Australian motoring journalists and the organisations they work for have always been innovative, very much at the cutting edge in terms of their deployment of objective assessment of the steeds with which they are entrusted.
The Sydney Morning Herald captioned this part of their routine road-testing as the ‘Jump Start. Testing the durability of the German Goggomobile’s body by jumping up and down on it in Sydney on June 27, 1958.’ Poor old BOB-515!
Fantastic shot of Logan Fow in the ex-Pat Hoare Ferrari 256 GTO – nee Ferrari Dino 256/60 #007 – launching from the line at the Tikorangi Speed Trials in November 1970. The Colombo Tipo 128 3-litre V12 gave about 310 bhp, so it was a quick car, the fastest registered Ferrari of all at the time according to Signor Ferrari himself.
I’ve already written about this car here: So there’s no point going over it all again, but the magic of Facebook – in this case the Old New Zealand Motor Racing and South Island Motorsports pages – means there have been many more photographs shared in the ensuing five years, and being a sharing, caring kinda guy, I thought you might like to see them. See here for a lengthy feature on Pat’s Feraris:https://primotipo.com/2020/02/07/pn-hoare-440-papanui-rd-christchurch-nz/
Pat Hoare won the Waimate 50 on February 11, 1961, from Angus Hyslop’s Cooper T45 Climax (M Beaumont)Here’s Pat Hoare with 256/60 #007 Coupe in the driveway of his 440 Papanui Road home in Christchurch circa 1963 (J Manhire)
Unable to sell the obsolete racing car internationally after two years of racing, Hoare had this ‘GTO-esque’ body made for the machine, turning it into a road car of prodigious performance and striking, if controversial looks.
The artisans involved were Ernie Ransley, Hoare’s long-time race mechanic, Hec Green, who did the body form-work and G.B McWhinnie & Co’s Reg Hodder, who built the body in sixteen-gauge aluminium over nine weeks and painted it. A very young George Lee, still doing his apprenticeship, did the upholstery.
Pat’s brief was to use the chassis and mechanicals as was, modified in relation to popping the steering wheel offset to the right. Given the wheelbase of the 256 was a fair bit shorter than that of a 250 GTO, the packaging and styling challenges were manifest, especially given that Hoare was a reasonably LWB model himself. Ferrari assisted by providing factory drawings and some components, such as a GTO windscreen.
Date and place of this car show folks? (J Manhire)256/60 007 during Logan Fow’s ownership. Tipo 128 3-litre all-aluminium, SOHC, two-valve, six-Webered engine gave circa 310 bhp. Note the straight run of the steering rod into the cockpit, and light, tubular steel bodywork supports on ‘this side’. I wonder what type of Firestones they are? (K Tisch)Logan Fow contesting a Brentwood Sprint Meeting, date unknown (K Tisch)
I don’t for a moment find the styling of the car on the same planet as the Bizarrini/Scaglietti original, but I don’t mind the result. Pat had an unsaleable old racing car at the time, who can argue with a road car solution like this that retained ALL of the key elements of a grand prix winning chassis without sodomising it!?
After using it for a few years, Pat sold it to Hamilton school teacher Logan Fow in 1967. He ran it as a roadie and occasional track day use for several years until British racer/collector Neil Corner struck a deal to buy the car sans ‘GTO’ body, but with the open-wheeler panels, which had been carefully retained and set aside. The Ferrari was converted back to its 256 V6 race specifications and still competes in Europe.
Fow took a new Ferrari 365 Berlinetta Boxer in exchange for all of the 256 bits and pieces, running the Boxer around Europe on a holiday for a while, but ran foul of NZ Government import rules when he came home and had the machine seized from him by customs when he failed to stump up the taxes demanded by the Fiscal Fiends. A sub-optimal result, to say the least.
256 GTO in Logan Fow’s Hamilton front yard (K Tisch)A shitty photograph that shows the car in the form it was shipped by Logan Fow to Neil Corner, sans coupe body and 007’s body panels, which were also shipped to the UK (CAN)(G Begg)
256-007 during the 1966 Lady Wigram Trophy meeting over the January 22 weekend, during which Jackie Stewart took some time out from his BRM duties and did some demonstration laps in the car. JYS won the big Tasman Cup race too, in his 1.9-litre BRM P261.
(G Guy)
The Body…
The home-made body stayed in New Zealand and ‘disappeared’, although it seems clear from the Facebook posts that it never really did…and in 2022, the then-owner decided to monetise it, to use a modern word.
(L Lawson)
The mortal remains of the car’s GTO Phase were sold in February 2022 via trademe.co.nz. 188 bids pushed the price to $NZ37,310.
It was described thus, complete with all of the errors: ‘Starting life as a Formula One Dino 246, V6-engined car, it was later altered to a 3-litre V12 for the Tasman Series.
‘At one time raced by Phill Hill, this Formula one car was rebodied into a G.T. road car of fine tradition. This was done with the knowledge of, and express approval of Enzo Ferrari who provided many of the G.T.O. parts. This creation was driven by Jackie Stewart at Wigram N.Z. Lighter than a 250 G.T.O. and with a fully independent rear axle, Ferrari said it was the fastest G.T. road car in the world at that time.’
‘The body only is now offered for sale on behalf of the owner who has treasured it for the last 40 years. It is N.Z. registered and comes with papers and plates. Ref, Enzo Ferrari’s secret war, by David Canton.’
(Trade Me)(Trade Me)
It will be interesting to see the mechanical specifications of the car this body clothes next!
Etcetera…
(E Stevens)
Ernie Ransley and Pat Hoare suss what they have after the 256 V12 arrived from Modena in early January 1961. 440 Papanui Road, out the back.
(E Stevens)
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to Ardmore we go…
(J Manhire)
Hoare’s Pantech arrives at Ardmore for the 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix; a home-made two-wheel trailer and trusty pink Holden FB tow-mobile. Such a handsome racing car!
(M Feisst)(G Woods)
Let’s finish with the ‘original’…Pat Hoare during the 1961 Lady Wigram Trophy weekend. DNF in the race won by Jack Brabham’s Cooper T53 Climax.
(A Smith)
Not to forget Phil Hill’s victory aboard Ferrari Dino 256-007 V6 in the September 1960 Italian Grand Prix; the last championship win for a front-engined car. Yes, yes, the Italian national racing governing body gave Ferrari a free kick in a winless year by using the combined banked/road circuit. A significant chassis that one, all the same…
(R Jenkins)Monza pitlane: Taffy von Trips’ Ferrari Dino 156P F2 car, #20 Phil’s Dino 246/256 and #18 Richie Ginther’s 246/256 (A Smith)
Credits…
George Begg, Eric Stevens, Mike Feisst, John Manhire, Eric Stevens, Graham Guy, Matheson Beaumont, Lance Lawson, Archie Smith, R Jenkins
Allan McNish, descending Hosier Lane, pops his Audi R8 Croc, chassis #403, into first gear for the slow left-hander before blasting up the short Flinders Street straight in the 2027 Melbourne 1000 km…I wish!
Gabriel Bortoleto gaining some points in his Audi R26 was an impressive start from a ‘newcomer marque’ upon debut at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
So too were their marketing and promotional activities in and around the race – activations – I think is the name given to this stuff by today’s, perky little brand-meisters.
