Bonnier/Abate Porsche 718GTR in the Sicilian Hills. (Yves Debraine)
Jo Bonnier victorious in the Porsche 718GTR together with Carlo Abate…
The 718 Porsche was a development of the earlier, successful 550A/RS61, the GTR coupe the ultimate expression of the 718 was developed for the 1961 Le Mans classic. It was fitted with either the earlier 1.5 litre 4 cylinder or as here, a 2 litre variant of Porsches’ flat 8, quad cam F1 engine developing around 210bhp all of which hit the road through a 5 speed gearbox. Disc brakes were used, torsion bar suspension, the car very light at circa 570Kg.
The 904 followed the 718 as Porsches’ next racer hence the family resemblance…
Very successful, 718 variants won Targa in 1959/60/63 and the Sebring 12 Hour enduro in 1960.
The Bandini/Scarfiotti/Mairesse Ferrari Dino 196SP looked a certain winner until Willy lost the car on the last lap, he recovered but fell short of victory by 12 seconds.
It wasn’t Willy Mairesse’ race, he had started in a 250P 3 litre 12 cylinder Ferrari co-driven by Ludovico Scarfiotti and managed to hit a bump which flattened a fuel line, ultimately putting the car out of the race.
John Surtees then blotted his copybook, chucking the leading 250P co driven by Mike Parkes into the bushes leaving Lorenzo Bandini to uphold Ferrari honours with the 2 litre V6 Dino.
Scarfiotti/Bandini/Mairesse Ferrari Dino 196SP. Nowhere quite surpasses the rugged majesty of this place? (Yves Debraine)
Scarfiotti was enlisted to assist in the Dino to uphold Maranellos’ honour, the Bonnier Porsche very competitive in the cool, experienced and fast hands of the Swede.
Abate wasn’t as quick as Bonnier, slowly the Ferrari gained the lead, Ferrari team-manager Eugenio Dragoni putting Mairesse into the car as a fresh driver for the last two laps. A fresh driver but perhaps not the most ‘calm’!
The Sicilian weather deteriorated, rain began to fall and poor Mairesse goofed under brakes as he approached the finishing straight and off the road he went. He gathered up the car, dragging the engine cover along the ground as Bonnier looked on, the Ferrari just falling short of Bonniers time by 12 seconds…
The Ferrari boys watch their clocks! Bonnier has finished, it’s all down to Willy Mairesse as the weather deteriorates. Bandini in the pale blazer beside the ‘Wallopers’ and Scarfiotti to the left of Lorenzo. (Bernard Cahier)
Mairesse finishes the race dragging the engine cover of his Ferrari behind …(Bernard Cahier)
Ferrari Dino 196SP: multi-tubular spaceframe chassis, 690Kg, 1983cc 60 degree V6, SOHC per bank, 3 Weber carbs. 210bhp @ 7500rpm, 5 speed transaxle. (Unattributed)
‘Ludovico Scarfiotti shakes the quiet Sicilian village of Campofelice in his 3 litre Ferrari 250P’, the first of 2 Ferraris’ crashed by Willy Mairesse, this one on on lap 4… (Stephen Dalton Collection)
Bibliography…
Automobile Year 11, Yves Debraine, Bernard Cahier, Stephen Dalton Collection
‘This is the prettiest car I have ever snapped’ said Dick Simpson. Hard to argue…
This is one of four Ferrari P4s built; chassis numbers 0856, 0858, 0860 and 0846, the latter a converted P3.
At the end of the 1967 endurance season two of the cars were lightened and modified to run in the ’67 Can-Am Series in the US, chassis 0860 and 0858. The latter was then acquired by Scuderia Veloce’s David McKay for one fabulous season in Australia. I wrote an article a while back about SV, David McKay and his 250LM #6321, have a read of it rather than repeat the background here.
