, and was third outright, sharing the car with Sascha Maasen (Sutton Images)

This sportscar success, together with some strong performance in limited Indycar outings – Q5 and fifth in the Indy 500 for Luczo-Dragon Racing, led to a full-time Indycar drive with Penske from 2008-2012.

In a strong Indycar career he won eight races, had 28 podiums and finished third in the title in 2009 (three wins), and fifth in 2008 and 2010 as his bests. In 2009 he led the championship going into the penultimate round but hit the wall exiting the pitlane at Motegi, then, in a three-way battle for the title finished second behind Dario Franchitti in the final round, who became champion.

(MotorSport)

Aviating at Surfers Paradise on the way to winning the Indy 300 in October 2008, Team Penske Dallara IR-04/05 Honda 3.5 V8. Scott Dixon was second, 5/10ths behind and Ryan Hunter-Reay a further nine seconds adrift.

And below doing the same thing at the same place in a V8 Supercar in October 2011, sharing the Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE in the Gold Coast 600 with Garth Tander. The pair were 11th in the first race, 23rd and last in the second. The winner overall was the Triple Eight VE Commodore crewed by Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais. Ryan’s best V8 Supercar result was at this event in 2013 when he shared a VF Commodore with Russell Ingall to third place.

(Mark Horsborough/LAT)

The Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Ford GT at Le Mans in 2018. Q37 and 39th outright in the 3.5-litre turbo-V6 powered car – and shot below (MotorSport)
(MotorSport)

“Ryan has driven more sportscars that I’ve had Sunday roasts,” would perhaps be the observation Australia’s greatest all-rounder, the late Frank Gardner would have made.

Briscoe’s best sportscar results are victory in the Daytona 24 Hours in 2020 (Cadillac Dpi-VR), and Petit Le Mans the same year.

He was runner-up in the 2016 (Ford GT), 2018 (Ford GT) and 2020 (Cadillac DPi-VR) IMSA Sportscar Championship GTLM class. He was third in the 2007 American Le Mans Series, winning the LMP2 class (Porsche RS Spyder),

His best results at Le Mans were fifth in 2021 sharing a Glickenhaus 007 LMH with Romain Dumas and Richard Westbrook, and third in 2022 in the same make/model, this time sharing with Westbrook and Franck Mailleux.

At Daytona he won outright in 2020 (as above) and was first in class in 2015 and 2018 racing a Cadillac DPi VR, Chev Corvette C7.R, and Ford GT respectively – with co-drivers of course. At Sebring he won his class in 2013 and 2015 aboard a HPD ARX-O3b and Chev Corvette C7.R.

Briscoe/Richard Westbrook/Franck Mailleux Glickenhaus SCG007 LMH, fifth. Le Mans 2021 (MotorSport)
Richard Westbrook, Franck Mailed, Ryan Briscoe and James Glickenhaus, Le Mans 2021 (MotorSport)
Power by Pipo Moteurs 3.5-litre twin-turbo 500Kw V8, Xtrac 7-speed sequential manual (MotorSport)

Ryan married Nicole Manske in 2009, they have two children, and in 2018 he became a naturalised American.

Etcetera…

(MotorSport)

Here to zero at the Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois on the Indy 300 September 10-11 weekend in 2005.

Here with the Gregory-Peck for pole, a handy $10k. It was Ryan’s second Indycar pole, he started from pole at Sonoma, the previous round but crashed out on the first lap. The car is a Chip Ganassi run Panoz GF09C Toyota.

Shortly after this happy scene the car failed post-practice scrutineering, so Ryan lined up last on the grid, perhaps sowing the seeds of the crash which followed.

(MotorSport)

‘Roger that, we have lift-off Houston.’

On lap 20 Briscoe’s Panoz GF09C Toyota ran into 15th placed Alex Barron’s Dallara Toyota (Q18) as he sought to go under him on his way up the field towards turn 3 of the 1.5-mile oval – look at the proximity of his right-rear to Barron’s head/roll bar area – and the staggering physics of a collision at 215mph were unleashed.

(MotorSport)

Briscoe hit the fence with the bottom of his Panoz first, it split in two as it ripped through a fence post, leaving a big hole. With a half-tank or so of fuel there was a spectacular explosion as the car split, with the cockpit safety cell spinning down the track narrowly avoiding other cars. Car 2 is Thomas Enge, #55 is Kosuke Matsuura.

(MotorSport)

After several anxious minutes Ryan was removed from the wreck – the monocoque had done its job well – and gave a reassuring wave as he was placed into the ambulance with injuries later diagnosed as two broken collarbones, a bruised lung, fractured right foot and contusions to his arms, legs and back.

Briscoe was hospitalised for nine days then had extensive rehab in the US and Italy before returning to the cockpit in a Riley Mk9 Pontiac 5-litre V8 in the Daytona 24-Hours on the January 28-29, 2006 weekend – four months after his Big One.

Credits…

LAT, MotorSport Images, Ryan Briscoe Collection

Tailpiece…

(MotorSport)

The Briscoe & Co Ford GT at Le Mans in 2018.

Finito…