McNish opposite Flinders Street Station heading east on Flinders Street, corner of Swanton Street. To meet ‘under the clocks’ at Flinders Street is a century old Melbourne tradition before heading off to your boozer of choice (Audi) McNish , Audi R8 ahead of David Brabham’s Panoz LMP-1, about to hook into the Adelaide GP circuit’s Chicane early in The Race of 1000 Years on 31 December 2000 (Audi Sport)Borteloto, Audi R26 in front of Hamilton, Ferrari SF-26 during qualifying at Albert Park in 2026 (J Portlock-Getty)
Not least Audi Australia’s short film to reintroduce the Audi R8 LMP900 ‘Crocodile car’ that won the Race of a Thousand Years in 2000 driven by Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish.
70,000 enthusiastic spectators saw McNish and Capello prevail in an event shortened to 850 km from its scheduled 1000 km, from the Franz Konrad/Charles Slater/Alan Heath Lola B2K/10 Ford and the Dodge Viper GTS-R raced by Olivier Beretta/Karl Wendlinger/Dominique Dupuy.
‘The concept for the film called for the car’s original driver, three-time Le Mans winner Allan McNish, to reprise his role behind the wheel, pulling the dust covers off the car in a warehouse at an undisclosed location, before blasting up the Great Ocean Road in Victoria on his way to Melbourne where Audi’s next great motorsport challenge was about to take place. McNish is now the Director of the Audi Revolut F1 Driver Development Program. See here:https://youtu.be/1mvWxrqLCL4?si=di_c8Gkf1AzFkTN_
The railway shots were taken at the Newport Rail Museum in Champion Road. Specifically ‘in 5 Road and the laneway between the West Block and Centre Block, with L1162 (English Electric L-Class) making a background feature!’ (Newport Rail Museum)(Newport Rail Museum)(Audi)
The R8’s race livery was a nod to Australia hosting its first ALMS (American Le Mans Series) race at the end of a season that saw Audi dominate Le Mans, taking the first of a record number of Le Mans wins.
“The ‘Crocodile R8’ is the perfect bridge between the brand’s racing history in Australia and our entry into Formula 1,” said Audi Australia’s General Manager of Marketing, Nick Reid.
The Race of a Thousand Years ended a near perfect year for Audi in which McNish won the 2000 ALMS driver’s championship and Audi the manufacturer’s.
The Croc was retired after Adelaide and has since lived between visiting gigs at Audi’s Ingolstadt Museum. In advance of its movie star role, Audi Tradition engineers shook the car down on an airstrip and blew one of the R8’s twin-turbos in the process. Without a spare on the shelf, they used the original blueprints to fabricate a turbo casting (perhaps a pattern?) and then made a new one.
While the Great Ocean Road part of the video shows the obligatory Twelve Apostles shot, as a former Wye River local, I think the footage and shots are in the Mount Defiance area, with the turnaround point in one of the photos below, at Cumberland River, close to Lorne. Not that it really matters, just my OCD kicking in (J McRory)(J McRory)(Audi)
The logistical nightmare of this undertaking in the red tape and due process capital of the world – Australia – fries my brain. In masterful understatement, James McRory wrote, ‘Putting a race car on public roads – never mind iconic stretches of blacktop like the Great Ocean Road is best described as a ‘logistical nightmare’. Wanting to drive one through a major city like Melbourne only increased the degree of difficulty by a significant margin. Add to all this a schedule that was tighter than two coats of paint.’
‘Permits and road closures, traffic marshals, police escorts, technical support for the car and transporting it all over Victoria required tremendous forward planning and execution. Just getting the car to Australia in time and through customs presented all manner of challenges, the car arrived Down Under two weeks before the Australian Grand Prix and days before filming was set to commence.’
Blowing off a couple of trams in these two shots. Still opposite Flinders Street Station, Allan is heading south, towards Princes Bridge.
(J McRory)
Heading in the same direction below, this time about to clear Princes Bridge, St Kilda Road over the Yarra River, our murky, but cleanish wonderful river. Engine note at this point would have been worth hearing! My rat run in Collingwood to my girlfriend’s 1.5 km away on St Kilda Road, is on this stretch. I shall be making R8 noises as I cross Princes Bridge from now on…
(J McRory)(J McRory)
McNish. What a fun start to his AGP carnival weekend it must have been!
Etcetera…
(Audi Sport)
McNish in #403 during the Adelaide Race of a Thousand years.
(J McRory)
And pretty relaxed in Hosier Lane in late February 2026. This graffiti/street art lane between Flinders Street and Little Collins Street works hard from pre-dawn to midnight every day.
(J McRory)
Great Ocean Road, Cumberland River turn-around point? No shortage of recording devices in use. How ancient does the technology of ‘Grand Prix’ seem?
(J McRory)(J McRory)
Night-time service depot for the Melbourne Performance Centre crew, who look after Audi customer racing in Australia. It’s at the south, dead-end section of Russell Street behind the Ian Potter Centre-National Gallery of Victoria.
(J McRory)
Beavering away on the car in the wee small hours above, and below, enjoying the dawn view east with three Balloons in sight beyond the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
(J McRory)(M Bisset)
This is more like the Balloon view Melbourne inner-east early-birds get on a good day!
6.45am on April 5 taken beside the Yarra on the Saint Heliers/Collingwood Children’s Farm site in Abbotsford.
Credits…
Audi Australia, James McRory for words and most of the photographs, Audi Sport, Newport Railway Museum, Joe Portlock-Getty Images
A Roseborough, perhaps, Bob King thinks the driver may be Doug Whiteford racing under a pseudonym, from unknown, and Norman Hamilton or Les Murphy, MG P-Type during the early laps of the Benalla Centenary 100, Easter Monday, April 13, 1936.
Teaser for the little-known Benalla Centenary Hundred to be held by the Victorian Sporting Car Club.
The centenary being celebrated, was the European-settler establishment of the township of Benalla 210km northeast of Melbourne. There is bugger-all in the way of photographs of this meeting, I’m not helping solve the problem here either, but the firsthand report of the meeting is a start; photo contributions invited!
Jack O’Dea’s MG P-Type ahead of a Riley (E Trevithick-SLV)Bob Lea-Wright, Terraplane at Benalla. Nathan Tasca, ‘The car was borrowed from a mate, driven to the event, stripped of all the luxuries, raced, and then returned to standard, driven back to Melbourne, and returned to his mate, who apparently was none-the-wiser!’ (N Taska Arc)
The correct name of the winner is Vincent Aloysius Moloney, born 1902, later in life a resident of Murrumbeena, Melbourne, while the winning car is an MG Magna L-Type chassis #L0658.
The car was imported by Lanes Motors and lobbed at Port Melbourne in December 1933. It was locally bodied by Chas Aspinall, a common practice at the time to minimise the exposure to import duties levied by The Fiscal Fiend. Vin raced the car mainly in Victoria until 1936, after which the car was sold to a South Australian owner. The car has lived in New Zealand since 2014, click here for an interesting, comprehensive history of the car, scroll down to #L0658:https://www.mgclub.org.nz/download/167741/L%20Types%2C%2007%20October%202024%20V2.%20PDF.pdf
MG Historians are certain the VA Maloney (sic) who competed in four Australian Grands Prix: Nuiootpa 1950, Narrogin 1951, Bathurst 1952 and Albert Park in 1953 aboard a Head Brothers, Murrumbeena, Melbourne built MG TC Monoposto Special is our boy.