Simpson’s shot is of Aussie Bill Brown at the wheel on 5 May 1968, the shot taken at the left hander after Warwick Farm’s (Sydney) Shell Bridge, it captures the curvaceous beauty of the thing!
The photographers and their artistry inspired this article, acknowledgement of them all but especially Dick Simpson, John Ellacott, Roderick MacKenzie, Ellis French and Lindsay Ross.
As Mike Spence buckles up his seatbelt in the Chaparral 2F Chev, he is surrounded by FoMoCo vehicles; #1 the victorious Gurney/Foyt, #3 Bianchi/Andretti and Hulme/Ruby Mk4s, and the #5 Gardner/McCluskey and Schlesser/Ligier Mk2s…not a Ferrari in sight! (unattributed)
1967 was a halcyon year of sports car racing, the high point of the ‘Unlimited Formula’…
A 5-litre limit for sports cars and 3-litres for prototypes was imposed by the FIA for 1968 so Ford had one more year to race their 7-litre Mk 2 and 4s.
Chaparral returned to Europe with the fabulous 2F Coupe after an exploratory endurance year with the 2D in 1966. Lola competitors struggled with engine reliability to match the excellence of the chassis, and Ferrari returned with 4-litre engines but with three-valve heads after a year of austerity in 1966. Ferrari mainly entered one P3 at each race while coping with widespread industrial unrest in Italy that year.
The season wasn’t all about just the big three; Alfa raced their T33, Porsche the 907, Matra their M630 V8 BRM engined cars, but in reality the season was about the big outright cars. It was an unforgettable year of sports car racing arguably caused by Enzo’s rebuff of Fords’ desire to purchase the Italian autocrat’s company five years before and the Lola GT/Ford GT40 program which followed.
The Ford Mk4 incorporated all the company learnings, the early failures of the GT40 and Mark 2 in 1964/5 and the triumph at Le Mans in 1966, where Kiwis Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon ‘won’ over the Ken Miles/Denny Hulme Mark 2 in Ford’s farcical Form-Finish.
The Mark 4 was of aluminium honeycomb construction and had much more advanced aerodynamics than the Mk 2, developed as it was from extensive testing of many variations of shapes to get the appropriate mix of top speed and downforce. The mechanical package was largely carried over and incorporated a 7-litre OHV Ford V8 fed by 2-four-barrel Holley carburettors giving circa 530bhp @ 6200rpm. The four speed Kar Kraft gearbox was again used after experiments with a two speed auto. Weight was circa 1100Kg.
All of the major contenders suspension layouts were similar; upper and lower wishbones at the front with coil spring/damper units and adjustable roll bars. And at the rear, single top link, twin radius rods, lower wishbone, coil spring/damper units and adjustable sway bars.
All three big-cars also had rack and pinion steering, and of course cast iron disc brakes front and rear.
The Chaparral 2F Chev was the most exotic of the three carsdespite its pushrod OHV 7-litre Chev V8. Fed by four 58mm Weber down-draught carburettors, the engine developed 575 bhp @ 7500rpm. The chassis was made of fibre-glass, weighed 793Kg dry, the advanced specifications extending to its three speed General Motors automatic transmission and advanced aerodynamics including distinctive high rear wing. The Texans had incorporated all they learned on their European campaign in 1966 with the 2D into the new 2F.
Ferrari’s P4 ‘aero-chassis had slightly wider tracks than its P3 forbear and was the result of evolution over previous seasons. Ferrari’s first mid-engined sportscar was the V6 engined 246P of 1961. Doug Nye records that chassis #0796 was cut up and lengthened slightly to accommodate a two-cam 3-litre Testa Rossa engine. The 1963 Le Mans winning 250P evolved from this prototype. So too did the 1965 winning 250LM, which was essentially a 250P with a roof and 3.3-litre V12, making it a 275LM in the eyes of many…
The 3.3-litre two-cam 275P followed in 1964, 275P2 and 4-litre four-cam 330P2 in 1965. The P2s departed from earlier Ferrari space-frame practice by utilisation of the ‘aero’ tube-frame semi-monocoque structure, whereby the frame was stiffened by rivetted sheet steel panelling. The model range is more complex than this as it also includes different engine/chassis combinations for customers. I will stick to the works cars for the purpose of this article.
