primotipo…

Paul Hawkins shared Jackie Epstein’s Ferrari 250LM in the 1966 Targa Florio. They were 30th in the race won by the Willy Mairesse/Muller works-Porsche 906.

More about Epstein here: http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/LWFWIW/focusLWFWIW.php?db=LWF&db2=ms&n=951

Its funny where I’m finding photos, which give me the ideas for articles, in recent times. Ebay facilitates sales of lotsa things, including motor racing photos. So, Googling, ‘Paul Hawkins Ferrari’ up popped the two Ebay ad shots. Punters put the shots up at just about a sharp enough resolution to use. So there you have it, the photo credits here are all Ebay unless identified otherwise. And yes, the sellers rarely credit the original photographer, albeit I recognise many as LAT/MotorSport Images material…so I’ve just slapped LAT on the lot.

The Larry Perkins/Kevin Kogan/Derek Daly fourth placed TWR Jaguar XJR-9 V12 at Le Mans in 1988.

Jaguar’s 1988 Le Mans victory was an endurance racing defining moment, marking Jaguar’s return to the top after decades of Porsche dominance; they last won Le Mans in 1957: D-Type Ron Flockhart/Ivor Bueb.

Their weapon of war was Tony Southgate’s, TWR-built, carbon fibre XJR-9 7-litre V12. Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace won while Larry was fourth, his purple and white machine shared with Irishman Derek Daly and American Kevin Cogan.

The race was a long, tense Jaguar-Porsche duel with a light rain adding to the late race drama, allowing Hans Stuck’s 962 to close the gap. Jaguar’s lead remained intact despite a gearbox failure in the final hour. Jan Lammers kept the car in fourth gear for the balance, nursing the XJR-9 to victory and delirious joy from the army of Jag enthusiasts present.

Larry was an easy choice for Tom Walkinshaw. Both were on the slippery slope of the intensely competitive European scene in the early 1970s; Tom watched Larry rise to the top. F1. Not to forget that they had jumped into bed together via Holden Special Vehicles in Australia in 1988; Perkins Engineering were contracted to run Holden’s race program.

Frank Gardner testing the Ford F3L/P68 at Goodwood in 1968, date folks?

The red beauty flattered to deceive but FG got the very best from it, buckle up for this rather lengthy treatise: https://primotipo.com/2018/06/21/skin-deep-beauty/ and Alan Mann Racing here:https://alanmann.co.uk

Meanwhile, Alan Mann gets the lowdown from Bruce McLaren below. 3-litre Ford Cosworth DFV in clear sight, Hewland DG300 gearbox not so. The engine, which was designed to be used as a stressed member, wasn’t, and that’s about where the problems started…

The John Raeburn/Nicholas Granville-Smith Ford GT40 during the 1968 Nurburgring 1000 km.

Melbourne-born John Raeburn raced sports cars briefly in Europe in the mid-1960s before retiring at the ripe old age of 32 at the end of ’68. 

John raced Holdens and then made his name with his consistent winning pace in a Buchanan Holden from April 1960 to July 1961. Into the mix were drives in Jaywood Motors Appendix J Holden Humpy and FC.

He competed in the 1960-64 Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island and Bathurst, sharing a Singer Gazelle with Harry Firth in 1960, and then Firth’s works Ford Cortina GT, Zephyr MkIII and Falcon.

He took on the big-car challenge in 1965, finishing fifth in the one-race Australian Touring Car Championship at Sandown. His mount was the 7-litre Ford Galaxie left in Australia after the ’64 Sandown International by Sir Gawaine Baillie. He jumped on a ship for Europe with the intention of racing the car in the UK, but Baillie sold it before he got there. 

Undeterred, he started working for Graham Warner’s Chequered Flag Motors in 1966, driving their Shelby Cobra in the 500 Zeltweg 500 km.

He raced Mike de Udy’s Porsche 906 with Roy Pike in the Reims 12 Hours in 1967, and took part in several 1968 World Sportscar Championship rounds at Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Nürburgring. His car was a yellow Ford GT40, chassis #1001, owned by Andy Cox, ‘who had won money on the football pools and bought himself a GT40,’ wrote Doug Nye.

Among his driving partners were Nicholas Granville-Smith and another Australian tyro who did a stint at The Chequered Flag, Tim Schenken. 