MG Magna L0658 in Adelaide in the 1940s, probably still with the Aspinall body. L0657 behind has an Aspinall pointed tail body (MG Register Australia)(SLV)
Jack Day punches his Ford V8-powered Day Special – Bugatti T39 Ford – out of one of the right-handers. That water tower will be a tip for a local as to the precise locale.
Etcetera…
Bob King on the first photograph, which he posted on Greg Smith’s ‘Pre 1960 Historic Racing in Australasia’ Facebook site. ‘I know very little about the Benalla road races of 1936, said to be the first Victorian mainland races on public roads. This photo given to me by David Watson in 1975, shows an unlicensed (too young) Doug Whiteford driving the ex-Beith Chrysler followed by Reg Nutt in the Day Special (painted purple) and either Norman Hamilton or Les Murphy in a P Type MG – they were both in the race.’
John Medley, ‘Just a glance at my records of this event offends the historian in me. So many mis-spellings, obvious errors, outright mistakes and fabrications, earnest over-amplifications and over-simplifications (not unlike Australian or USA or world politics 2025!). And of course officials and more who couldn’t count, so results were changed overnight…. One thing veteran competitors in any sport learn is calmness under pressure– so the competitor in me is offended by what I see in my records of this event. This is and was a mess, and extended by people 2025 trying to re create from snippets of information what we think may have happened in 1936, from the work of 1936 scribblers who didn’t know all that they didn’t know…. One needs at least a PhD in Philosophy to unravel the thinking.’
On Norman Hamilton – of later Porsche Cars Australia fame – ‘Distant memory, but I’m pretty sure that Norman told me that he drove at that meeting. He was old enough and was a friend of Jack Day who owned the Day Special,’ Bob King.
So what does this all mean? Who knows who really won the race.
Credits…
The Car March 1936 via the Bob King Collection, Edward Trevithick-State Library of Victoria, Nathan Taska Archive
John Sawyer’s MG K3 #K3752 tail out on the Mount Martha Hillclimb, on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, in November 1955.
Richard Millington wrote that ‘K3752 was the K3 prototype and was the recce car for MG’s attack on the 1933 Mille Miglia.’
Sawyer originally ‘did his time’ with Otto Stone, assisting in the preparation of Stan Jones’ Maserati 250F and other cars, ultimately becoming team manager of Bob Jane Racing in the glory years from the early 1960s, when it was Australia’s biggest and most diverse.
Some healthy exchanges on Bob Williamson’s Facebook page between Richard Millington, David Trunfull and Tony Johns, and then later between Tony, Bob King – who competed at the Mount Martha Hillclimb – and I determined that the event was at Mount Martha, near Balcombe rather than the Tuerong Valley Hillclimb, the other contender, ‘just down the road from Foxey’s Hangout, close to the corner of Tubbarubba and Balnarring Roads where the local farmers slung their dead foxes over the fence!’
(J Plowright)
What is clear in these two shots: Laurie Rofe’s Jaguar SS100 in 1955 above, and Bob King’s Bugatti T57C below, on November 18, 1962, is the encroachment of suburbia upon Mount Martha in the intervening seven years.
(J Plowright)
Laurie Rofe’s Jaguar SS100, again in 1955.
Bob King giving his Bugatti Type 57C Atalante Coupe some wellie at the VSCC Mount Martha meeting in November 1962, not too long after the purchase of chassis #57788 from Henry and Peter Dale.
‘I set equal FTD with my great friend, Graeme Lowe’s Alfa Romeo 6C1750.’ Bob owned the car for only two years; the end of his exciting ownership came during a trip to Sydney to take in the Warwick Farm 100 Tasman Cup meeting over the February 16, 1964 weekend.
Overheating problems diverted the young Doctor’s attention from both Jack Brabham’s on-track performances and, more importantly, the attractive young lass who accompanied him north to Sin City. Salvation came over that weekend in the form of Eric Pengilley, who paid a good deal more for the car than the classy Frenchie owed Bob. The machine has been owned for decades by Stuart Murdoch.
(J Plowright)
Laurie Rofe again in 1955, this time aboard an MG SA Coupe, and R Dowrick below in a Talbot 105.
(J Plowright)
More on the locational stuff from Tony Johns, who spectated at the 1962 event, and provided this excerpt from a Victorian Drivers Club magazine outlining one of the upcoming Sporting Motor Club’s Mount Martha events.
‘COMING EVENTS:
Hill Climb at Mt. Martha…This meeting is being organised by the Sporting Motor Club under a C.A.M.S. permit, and we are being invited as a club to take part. There will be a special category for Vintage Cars.
For those who can come in the morning, meet at the Mornington War Memorial at 11 a.m (then, I think, located on the intersection of Main Street and the Nepean Highway, Mornington). Entry fee £1. Unregistered vehicles 25/-. Prize: Pewter Tankard (Vintage Class). Fastest of several runs.
Hill climb not steep, and a picture-postcard atmosphere prevails. All food to be brought. Barbeque to be held after the finish of the climb. Any members without cars will be welcome to come in other members’ cars. If not, bring Pop’s Holden.
If members come later, drive down the Nepean Highway three miles past the War Memorial, turn right on the first road past the bridge at the School of Signals. Drive along the road one mile, then turn left a half mile, where the hill climb will be seen on the left.’
Credits…
Richard Millington, Jon Plowright, Don Ashton Archive via Tony Johns, Bob King Archive
Tailpiece…
(R King Arc)
King’s Bugatti Type 57C, and friend, in Dicer Doug’s – Doug Whiteford Tuning Service – emporium of speed at number 5 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, in late 1961 or early 1962, not long before he bought it. Ring for an appointment on XJ1233…
Cec Dickason and C.V Whitta on the banking at Aspendale during a Chevrolet 24-Hour track record attempt on August 1 and 2, 1924.
‘Credit is due to Messrs. C. R. Dickason and C. V. Whitta, who, driving a standard Chevrolet chassis equipped with a ‘racing body’ last week, established an Australian ‘double-12’ hour record on the Aspendale Speedway in Victoria.
The distance covered in the 24 hours was 1.063 miles 8 chains. On the first day of the test, the mileage travelled in 12 hours was 584 1/2. The car was driven 600 miles in 10 hours and 21 min. 19 4-5 вес. On the following day, rain made the track slippery, necessitating great care in negotiating the turns.
The test was conducted under observation by officials of the Aspendale Park Motor Racing Club and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. S.A. Cheney Pty.Ltd ran the attempt. See here:https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cheney-sydney-albert-5574
The Victorians hold on to ‘the Australasian motoring record for 24 hours’, extended until Saturday, December 12, 1925, The Argus reported.
Don Harkness and Phil Harbutt covered 1236 miles and 122 yards, averaging 51 1/2 miles an hour aboard a ‘standard four seater Overland 6 from which the mudguards and rear seats were removed’ at the Olympia Speedway, Maroubra, Sydney.