The 4-litre P3 followed in 1966 with much improved suspension geometry to address inadequate camber control and to suit the latest generation of ever widening tyres. The 4-litre engine, adapted for Lucas fuel injection developed circa 420bhp @ 8000rpm. As outlined above, Ferrari’s 1966 season was impacted by industrial problems in Italy as well as team leader John Surtees midseason departure. The sports car and quite probably the World F1 Titles which were theirs to take with an ace at the wheel…and some luck with reliability.
The stiffness of the chassis was improved as Nye describes ‘…previous P-series Ferraris had carried their engines on four simple mounts plus plus two for the gearbox, the new P4 engine featured a stiffer crankcase and could be mounted as a semi-stressed structural member, picking up on four carefully triangulated mounts at the front, two each side and four at the rear.’
The engine, the block stressed as above, featured the three-valves per cylinder (two inlet and one exhaust with the inlets between the two camshafts of each bank) layout developed by Franco Rocchi in late 1966, as developed for the F1 cars. There were two plugs per cylinder still fired by good old fashioned coils, four of them. Lucas fuel injection fed the fuel. The engines capacity was 3967cc and developed 450bhp @ 8000 rpm.
Also new was a five speed gearbox made by Ferrari to replace the earlier ZF unit, the ZF5DS25 units as used in the Ford GTs, had been unreliable in 1966. Weight was 965Kg. Firestone replaced Dunlop as the teams tyre supplier.
And so the scene was set…the prototype completed 580 laps at Firestone tyre tests at Daytona in December 1966, Amon was the quickest ahead of Parkes, Bandini and Scarfiotti, the P4 timed at 338kmh along the back straight.
Quick, but as it was to transpire, but not quick enough.
The Parkes/Scarfiotti P4 0858 passes the #18 Casoni/Martini Ferrari Dino 206S, pursued by the Mike Spence/Phil Hill Chaparral 2F Chev, DNF with driveshaft failure. 0858 was second, the win was taken by Bandini/Amon in another P4, 0856 (unattributed)
1967 Endurance Season…
In the first race of the season, at Daytona the new Ferrari was immediately successful leading the race from the fourth hour and taking the first two places, Amon/Bandini ahead of Scarfiotti/Parkes and a modified P3/4 entered by Luigi Chinetti’s North America Racing Team . All of the 7-litre Fords retired or were delayed by maladies.
The Scuderia did not enter Sebring, but Amon and Bandini won again at Monza with Scarfiotti and Parkes second, the factory Fords again did not enter the race. With practice laps only three-tenths of a second apart, Bandini’s Ferrari and Spence’s Chaparral raced wheel to wheel from the off, but Spence retired early leaving Ferrari the rest of the race.
Bandini took the lead with Scarfiotti second in 0858, Rodriguez was third for NART and Vaccarella in the Filipinetti car in fourth. Ferrari’s four-litre prototypes now dominated the first four positions. A failed attempt by Rodriguez at overtaking the second-place works Ferrari resulted in his retirement. Note that RM Auctions in their sale dossier of the car several years ago claim Bandini and Amon won driving 0858, other independent sources say 0858 finished second.
Parkes and Scarfiotti fifth and best of the P4s at Spa in 0858. Ickx won in a Mirage M1 Ford (L’Automobile)
At Spa, ‘Rainmaster’ Ickx prevailed in John Wyers 5.7-litre Mirage Ford, Scarfiotti and Parkes could do no better than fifth in 0858. Vaccarella crashed out of the Targa lead in his P4 at Collesano, his home town…
And then came Le Mans.