Reaburn reported his exploits back home via Racing Car News. Raeburn tested a Formula 3 car at Brands Hatch in 1966, matching Tony Lanfranchi’s times, and a works F2 Lotus 48 Ford FVA at Hethel in 1967, but, being a tall unit, decided to concentrate on sports car racing. 

He quit racing at the end of 1968, aged 32. In recent years John lived in retirement with his wife in Mooroolbark, Victoria. He passed away from a stroke, on Saturday, 26 November 2016, aged 80.

Keep an eye out for a feature coming up on John thanks to my mate Gregory Smith…

The Frank Gardner/David Hobbs Lotus Elite during the 23-24 June 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Team Elite entered two cars, Hobbs/Gardner shared the #44 (chassis 1678) and Clive Hunt-Jesse Wyllie #45 (chassis 1792). #44 car finished eighth and #45 11th. That was again a win in the 1151-1300 cc class. There was also a double finish (first and third) in the Index of Thermal Efficiency. The #45 car  finished eleventh.

This Le Mans is remembered for the clash of the titans, Colin Chapman and the ACO. Chapman entered his new Lotus 23 Lotus-Ford twin-cam 1.5 in the Experimental class.

Jim Clark wowed the pundits with a staggering Lotus 23 performance in front of the V6 and V12 engines in the May 27 1000 km Nürburgring before problems intervened.

The #47 Lotus 23 was fitted with a 997cc Ford Cosworth MAE twin-cam engine as a potential Index of Performance winner in the hands of works F1 drivers Clark and Trevor Taylor. The other #48 Lotus 23 (below) was a UDT Laystall entry for Les Leston and Tony Shelly.

Both cars looked odd because of the required front window dimensions, but they weren’t allowed to be scrutineered due to insufficient ground clearance, an illegally oversized fuel cell and non-conventional fixation of the wheels (four bolts in the front and six at the back).

Chapman flew Frank Costin from London to plead his case that a four-bolt wheel affixation sufficed; the team made the change in the paddock. He offered a stress test, but the scrutineers still said no, so the two Lotus 23s couldn’t take part! Chapman was incandescent with rage, swearing that never again would a works Lotus race at Le Mans. 

Horst Kwech in the Alfa Romeo T33/2 he shared with John Martino in the July 14, 1968 Watkins Glen 6 Hour.

Ok, Horst was born in Austria, lived in Cooma during his formative years and spent most of his adult life in the US, but he always wore a ‘Roo on his helmet, so we’ll claim him…

The then Alfa GTA Trans-Am star was out after only 17 of the winner’s 286 laps (Lucien Bianchi/Jacky Ickx JW Ford GT40), having qualified the car 11th, he got up to 10th before the engine cried enough. The best placed 2-litre car, the fourth placed Frank/Trieschman Porsche 906.

More on the T33/3 here:https://primotipo.com/2023/07/10/alfa-romeo-tipo-33-tt-3-and-siblings/

Earlier in the year, Kwech shared a Shelby-prepared Ford Mustang in the Daytona 24 Hour with then US-based Allan Moffat. We’ll claim that Canadian too!

The shot below shows Kwech on the outside of the Paul Vestey/Roy Pike Ferrari 250LM. Car #1 is the fourth placed! Jerry Titus/Ronnie Bucknum Shelby Mustang. Horst and Allan were out after 176 of the winners 673 with a rear suspension problem. Up fromt was two 2.2-litre Porsche 906s: driven by Vic Elford/Jochen Neerpasch/Rolf Stommelen/Jo Siffert/Hans Herrman! and Siffert/Hermann.

The colour shot below is of Moffat. More about Moff’s US Racing Phase here:https://primotipo.com/2020/03/06/moffats-shelby-brabham-elfin-and-trans-am/

The works-Porsche 910 Paul Hawkins shared with Gerard Koch to second place in the May 28, 1967 Nurburgring 1000 km is about to be monstered by the 7-litre Chev powered Chaparral 2F driven by Phil Hill and Mike Spence, DNF.