(Powerhouse Museum)
Both Dickason and Harkness were prominent mechanics/engineers, racers and automotive industry executives. Google away, particularly in relation to Harkness. Cyril Dickason’s place in the Australian automotive/racing pantheon is dealt with comprehensively in my friend Tony Johns’ upcoming history of sporting/racing Austin 7s in Australia. Watch this space…
Credits…
Edwin G Adamson photographer via Cec Dickason and Tony Johns Archive, The Herald, August 4, 1924, The Argus, December 14, 1925, Powerhouse Museum
The ‘LAutomobile’s headline confidently predicted that ‘With its 135 hp and ultra-light tubular chassis, the monoposto 2-litte Lancia-Nardi will soon be a threat to Ferrari and Gordini.’
It proved a tad optimistic, only a few test sessions circa-September 1952 made it clear that the power of the modified production Aurelia V6 was well short of the Gordini, let alone the dominant Ferrari 500, so Enrico Nardi put the car aside in favour of other projects, the one machine built was never raced. Reader Henk Vasmel has a record of the car being entered for the Gran Premio Monza on September 7, 1952, but it didn’t appear; no driver was nominated.
(forix.com)
While some may say that the car is just another mighta-been – and such folks are indeed correct – Nardi was on the button, ahead of the curve in fact, in terms of the car’s conception, it’s 1952 remember: mid-engined, tubular frame, however butch it appears to be, mid-mounted fuel tanks, independent front and rear suspension, inboard rear drums, outboard of the wheels at the front.
Beefy tubular frame and plenty of fuel capacity. 2-litre Aurelia V6 was fed, perhaps, by four single-choke Webers, magneto ignition? (lanciaaurelia.info)
The Lancia parts bin donated the Nardi-modified V6 engine, the gearbox and final drive and the front and rear suspension components. If only Gianni Lancia had said to Vittorio (Jano), ‘This has merit, why don’t you have a play with it?’ History could have been quite different if he had!?
(forix.com)(uniquecarsand parts.com)
Credit…
Robert Roux, L’Automobile, lanciaaurelia.info, forix.com, uniquecarsandparts.com
David Sternberg corrects a delicate slide in his Cooper T51 Climax at the Queens Domain hillclimb, Hobart, Tasmania, early 1960s. Date folks? As the name suggests, the locale contains the Governor’s Tasmanian pad.
Its a magnificent shot, photographer unknown, of a short-lived venue in central Hobart that was used from circa-1955-65. A modern event is held there. The climb was well regarded enough to hold the November 14, 1959, Australian Hillclimb Championship, which was won by the legendary Bruce Walton in his Walton Cooper.
Government House within the Queens Domain. Where are the hillclimb roads? Good question (Australian Gardens)(G Brooks)
David Sternberg lines up the family Cooper at Penguin Hillclimb, on the island’s north coast at about the same time. That’s father Lex hanging onto the right rear.
Sighting an apex, Brian Hart, Protos 16 Ford FVA, German Grand Prix, Nurburgring 1967
Brian Hart raced a Lotus F2 and F3 cars for Ron Harris in 1964-66 and was looking for opportunities in the 1.6-litre F2 that had been announced for commencement in 1967. He was after an Unfair Advantage as an innovative engineer.
At the January 1966 London Racing Car Show, Hart sought out aerodynamicist/engineer Frank Costin – both were De Havilland Aircraft graduates – about the coming season. Costin was there to sell his new, very light Hillman Imp-powered wooden chassis Costin-Nathan sports car (below). Hart knew of Frank via his younger brother, Mike, who co-founded Cosworth Engineering together with Keith Duckworth, where Brian was an employee.
Ronnie Peterson, March 711 Ford, Nurburgring 1971 (R Schlegelmilch)
Earlier, Frank Costin had started Marcos with Jem Marsh. The first Marcos had a wooden chassis too, but Costin’s reputation came from 20 years in aviation, where he developed vast knowledge of the use of wooden structures and aerodynamic theory and practice, to wit, the De Havilland Mosquito
Post war Frank had been summoned by Mike to assist Colin Chapman on the Lotus Mk 8 sports car. Costin improved the car and worked on several more of Chapman’s designs, including Vanwall VW5, the 1958 F1 Manufacturers Championship (then called the International Cup) winning car.
Frank’s Grand Prix involvement extended to the body design of the March 711 Ford Ronnie Peterson drove to second place in the 1971 F1 Drivers World Championship.
Protos 16 Ford FVA and spare monocoque on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2017 (V & A Museum)
Protos Design and Construction…
Ron Harris (24/12/1905-18/9/1975), hailed from Maidenhead, Surrey, and was a motorcycle racer/dealer who made his name on Manx Nortons and other machines from the early 1930s until the war. Post conflict, he was involved in film distribution, the cash flow from that business initially funded his return to motorsport, the Ron Harris Racing Division, which ran a pair of Lotus 20 Ford FJs in 1961 (John Turner/Mike Ledbrook).
Success with them attracted Lola’s Eric Broadley’s attention in 1962 (John Fenning/John Rhodes in Lola Mk5s) and the Team Lotus F2 machines from 1963 – Lotus 35/44 – where the driving roster included Peter Revson, Brian Hart, Peter Arundell, Francisco Godia, Piers Courage, Picko Troberg, Eric Offenstadt, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark etc.
Harris’ Lotus gig came to an end in 1966; it was time to become a manufacturer in 1967!
Ron Harris, Jim Clark and Mike Spence with the works Ron Harris Racing Division Lotus 35 Cosworth SCA. Gold Cup Oulton Park, September 18, 1965Frank Costin in Costin Research & Development’s first factory in North Wales (Wales Library)
Set in his ways, Costin built the prototype at his home in North Wales with Brian Hart doing the legwork, over 40,000 miles of fetch and carry of component purchase and sub-contracting between London and Wales in the early months of 1967. ‘Frank was a fascinating chap and spoke with such enthusiasm: he was adamant that he could build an F2 car way ahead of its time.’ Brian Hart told Paul Fearnley in a MotorSport 2009 interview.
There was huge excitement among drivers and racing car manufacturers for the new 1.6 F2 with monocoque designs, including the Matra MS5/7, McLaren M4A, and Lola T100, as well as spaceframes, with the dominant car of the year in a variety of hands, Ron Tauranac’s new, spaceframe Brabham BT23.
What became the ubiquitous engine/gearbox combination for the duration of 1967-71 1.6-litre F2, was the Ford Cosworth circa 220bhp @ 9000rpm twin-cam, four-valve, Lucas injected four, and the Hewland FT200 five-speed transaxle, was used by most. BMW, Alfa Romeo four-valve engines, the Ferrari Dino 166 and several others duly noted.
Into that environment of competitive activity, the Costin and Harris team – based in Maidenhead, Hertfordshire – designed and built two strong, light, aerodynamically advanced Protos 16 Ford FVA timber-skinned monocoques in 128 days.
Hart, ‘We were making everything apart from the engine and gearbox; there was no template like there was on a privateer Brabham.’
Brian Hart with his Brabham BT30 Ford FVA at Mallory Park in 1970 (LAT)(L Ghys)
Ed McDonough wrote of the chassis that, ‘Costin’s original intention was to have one set of plywood panels bonded to elliptical plywood end panels and bulkheads with adhesives and further stress-bearing panels of spruce made to form strong box shapes on both sides of the cockpit area. Then, further layers of overlapping strips would form the outer skin. Much like modern carbon-fibre construction, Costin intended for the whole monocoque unit to be placed into a rubber tube to clamp the adhesive and form the proper shape, with the air being sucked out by vacuum. The outcome, Costin reasoned, would be very high levels of strength and low weight in a smooth shape.’