As noted above this was the last Le Mans run under the unlimited formula. Ford won the previous year but at Daytona they were well and truly beaten by the P4s. Ferrari missed the Nurburgring 1000Km to be better prepared for La Sarthe. Three P4s were entered by the factory, the fourth an Ecurie Francorchamps entry.
The big V8s had the legs in practice, as proved to be the case in the race, but the Scarfiotti/Parkes P4 0858 was never far behind. A crash eliminated three Fords, the Mairesse/Beurlys P4 moved into third with the works cars chasing the leading Ford Mk4 of Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt. That vastly experienced pair drove a superb race taking Ford’s second Le Mans. Nye noted ‘…the race was decided on the Mulsanne. All the 7-litre Fords topped 320kmh. The 330P4 could not better 310kmh and the poorer breathing of the 24-valve 412Ps left them gasping, slower still’.
The works Ferrari finished four laps behind, the first Ford and second and third placed (Mairesse/Beurlys) Ferraris covered a distance unprecedented at Le Mans. Mike Parkes said to journalist/Le Mans Winner Paul Frere after the race ‘Never in my life have I driven a car so hard for so long’.
0858 on the way to second place at Le Mans in the hands of Ludovico Scarfiotti and Mike Parkes albeit four laps behind the winning 7-litre Ford Mk4 of Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt (unattributed)
The Brands Hatch BOAC International 500 was the final race of the endurance season and was to determine the championship for the year. Jackie Stewart joined Chris Amon in the works team to bolster Ferrari chances, Mike Parkes having badly injured his legs in an F1 crash at Spa.
Both chassis 0858 and 0860 had been converted to Spiders by the factory, removal of the roof and lightening the body saving around 40Kg. (Two independent sources claim 0858 was driven by Jonathon Williams and Paul Hawkins to sixth in this race, and that Amon/Stewart raced 0860 to second)
The race started at noon on Sunday under grey skies. John Surtees took an initial lead before Paul Hawkins replaced him in the third P4. After the first hour, Stewart had Spence’s Chaparral in his sights. Scarfiotti was behind him in another P4, followed by Jo Siffert in a Porsche 908. With regular driver changes and pit stops, the running order was continually evolving over the ensuing four hours. In the final hour, Amon was second.
With ten minutes to go, Stewart took the wheel, held the position and finished the race, securing the Manufacturers Championship for Ferrari, its 12th, defeating Porsche. Mike Spence won the race, the Chaparral 2F Chev finally taking a long promised win.
Factory CanAm 350 3/4 front . (Ferrari)
From P4 to Can Am 350…
With the endurance season over and regulation changes precluding the cars competition in the 1968 championship the factory modified two of the P4s, as mentioned earlier, 0858 and 0860 to better compete in the Can-Am Championship by lightening and modifying the cars, naming them 350 Can Am to contest the prestigious series in their most important market.
The cars were lightened considerably by becoming curvaceous Spiders instead of more curvaceous Coupes! Weight was reduced from 792Kg wet to 700Kg wet. The engine capacity was increased to 4176cc raising the power to 480bhp @ 8500rpm, the cars mechanical specification is as described above otherwise.
Fundamentally it was not enough.
It’s 1 September 1967, Brit Jonathon Williams is about to test an F1 Ferrari 312 for the first time at Modena. In the background is one of the P4/CanAm 350s, still with headlights fitted, also on Williams’ menu for the day – lucky boy. The first Can-Am round was at Road America on 3 Sept, the Can Am 350s first raced at Laguna Seca in Williams/Amon hands on 15 October, there was much work to be done yet! (Pete Coltrin)
Bruce McLaren had been contesting sports car races in the US since his Cooper days in the early 1960s. His first M1 McLarens were quick cars hampered by light but not powerful enough aluminium Oldsmobile engines. For 1967, he and Robin Herd designed and built the monocoque M6 powered by 5.9-litre, circa 525bhp iron Chev V8s and rewrote the record book in terms of dominance of this series.