The race was won by the Udo Schutz/Joe Buzzetta works-910. See here:https://primotipo.com/2020/09/25/hawkeye/ and another perspective here:https://primotipo.com/2017/10/12/lola-t70-aston-martin/

Tim Schenken aboard the Ferrari 312PB 3-litre flat-12 he shared with Carlos Reutemann at Le Mans in 1973

Tim had a big year with Surtees in F1 in 1972 and did the full endurance season with Scuderia Ferrari, usually sharing his Ferrari 312PB with good mate Ronnie Peterson. They won the 1000 Km Buenos Aires and the Nurburgring 1000 km and were second at Daytona, Sebring, Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen and third in the Monza 1000 km in a solid contribution to the points haul that won Ferrari the Munufacturers Championship 160 points to Alfa Romeo, 85, and Porsche, 66.

More about Schenken here:https://primotipo.com/2019/01/02/tim-schenken/

Tim returned to Ferrari the following year, but the Matra MS670/670B had bridged the performance gapso his best results were two second places in the car he shared with Carlos Reutemann at the Vallelunga 6 Hour and Monza 1000 km.

At Le Mans, the pair were out in the 12th hour with engine troubles; the Ickx/Redman machine followed suit in the final hour, leaving the Art Merzario/Carlos Pace 312PB second, but six laps adrift of the victorious Henri Pescarolo/Gerard Larrousse Matra-Simca MS670B. More about the Matra here:https://primotipo.com/2023/09/19/matra-random/

The only other Australian works-Ferrari driver was Paul Hawkins who shared a Ferrari P4 with Jonathan Williams in the 1968 Brands Hatch 6 Hour. Sadly, it was Paul’s only Scuderia Ferrari drive, but far from his last drive of a Ferrari! More about the 1967 ‘World Sportscar Championship’ and the Ferrari P4 here:https://primotipo.com/2015/04/02/ferrari-p4canam-350-0858/

The Donald Healey Motor Company, Lola, Porsche, Ford and Ferrari isn’t a bad list of works outfits to have raced for!

Speaking of the DHMC, here are some shots of the Hawkins/Timo Makinen Austin Healey Mk3 during the 1965 Targa Florio with Hawkeye at the right, ready to jump aboard. The pair were 21st in the race won by Nino Vaccarella and Lorenzo Bandini’s works-Ferrari 275 P2.

Brian Muir co-drove this Allan Mann Racing Ford GT Mk2 with Graham Hill at Le Mans in 1966

In 1966 Muir did a full season in a Willment Racing Ford Galaxie in the British Touring Car Championship. At the Norisring-Rennen in Germany, he won the GT race in Willment’s AC Daytona Cobra and finished third in the sportscar race in the team’s Lotus 30-Climax, setting the fastest lap.

Given his pace, Muir was signed to steer the Ford MkII with Hill. During the race, the pair ran in the top six before the front suspension broke during the eighth hour. More about Muir here:https://primotipo.com/2022/09/03/brian-muir/

I think the only other Le Mans entry Graham Hill shared with an Australian was with Derek Jolly in a Lotus Engineering 2-litre Lotus 15 Coventry Climax FPF in 1959.

That ended in tears with a Queerbox-induced engine failure. See this lengthy piece on Derek and his pair of Lotus 15s here:https://primotipo.com/2017/11/09/dereks-deccas-and-lotus-15s/

Vern Schuppan in the Gulf Mirage GR8 Ford Cosworth DFV he shared with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud to finish third at Le Mans in 1975.

Up front was the other team car driven by Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx, in second was the similarly powered Ligier JS2 crewed by Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil.

Nearly a decade later, Vern shared a Kremer Racing Porsche 956B with Alan Jones; the pair finished sixth in the race won by the Joest 956B raced by Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig.

I’ve done a few pieces about Vern, try this one:https://primotipo.com/2022/01/17/vern-schuppan-3/

Vern in a sports car of a completely different type, an Elfin MR8C Chev F5000 converted into a central seat Can-Am machine, here at Riverside in 1977, resplendent in brand new John Webb aluminium bodywork. I’ve prattled on about this car before, see here: https://primotipo.com/2018/10/02/hit-with-the-fugly-stick/

Credits…

Ebay-LAT-MotorSport Images, Larry Roberts, Gardner Lotus Elite-History Racing Pedia, F2Index-Fastlane, Getty Images, Racing Sports Cars

Finito…