‘Unfortunately, the old spectre of time rushing by meant this elaborate process wouldn’t be possible. So birch plies were used for the outer skin, and the whole thing was clamped conventionally, and the finished wooden structure was smooth-sanded when the glue was dry.’ While this process added weight, after painting, it was hard to tell the difference between this and a steel or alloy unit.’
A tub with a difference, note the diagonal banding of the birchwood plies (Blain Motorsports Foundation)
With the prototype finished in Wales, the other cars were built in Harris’s Maidenhead workshop. Given its unusual construction, Harris coined it ‘Protos’, first in Greek.
With inherent fire risk, Costin designed neoprene-coated alloy fuel tanks, housed in fragile wooden bearers within the chassis. In the event of a big one, the tanks were designed to break away from the car, an element that was tested all too soon…
A magnesium bulkhead was mounted across the front of the car, and together with a light tubular subframe, located top-rockers which actuated vertically mounted, inboard Armstrong shockers, wide-based lower wishbones and an adjustable roll-bar. Front and rear uprights were magnesium.
Brian Hart’s Protos 16 HCP-1 BARC 200 Wills Trophy Silverstone March 27, 1967
At the rear, a complex steel tubular spaceframe structure supported the FVA/FT200 combo with six bolts attaching the mechanicals to the tub with the load spread through the wooden monocoque via clever internally glued metal spreaders.
The rear suspension was a combination of magnesium uprights, twin top links, a wide-based wishbone with a pair of radius rods doing fore and aft locational duties, Armstrong shocks and an adjustable roll-bar. Brakes were Girling and tyres Firestone: 9 x 13 inches at the front and 11 x 13 at the rear, with wheels also magnesium.
The car looked the goods when it was launched with some fanfare at Selfridges London store’s ‘Grand Prix Exhibition’ on March 3, 1967.
1967 European F2 Championship…
Harris’s outfit built four tubs (it’s not clear to me if the four build number includes the prototype made in Wales or not), two of which were built up into complete racers with Brian Hart testing HCP1 – Harris Costin Protos – at Goodwood, putting in some competitive times despite the bodywork snagging Hart’s right-hand gear shifting gears, a ‘bubble’ alleviated the problem. Excessive front understeer was cured with changes to the ‘bars and springs.
The cars were entered in the first round of the European F2 Championship on March 24, but failed to appear. All of the other new cars were present with the heats going to Jochen Rindt and Denny Hulme, in Winkelmann and works Brabham BT23 FVAs, with Rindt – the King of F2 – taking the final from Graham Hill, works Lotus 48 FVA and Alan Rees in the other Winkelmann Brabham.
Rees took the Euro F2 Championship points as an ungraded driver. The FIA cleverly created a two-class system. Graded drivers were those who had achieved/won in F1, Can-Am, WSC etc. Ungraded drivers were up-and-comers who had not. Graded drivers could win the races and prize money but were ineligible for Euro F2 Championship points.
Hart raced the car at Silverstone three days later, on March 27, in the BARC Wills Trophy. From grid 16 alongside the Lola T100 BMW of Jo Siffert, Hart and HCP-1 retired in heat 1 when a fuel pump belt broke, while a misfire cruelled his second heat, a recurrent problem throughout the season. Rindt won again.
Eric Offenstadt, Montjuïc Parc, Barcelona 1967 (H Fohr Collection)Pomp and ceremony as Offenstadt’s car is rolled onto the Magic Montjuïc grid (J Arch)
Harris entered two cars in the Pau Grand Prix (Rindt, Brabham BT23) on April 4 but the machines weren’t ready, with only Offenstadt contesting the GP de Barcelona at Montjuïc Parc on April 9. After several off-course excursions, he retired with brake and misfiring problems, having done only 12 of the 60 laps completed by Jim Clark’s winning Lotus 48 FVA.
The team missed the Spring Trophy at Oulton Park where many of their competitors raced against Grand Prix cars. Up front the Brabham BT20 Repco V8s of Brabham and Hulme were first and second, with the first F2 home Jackie Oliver’s Lotus 41B FVA.
Just two weeks later, the F2 Circus were off to the Nurburgring for the Eifelrennen and there Offenstadt took Graham Hill off in practice and non-started HCP-1.
HCP-2, was finally finished and tested by Hart. Engine misfires continued to come and go, but the team were optimistic as they headed for the RAC Autocar Trophy at Mallory Park on May 14, a British F2 Championship round. Hart qualified a good fifth, but both cars were withdrawn from the race after Costin found a crack in an upright following another shunt by Offenstadt.
New uprights were cast but the team missed the May 21, Limborg GP at Zolder, where John Surtees’ Lola T100 FVA won.
Hart tested HCP-2 at Brands Hatch, where the misfire appeared to have been cured. He then raced it in the London Trophy British F2 Championship round at Crystal Palace on May 29. Offenstadt was allocated HCP-1.
Both did well in practice and in their heat until the misfire returned: Eric was sixth and Brian seventh. On a track he knew well, Hart ran as high as third in the final before troubles dropped him back to tenth. Offenstadt’s troubles continued; this time, he retired with a broken engine mount, while up front was Jacky Ickx in a Ken Tyrrell Matra MS5 FVA.
The next championship round wasn’t until Hockenheim on July 9, so the team set to with some strengthening modifications while noting that both drivers reported the chassis itself to be immensely stiff.
(M Stegmann Arc)
With the work completed the Ron Harris Racing trucks headed for Dover to contest the non-championship Rhein-Pokalrennen on June 11.
Offenstadt demonstrated the promise he showed in 1965 and Hart was in the leading group when he lost fuel pressure.
‘I thought I could win. The car was capable of 180mph, and I was cruising. I could pick up five to six places a lap,’ before the dreaded misfire returned. Brian eventually finished tenth with Offenstadt in a personally rousing fourth. Post-race calculations indicated a top speed of 163 mph without a tow and 172 with one! The customer car favourite Brabham BT23 Ford FVA indicated its user friendliness in that Chris Lambert won the race in a privateer BT23.
Costin observed of his Hockenheim handiwork in 1975, ‘The Protos was approximately 9mph faster at maximum speed than the slowest opposition, and 3-4mph faster than the quicker opposition. This means, given all cars were using the same engine (Cosworth FVA giving 218-220bhp), the aerodynamic advantage of the Protos was about 15bhp over the faster rivals and 40bhp over its slowest competitors at maximum speed.’
Brian Hart was the class of the field during the June 25, 1967 Reims Grand Prix (unattributed)
With the high-speed Reims Grand Prix coming up on June 25 the team continued to refine the Protos aero, including the extension of the cockpit canopy back to the roll bar.
Practice was again marred by problems, not least Offenstadt crashing again. ‘Some of these problems stemmed from the fact that one of the sponsors hadn’t paid some bills, so there wasn’t the funding for bigger brakes, a real limitation at Reims’, McDonough wrote.