The Bruce and Denny Show was underway. The Ferraris contested the series entered by Harrahs Casino who were also Ferrari distributors, and were comprehensively blown off along with the rest of the grid.
Factory 350 Can Am butt shot. Absence of lights clear in the weight saving process. Ferrari ‘box in P4 replaced problematic ZF unit of P3, gorgeous if not quite as as much as the P4 parent! (Ferrari)McLarens’ papaya M6A Chev looms in Jim Hall’s Chaparral 2G Chev mirrors. #21 is Parnelli Jones’ Lola T70 Ford and Dan Gurney’s partially obscured Lola T70Mk3b Chev, ALL DNF! The race was won by Surtees’ Lola T70Mk3b Chev (unattributed)
0858 From the US to Australia via Italy…
David McKay had raced his 250LM 6321 in Australia since 1965 but the car was getting older and ‘she was often racing out of class and racing against pure prototypes…During a visit to Maranello I broached the subject with Mike Parkes and the factory’s General Manager Ermano Della Casa. I had seen the P4s at Le Mans in 1967 where Mike and Scarfiotti had finished a gallant second to Fords’ 7-litre steam roller and had fallen in love with the car’.
‘To me it typified all the art, beauty and grace of the old world pitted amongst the brashness and might of the new…In due course I received word that I could buy 0858 for the considerable sum of US$30,000.
Riverside CanAm 1967. #12 Roger McCluskey Lola T70 Chev, #27 Williams Ferrari Can Am 350, #19 Bill Amick McLaren M1C Chev, Jerry Entin McLaren M1C Chev (unattributed)
The car which raced unsuccessfully in the States at Laguna Seca, Riverside and Las Vegas would be fully rebuilt and shipped to Sydney by Christmas 1967. This would be in good time for the Australian Tasman rounds where Amon would conduct it in the sportscar support events and surely set a cat amongst the pigeons…’
Chris Amon raced a Ferrari 246T looked after by Scuderia Veloce during The Australian Tasman that summer and in 1969, the year in which he was Tasman Champion.
McKay ‘The less charitable said the factory wanted the car as far away as possible so that they could forget the ignominy of the Can-Am venture. The car had managed a fifth at Laguna Seca, eighth at Riverside and a DNF at Las Vegas with Amon who had surely wrung everything out of it’.
Note that some sources say Jonathon Williams raced 0858 and Amon 0860 in the Series, another source suggests Amon raced the car twice, at Laguna Seca and Riverside, and by Williams at the final round at Las Vegas. Australian Sports Car World magazine in a feature about the car published in 1985 wrote that who drove which car cannot be accurately determined.
Take your pick…I am inclined to either uncertainty, or, I imagine Amon would have related directly to McKay at the time which car he drove, and by the time McKay wrote his autobiography he had no vested interest in the car his financial investment in it having ended in 1968, vendors or their agents and their claims should be treated with the Caveat Emptor dictum in mind…
The two 350 Can Ams at rest, Riverside paddock 1967. #23 Amon #27 Williams eighth and DNF…0858 and 0860 or…0860 and 0858 take your guess (unattributed)Chris Amon using the big twelves horsepower to good effect at Riverside 1967, eighth. All the drivers who raced the P4 commented on how sweet the chassis was (unattributed)
McKay ‘This should have turned me off but I comforted myself with the thought that there were no 8-litre McLarens in Australia and certainly no Bruce or Denny to worry us. Alas, it only required a local in his own device powered with a local 4.4-litre V8 to unravel our dream. (Frank Matich in his Matich SR3 Repco 4.4 V8).’
In fact the performance of Frank Matich in his self built car should not have been a surprise to either McKay or Amon. Matich had contested most of the 1967 Can-Am, including the three events in which Amon participated and was also flogged by the McLarens. Matich didn’t finish a race in fact…but the Sydney built, space-frame chassis, 400bhp Repco 4.4-litre V8 engined Matich was slightly quicker than the 350 Can Am and was match fit after a tough season in the US.
The Ferrari was not to have it easy in Australia that summer.
Frank Matich, wife Joan, his team and Firestone technicians on the pit apron at Riverside, 1967 Can-Am. Grid 20 DNF accident. Matich SR3 Repco; space-frame chassis car powered by Repco 620 Series 4.4-litre SOHC V8 400bhp @ 7000rpm. Surtees’ Lola T70Mk3B Chev behind (unattributed)
Again David McKay picks up the story ‘As starting money was imperative for such an expensive undertaking I sounded out all the major circuits. All were enthusiastic and all promised to pay a modest enough $350 a start. It goes without saying that when Geoff Sykes (Warwick Farm boss) set the standard, a ‘yes’ on the phone was sufficient to seal the agreement’.
‘There was great excitement at the wharf when the open crate carrying the plastic wrapped P4 was lowered over the liners side. There were a couple more huge wooden crates I hadn’t expected. These turned out to be another engine, gearbox, transaxle, suspensions, disc brakes, all manner of rose joints and sixteen wheels-in reality a second P4 apart from the simple tube-chassis and the brief, skimpy fibre-glass bodywork. That US$30000 was immediately halved in our minds and much of my initial disappointment at seeing the rather unattractive Can Am bodywork evaporated’.
0858 shortly after its arrival in Sydney at SV’s workshop, Wahroonga (WOT)
‘Engineer Bob Atkin and I were keen to get the crate and boxes home to Wahroonga to prod the beast into life. This we did and again I felt disappointment. Where was the distinctive wail I heard in the cold air at Le Mans? It was now deeper, throatier but somehow more common, less exciting.
Unfortunately I never felt any warmth for the P4, certainly not its fault for the car was out of its milieu, away from the understanding hands which cared for it and probably thinking it was back in that coarse country, America, of which it had nothing but bad dreams.
I hoped a reunion with Amon would be beneficial but Chris was more involved with his Tasman Dino and his forthcoming battle with Clark and Hill in their Lotus 49 Ford DFW’s.’
Jim Clark, Chris Amon and their respective mechanics share a joke around Chris’ Ferrari 246T at Longford, March 1968. Clark won the series in his Lotus 49 DFW, Piers Courage the race in a gutsy wet weather drive in his McLaren M4A FVA F2 car. Clark fifth and Amon seventh. Clark was killed that April and Amon returned to take the 1969 Tasman Championship…the P4 was by then sold (oldracephotos)‘Don’t pick your nails Chris!’ Amon and McKay in the cockpit of 0858 at Sandown, Melbourne, February 1968. McKay first assisted Amon in the 1963 International Series, Amon drove the SV Cooper T53 Climax (Rod MacKenzie)Scuderia Veloce Team at Warwick Farm 1968; 250LM 6321, Brabham BT23A-1 Repco and the P4/Can Am 350 0858. This shot was taken at the 18 February Tasman Meeting, 250LM I am guessing was not raced, Greg Cusack in the Brabham was a DNF in the Tasman race won by Clarks’ Lotus 49 DFW, Amon raced the P4 (David McKay’s Scuderia Veloce)Amon gets the drop from Matich in the SR3, Surfers Paradise, February 1968. Ordinary crowd numbers, surfs up at Main Beach maybe? (wolseley680)
Australian race record of ‘0858’…
Ray Bell was a journalist for Racing Car News magazine in the 1960 and 1970s, he wrote evocatively about the car’s race record on The Nostalgia Forum in 2002…
‘The first race for the car in Australia was February 10 at Surfers Paradise.It was the Saturday and it was clear that there were some shocks headed for the lap record after Matich recorded 1:10.2 in practice.
Matich dudded the start, however, but scorched around to be the first to take the lap record over the 100mph mark with a 1:10.6 (101.98mph) to Amon’s 1:10.7, reeling the Ferrari in after four laps and diving under it when a slower car baulked Amon.