‘Hart and the Protos amazed everyone with the car’s speed, catching and passing Jim Clark and Jackie Oliver (Lotus 48/41B) after a spin. The French crowds cheered as Hart would drop back under braking and then catch and retake the leaders. Unfortunately, the swirlpot cracked on lap 37, and the overheated engine quit, but the car was clearly the fastest of all the F2 machines on the day.’ Despite not finishing, Brian was classified ninth…
Pedro is bubbled-up by Ron Harris before heading out at Hockenheim on the July 9, 1967 weekend for his Protos race debut (Blain Motorsports Foundation)
The team elected to miss the non-championship GP de Rouen-les-Essarts (Rindt, Brabham BT23 FVA) on July 9 to contest the Deutschland Trophäe Preis Von Baden on high-speed Hockenheim, on the same day.
Offenstadt was replaced by Pedro Rodriguez from this meeting. Mechanical changes included new front and rear subframes, bigger brakes, and on Rodriguez’s rebuilt HCP-1, a more enclosed rear body section.
Rodriguez turned Q3 into the lead of heat 1, but he spun the Protos in the stadium section when it jumped out of gear and ultimately finished fourth in front of Hart. The Mexican again led heat 2, spun again, and then retired with a bent wishbone while Brian was third. Better was to come in the final, where Hart drove an inspired race, battling with Jackie Ickx and Frank Gardner, and ultimately finished third and bagged fastest lap. Gardner won the round on aggregate in a works BT23 FVA from Hart, with Piers Courage’s McLaren M4A FVA third.
Johnny Servoz-Gavin’s works Matra MS5 FVA from Hart’s UFO Protos (fifth) at Zandvoort July 30, 1967 (LAT)
Ron Tauranac watched Protos progress closely and figured Costin’s something-for-nothing aerodynamic lessons were worth pursuing. Brabham was battling for F1 World Championship honours with Team Lotus and their Ford Cosworth-powered Lotus 49s, so Ron developed his own canopy cover and bodywork to the very rear of his Brabham BT24 Repco’s Hewland gearbox to buy critical RPMs at Monza. Brabham had trouble sighting apexes so equipped, and didn’t race the car in that form. The point is that Costin had some of the competition thinking…
Rodriguez, Jarama, July 23, 1967 (Whittlesea Collection)
The team missed the Tulln-Langenlebarn aerodrome race in Vienna on July 16 for undisclosed reasons but rejoined the fray in Spain, where Hart and Rodriguez contested the GP de Madrid at Jarama on July 23. Hart retired his car due to overheating, and Rodriguez was seventh in the race won by Clark’s Lotus 48 FVA.
Zandvoort hosted an F2 Championship round on July 30 that year; the race in Holland was won by Ickx’s Matra MS5 FVA. Hart was sixth, with Rob Slotemaker a DNF due to gearbox problems after only eight of the 30 laps. The Dutchman stood in for Rodriguez, who was racing a JW Automotive Mirage M1 Ford in the Brands Hatch 6-Hours.
Kurt Ahrens from Brian Hart during the August 1967 German GP, Nurburgring (LAT)Ahrens landing at Flugplatz? DNF radiator (K Tweddel)
Talented German, Kurt Ahrens, raced HCP-1 in the F2 class of the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on August 6 and retired, while Hart finished fourth in class with Jackie Oliver the first of the F2s in this non-championship Euro F2 round. Ahrens was an F3 and F2 Brabham veteran of some years, his opinions of the Protos would have been interesting.
The Harris equipe missed the non-championship Kanonloppet, the Swedish Grand Prix, at Karlskoga on August 11, where Jackie Stewart prevailed in a Tyrrell Matra MS7 FVA. The F1 championship aspirant added his name to a long list of F2 race winners (in all championships) in 1967: Rindt, Clark, Brabham, Surtees, Ickx, Widdows, Gardner and Oliver.
The long haul to the wilds of Sicily for the GP del Mediterraneo at Enna-Pergusa on August 20 followed, a day on which Rodriguez put Costin’s woodie to the ultimate test!
Luc Ghys was there. ‘The track, similar to Hockenheim with long straights, led to fierce slipstream battles. On lap 10, Jackie Stewart’s Matra had Pedro on his tail, and both were passing Beltoise’s leading Matra. The Frenchman gave way to Stewart but immediately tucked in behind, touching Pedro’s car at high speed.’
Beltoise told Ed McDonough decades later how he had been surprised by the speed of the Protos. When Rodriguez attempted to pass the Frenchman’s Matra, Beltoise admitted not being ready for the move and didn’t give Pedro enough room as a consequence.
Enna-Pergusa August 1967. Stewart Matra MS7 in the middle has just jumped out of Beltoise’s MS7 slipstream on the right, JYS then passes JPB, who immediately pulls in behind JYS and collects Pedro the Innocent at left, who was in the process of making his own run in the slippery Protos (Blain Motorsports Foundation)One careful lady owner…Protos wooden, aluminium and rubber remains at Enna (J Gleave)
The car careered out of control, hit the guardrails and broke in half, jettisoning the fuel cells as intended. The tub bore the impact as designed and protected the Mexican from serious nasties: he was still in second place as the Protos-in-bits blasted past the finishing line! Said components were then deposited into Enna’s famous snake-infested lake! Hart had a weekend of consistency, finishing eighth in both heats and the final; both Protos did 165 mph on Enna’s straights.
Pedro, interviewed not long after the race, said philosophically, ‘If it wasn’t for that Protos, I wouldn’t be here talking to you now. It has a wooden monocoque body, you see, and at about 150 miles an hour, it absorbed the impact completely. The car starts to disintegrate, and I went out of the car with the seat on in the middle of the road! The only thing that happened to me was that my right heel was what they call a poolverise fracture.’ Pedro also suffered a small fracture in his left ankle.
‘Ron called us into his hotel room (after the race),’ says Hart, ‘and not only did he say that there wouldn’t be a next year, he also said that he wouldn’t be able to pay off Frank for the remainder of this year.’ Hart’s eighth at Enna was the programme’s denouement. ‘I don’t think we would have won in our second year, but we would have been closer to the front; I think Frank could see that some compromises were needed. But we never got the chance. But what a project. I’ve got a soft spot for that car.’
Despite making four tubs, no more than two complete cars ever existed; HCP-1 was rebuilt over the winter, consuming one of the spare monocoques. Harris and Costin had initially intended to run an evolved Protos in 1968; the same decision was made by most of the major manufacturers to run evolutions of their ’67 cars, but the year had been so expensive that Harris decided to run Tecnos instead.
The Carnival is Over. Rodriguez prepares to saddle up at the Nurburgring on April 21, 1968 while Ron Harris waits, and below on track. The last Protos in-period race (Blain Motorsports Foundation)(Blain Motorsports Foundation)
When the Pederzanis delivered the Tecnos hopelessly late, Rodriguez, clearly fond of the Woodies, asked Harris to enter a Protos for the non-F2 Championship Eifelrennen at the Nurburgring on April 21.
Pedro raced HCP-1 and Vic Elford HCP-2 on his single-seater debut. Rodriguez retired out of fuel while Vic finished a splendid seventh. Man On The Rise Chris Irwin won in a works Lola T100 FVA, his next visit to the Eifel didn’t end quite so well.