Two more 5-lappers were scheduled for Sunday, with Matich and his 4.4-litre tube-framed SR3 leading away and getting a full second advantage on the first lap. The record was equalled as he took another win. In the second, Amon was a non-starter.
Rod MacKenzie’s shot of the Surfers race one start from a different angle. ‘Spare tyre’ on Ferrari was mandated by dopey Australian sports car rules of the day. The Matich carries its spare under the driver’s front screen. Beefy spoiler on the SR3, its 1968 the ‘Year of Wings’ is just getting underwaySuperb John Ellacott shot of Chris Amon looking as relaxed as he can be with Frank Matich ‘up his clacker’! Homestead Corner Warwick Farm, February 1968 (John Ellacott)
A week later at Warwick Farm came the race I speak of so often.
The report says Matich ‘left the Ferrari breathless…’ as he led Amon a merry chase. That they came past us side by side, with a Tojiero between them being lapped and grass clippings flying on one lap in the race shows that it wasn’t all that breathless!
Again, Matich was pressed to a new circuit record (these are outright records, faster than the Lotus 49s and the Amon Dino managed on the day) of 1:28.5 in staving off the Ferrari. Amon retired with reported ignition trouble on lap 7 or 8. (McKay advised the ignition leads were plucked off one bank of cylinders having been taped carefully out of reach of a half-shaft)
Check out the YouTube footage of this race…
WF start. Both Matich #1 Matich SR3 Repco and Niel Allen in the white Elfin 400 Chev get the jump on Amon’s Ferrari at the start. WF is a horse racing facility still, it ceased as an International car race venue after the 1973 Tasman Series (Wirra)Amon leads Matich into Shell Corner, lap 1 , Sandown Tasman Round Sports Car race, 25 February 1968. car with white stripe down the nose at left the Bob Jane Racing Elfin 400 Repco (Rod MacKenzie)
The opening gambit of the Sandown Park report, the next week (February 25), was ‘This was the first time the Sandown crowd has had a chance to see Frank Matich really trying. The reason was, of course, that he had Chris Amon and the P4 Ferrari to worry him.’
Matich bogged down at the start (‘nearly burned a hole in the startline with wheelspin…’) and Chris led away, but after a lap or two ‘braking late for Peters, Frank closed on Chris and went under him as they accelerated out onto Peters (the back straight).’ Matich won by four seconds, took the sports car record down to 1:07.2 (Clark nobbled the outright record in the Australian GP on the same day with a 1:07.1) and Matich bowed out of any further contests. He wasn’t happy to go to Longford.
Matich SR3 Oldsmobile in the Sandown Park paddock in 1966 (Mike Feisst Collection/The Roaring Season)‘Longford March 1968. The wet Monday morning after Amon set off a lap down on the field after battery failure on the grid. The road was wet from the first shower of the day that turned into a deluge later for the Tasman race (won by Piers Courage in his F2 McLaren M4A FVA). The overcast conditions, wet road and river in the background combine to give perfect lighting to highlight the car. Location is coming off Kings Bridge, the shot taken from the old Longford water pump-house station. The 1880s railway bridge is in the background’ So said ‘austmcreg’ on The Nostalgia Forum, photo credit Jim and Pat Smith. Amazing shot and commentary!
There, Longford, of course, Amon had the fastest time ever through the trap on the flying mile and lapped at 2:14.4 in practice to easily take pole.
In the Saturday race Amon set a new outright lap record of 2:12.6, four tenths quicker than Clark had done in the earlier preliminary event for the Tasman cars in the Lotus 49. This was 12.2 seconds better than the previous record, held by Bob Jane.(Elfin 400 Repco 4.4)
At that stage, it was only reasonable to conclude that Amon wouldn’t hold the record over the whole weekend, but the heavens opened and deluged the circuit for Monday, his P4 suffered a battery failure (McKay wrote that mechanic Bob Atkin simply overlooked to charge the dry cell Varley battery) and didn’t even start the soggy sports car race, and the open-wheelers paddled round with Piers Courages’ McLaren M4A FVA 1.6 taking the win.