Sadly, that was it, Rodriguez raced the first of Harris’ Tecno PA68 FVAs at Crystal Palace on June 3 1968, then added insult to Ron Harris’ injury by crashing it on the first lap of the final, having placed fifth in his heat…the Protos never raced again.
The 1968 season was so expensive and difficult for Harris that it ended his active involvement in racing. Much of his equipment disappeared or was damaged on the late-season Temporada tour in South America, so ultimately everything was sold off.
Vic Elford and Pedro Rodriguez in the final race weekend for the Protos 16 Ford FVA during the April 21, 1968 Eifelrennen weekend
Hindsight…
Brian Hart told Paul Fearnley, ‘It was incredibly fast in a straight line (a useful asset in those slipstreaming days), but it had shortcomings. The engine was carried in a metal subframe, and where this was affixed to the wooden tub was a weak point. And because the car had a rounded shape, the side fuel tanks were carried quite high, giving a bad CoG. It was heavy, too – about 25kg more than the rest – and when this was coupled with an initial lack of anti-roll bars (Costin had yet to be convinced of their necessity), it was a bit of a handful in the corners. One of our biggest failings was our inability to engineer the car once the season had started: money was tight, and we had no baseline from which to work.’
Eric Offenstadt said of the car to Michael Dawson, ‘I had a picture of my pole position at Hockenheim in front of Jochen Rindt with the Protos…but I lost it. The roadholding was “peculiar”, not because of the wooden chassis, but because of “rare suspension geometry”.
Firestone funded the project, which explains in part why Ron Harris was adventurous. The challenge to design, build, develop, prepare and race a new car was a far more complex and costly process than racing works-Lotuses that were competitive outta the box.
That the designer was reluctant to leave Wales must have made the development of the car a challenge!
Despite the design’s shortcomings, it was clearly competitive on faster tracks, with suspension geometry the area that required focus over the 1967-68 winter, had the Harris team raced on with the Protos.
The Ford Cosworth FVA engine problems the Harris team experienced in 1967 are somewhat ironic given Brian Hart Engines Ltd’s capabilities in preparing and developing these engines by 1969!…
What extraordinary racing cars those Protos were/are.
Historic Era…
Englishman Richard Whittlesea bought the two cars, HCP-1 complete and HCP-2 as a rolling chassis, restoring and racing HCP-1 and displaying it at Donington, before selling the cars to American Norbert McNamara, then later he sold them to Californian Brian Blain/Blain Motorsports Foundation, who retains them.
Etcetera…
(Getty Images-GP Library)
The Protos Ford FVA of Eric Offenstadt on the Montuic Park grid, April 9, 1967. Nice shot of the swept-back rockers and cast-mag upright
Credits…
Getty Images, Hans Fohr Collection, Steve Wilkinson Archive, Ed McDonough article on supercars.net, Pete Austin, Les Thacker, Josef Arch, ‘Aerodynamics of the modern car’, Frank Costin in Automotive Engineer magazine in 1975, ‘Ply in The Ointment’ Paul Fearnley, MotorSport November 2003, Formula 2 Racing and Frank Costin Autos Facebook pages, Mike Stegmann, Rafael Calatayud Collection, Blain Motorsport Foundation, Jim Gleave
Tailpiece…
(R Calatayud)
Hmmm…which cars are the Protos’ I wonder?
Reims June 25, 1967. DNF’s for both Hart and Offenstadt. Jochen Rindt’s Winkelmann BT23 FVA won from Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart and Denny Hulme, World Champions all! In its heyday(s) F2 was absolutely marvellous.
Alf Harvey leads Curley Brydon in a blue-blood duo at Gnoo Blas, Orange, on January 30, 1956. Ex-Enrico Plate/Prince Bira Maserati 4CLT/48 OSCA #1607 in front of the ex-Peter Whitehead/Dick Cobden Ferrari 125 #F1/114.
Reg Hunt won the South Pacific Championship that weekend aboard his Maserati 250F from Jack Brabham’s Cooper T40 Bristol, Kevin Neal, Cooper T23 Bristol and Brydon’s Ferrari. Harvey’s gearbox misbehaved in practice, so the OSCA didn’t start the race.
Bira, Maserati OSCA, South Pacific Championship weekend, Gnoo Blas 1955 (Cummins Family Archive)
The Maser-Osca was brought to Australia by Prince Bira during his 1955 Australasian tour, which yielded a New Zealand Grand Prix win at Ardmore aboard his Maserati 250F. He then brought the Maserati and Maserati OSCA to Australia to contest the South Pacific Championship on January 31, 1955. See here: https://primotipo.com/2020/04/09/1955-south-pacific-championship-gnoo-blas/
The 250F failed in practice, so too did the OSCA in the preliminary race. Former Wollongong MG T-Type punter Alf Harvey was the well-heeled enough, optimistic buyer when Bira offered it for sale.
The OSCA 60-degree, twin-cam – driven by a train of gears – two valve, all alloy, triple Weber 40 DCF fed 4472cc (78mm x 78mm bore/stroke) V12 initially gave circa 290-300bhp, rising to 330bhp @ 6500rpm. Here, it’s shown in an uber-rare colour shot in Harvey’s car during the 1958 AGP weekend (K Drage)
Harvey then commenced a lengthy rebuild of the car, aided by Frank Ashby. This prominent, successful British engineer was by then living on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Ashby did the chassis and Repco Research in Melbourne, the exotic, fussy V12.
Ashby, trading as Mona Vale Engineering Services, had provided sage advice to young Jack Brabham on carburetion and cylinder head modifications to the 2-litre Bristol engine powering his Cooper T23.
By 1958, the Maserati OSCA was ready to boogie. Harvey’s best result was a win in the first of two preliminary heats during the AGP weekend at Bathurst. It was the B-preliminary in the sense that the quicks were in the other race, but a win is a win. He wasn’t so fortunate in the GP itself; a plug worked its way loose, and he retired after 16 laps of the race won by Lex Davison’s 3-litre Ferrari 500/625.
Old mate taking a happy-snap or two at the start of the ’58 AGP, Hell Corner, Bathurst. The light blue car is Harvey’s Maserati OSCA (ABC)
The V12 engine project was an interesting one by the then newish OSCA enterprise. The Maserati brothers sold their Maserati business – Officine Maserati S.p.A. – to the Adolpho Orsi family in 1937. By December 10, 1947 they were clear of the 10 year consultancy agreement which formed part of the contract of sale with the Orsis. O.S.C.A. – Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili-Fratteli Maserati S.p.A. – was their next Bologna based venture. Soon they were building small sportscars which enjoyed commercial and competition success.
A mainstay of post-war European racing was Amedee Gordini’s single-seater and sportscars. Gordini was anxious to contest the new F1 (4.5-litres unsupercharged, 1.5-litres supercharged) with a more competitive engine than his various twin-cam fours.
‘Ernesto and Alfieri Maserati and Amedee Gordini were old acquaintances going back to the 1920s,’ wrote Roy Smith in Amedee Gordini : A True Racing Legend. ‘Gordini kept up regular contact, even doing some work for them on several occasions and exchanging ideas.’ See here for a lengthy epic on Gordini; https://primotipo.com/2019/08/30/equipe-gordini/
Smith wrote that Maserati had come up with a new V12 engine design, a simple one page letter – in reality more a letter of intent than a formal contract – from Automobili O.S.C.A. to Gordini dated 10 March 1949 formalised the arrangement for OSCA to design and build an OSCA badged V12 for Gordini.
This arrangement contravened Gordini’s existing commercial and sponsorship deal with Simca, who weren’t interested in Gordini’s F1 aspirations, content as they were with his F2 and sports car racing, which was more closely aligned, they felt, with their road cars. Gordini was able to fund the deal with OSCA thanks to financial support from ‘his longtime friend, the wealthy Far Eastern emperor and racing enthusiast Bao Dai,’ the ‘Last Emperor of Vietnam.’
Amedee’s thinking was sound, he planned to have a V12 powered F1 winner and derivatives of the competition V12 for sports and grand touring cars.
Bira first time out win in the Ecurie Siam Maserati 4CLT-48 OSCA V12 at Goodwood, Richmond Trophy, Easter 1951. #28 is Duncan Hamilton, ERA B-Type, and #34 ? (MotorSport)Bira wielding a plug-spanner much to JM Fangio’s amusement, during the 1952 Ulster Trophy weekend (Neville Armstrong-MotorSport)
When, inevitably, push came to shove, and Simca, Gordini’s primary backer, withdrew its support, OSCA decided to complete the design and build of the engine and offer it for sale. Their thinking was that the motor could form part of an update kit for the Maserati 4CLT they knew so well, plenty of which were in circulation.
Ultimately, Bira was the only taker, with his late build chassis, 4CLT-48 #1607 – first delivered to Enrico Plate on November 14, 1949 and raced by Bira throughout 1950 – updated by fitment of the OSCA V12, de Dion rear suspension and other tweaks race-ready for 1951.
The Thai Prince raced the car only a few times that year and in 1952. A debut victory against modest opposition during the 12 lap Richmond Trophy at Goodwood on March 26 flattered to deceive. He raced the car in the GP di San Remo on April 22 Q5/DNF accident, the GP de Bordeaux for Q7/fourth, the Silverstone International Trophy on May 5 no time/heat third/17th. He entered but didn’t arrive at various events mid-season.
Bira concluded that the car was uncompetitive in Europe and put it to one side until its trip to Australasia, where it was also only ever going to be an also-ran too. By 1956, Australia had some quicker cars: Maserati A6GCM and 250F, Ferrari 500/625, the Tornado Ford, etc.
Franco Rol about to be lapped again by Alberto Ascari during the 1951 Italian GP, Monza. OSCA 4500G and Ferrari 375 (MotorSport)
OSCA 4500G V12…
In addition to the engine for Bira, OSCA built two more. So as not to let them go to waste, one was fitted to a new ladder-frame chassis/double wishbone and coil spring front suspension/de Dion and torsion bars rear, Grand Prix car dubbed the 4500G. G for Gordini to honour his part in the engines gestation.
Handsome engine – SOHC in some texts, DOHC in others – with plenty of development potential in 1951. 300-330bhp wasn’t going to cause much of a fright among the circa-375bhp normally aspirated Ferraris, or circa 425bhp supercharged Alfa 159s (MotorSport)Great looking car, body aluminium on twin-tube period typical ladder frame chassis. De Dion rear suspension with torsion bars and Panhard rods a considerable advance on the 4CLT’s solid rear axle, the differential of which was a weak link (MotorSport)Wishbone front suspension, four speed ‘box front mounted. Wheelbase and front/rear track 2450/1280/1260mm, weight circa 760kg (MotorSport)
Franco Rol debuted the car in the 1951 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (photos above) the second last championship round that year. Q18 and ninth/last wasn’t a catastrophe at first glance, but Rol was 13 laps adrift of Alberto Ascari and Froilan Gonzalez’ first and second placed Ferrari 375s.
Rule changes, which meant the world championship was run for 2-litre F2 cars in 1952-53 made all F1 cars obsolete overnight. The CSI/FIA were forced to act due to the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo from F1 at the end of ’51, and uncertainty about BRM, OSCA and others continuing, leaving a Ferrari whitewash a certainty. Of course, the Maranello, Ferrari 500 2-litre whitewash happened anyway!
Despite the ‘F2 World Championship’ there were ten F1/F Libre races held in 1952. Bira gave his Maserati OSCA a gallop in the Ulster Trophy meeting at Dundrod on June 7, but he had an accident on the first lap. He raced at Silverstone in July, finishing 10th in the Daily Express Formula Libre Trophy, four laps adrift of Piero Taruffi aboard the Ferrari 375 Thinwall Spl. The last libre-race of the year was the Daily Record International Trophy at Charterhall on October 11, there Bira retired with a fuel tank problem.
OSCA 4500G #4501 at Monza in 1951 (MotorSport)
Two OSCA 4500Gs were entered in the April 6, 1952 GP del Valentino, the first non-championship F1 race of the year. Franco Rol was in chassis #4501, and Luigi Piotti in #4502. In a poor weekend for the team, Piotti’s #4502 didn’t arrive, and Rol’s #4501 didn’t complete the first lap for undisclosed reasons; two other cars had accidents, perhaps that is what befell Rol, although oldracingcars.com – my bible – does not record that.
The two 4500Gs weren’t entered as single-seaters again. What became of the two cars seems clear but the journeys they made is not fully clear, not to me anyway. Those with a more extensive Maserati library may be able to assist.
#4501 was sold to Rol. It was later fitted with a Frua Spider body with a central driving position, it would be great to have a photo of the car in this form. It was ultimately rebuilt as the single-seater many of you will be familiar with in European historic racing.
OSCA 4500G, #4501 at Goodwood in recent years OSCA 4500G #4502 in gorgeous Zagato couture (unattributed)
The unraced ‘Piotti’ 4500G #4502 was also converted into a sports coupe with a beautiful body by Zagato. It was entered in the September 6, 1953, Supercortemaggiore non-championship sports car race at Merano, driven by Clemente Biondetti. He qualified 23rd but failed to finish the race, won by Fangio’s works Alfa Romeo 6C 3000CM Spider.
It was sold to Piedmontese winemaker, Paolo Di Montezemolo and rebodied by him as a sports car in 1954. He contested the Sassi-Superga hillclimb outside Turin in October 1956 as below. The car is now in France and resides in the Henri Malarte Museum in Lyon.
(Di Montezemolo Collection)
Cycling back to the Bira Maserati 4CLT OSCA and Alf Harvey.
After the fiscal ravages of the experience, and one last run in a quarter-mile sprint at Castlereagh in 1959, Alf Harvey offered the car for sale in 1961. It then passed, via an interlude of 1960s historic racing with Morin Scott in the UK, to Tom Wheatcroft. In more recent times it has returned to historic racing.
Maserati 4CLT-48 OSCA #1607 (unattributed)
Credits…
Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Neville Armstrong, ‘History of The Grand Prix Car’ Doug Nye, ‘Maserati : A Racing History’ Anthony Pritchard, ‘Amedee Gordini : A True Racing Legend’ Roy Smith, Kevin Drage, Di Montezemolo Collection, Alex Book, Boudewijn Berkhoff
Tailpiece…
(Alex Book)
Franco Rol enroute to a lonely last place in OSCA 4500G #01 during the 1951 Italian GP at Monza.
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