Longford pit counter scene with the curvaceous Can Am 350 centre stage. Both Amon and Bill Brown drove the car at this meeting. Matich did not enter, having safety concerns about the circuit in the SR3. Little yellow stickers on Fazz rump say Gatto Verde, gifts from Alf Francis to David McKay (Harold Ellis)
In his book, McKay (David McKay’s autobiography ‘Scuderia Veloce’) describes the torment of choosing a driver for the car for the ensuing year. His choice might have been Big ‘Pete’ (Ian) Geoghegan, but there was pressure to give Bill Brown a go. There was also the possibility that Pete’s huge frame might not fit… he was put into the team’s 250LM for the year.
David Mckay again picks up the story ‘After the Tasman Series and Amon’s departure I decided to put Bill Brown behind the wheel despite certain misgivings. I liked Bill, he was a pleasant and helpful fellow who could be faster than some but rather more accident prone than others. He damaged the LM rather too frequently through overdriving…Yet I hoped Bill would mature, the red mists would disappear and he would conduct the P4 in accordance with my instructions. I had no illusions he would run with Matich, Amon hadn’t managed to…I had chosen the easy option rather than taking a chance and putting in perhaps the only local who would have given Matich a run for it-Pete Geoghegan.’
Here is Pete Geoghegan hustling McKay’s 250LM 6321 around Bathurst at Easter 1968 in the manner the SV boss liked so much (Dick Simpson)
‘Pete was already four times AustralianTouring Car Champion and was sweeping all before him in his Mustang. More important, was his driving of the ‘old red lady’ (McKay’s 250LM) in which, despite his big weight disadvantage (Pete was a very big lad, morbidly obese, the medicos would describe it) he was re-writing her lap times. Perhaps had I not been so occupied with other events that year, had not been out of the country so much I would have bitten the bullet, asked Bill to step aside and given Pete the hot seat-but could he have fitten into that little space? We’ll never know now but in the light of subsequent events I was wrong and I am sorry Pete…’
Pete Geoghegan in that car would have been worth travelling a very long way to see, a driver of awesome world class ability as McKay alludes to, if you go back into the early days of Pete’s career he drove the Geoghegan family Lotus single seaters and 23B but in essence most of his career was spent in Touring Cars and other cars with roofs
Another of Dick Simpson’s stunning shots. Bill Brown, Mount Panorama, Hell Corner ,Bathurst , Easter 1968 (Dick Simpson)
Ray Bell…’Bathurst was the first outing on April 14 & 15, which I would have thought daunting enough. With wire fences, rough surface, two serious crashes injuring top drivers in the Gold Star event’s practice sessions and all, one might be a little careful in such a fast car.
But Bill was out to show his stuff. The first race was a 3-lapper mixed in with the open-wheelers. Bartlett won that in the Brabham BT23D Alfa with Bill second about 11 seconds adrift and just 1.6 seconds clear of Niel Allen in the Elfin 400 Chev after Allen had spun on the first lap. Bartlett had fastest lap in 2:19.1, Allen did 2:19.4 and Brown 2:21.6. Maybe he was being careful after all…
As the report points out, ‘The last time anyone went really fast on Mt Panorama was back in 1962, when both David McKay and Bib Stillwell equalled Bill Patterson’s flying eighth time of 169.81mph. It has been said often since that it would probably take a sporty car to better it.’
As mentioned above, Brown took the speed up to 181 mph, a big hike, but he was in pursuit of Allen at the time. The Elfin lapped in 2:18.4 but was parked at the top of the mountain when Brown scored his lucky win, with Geoghegan second in the LM, which improved its personal best time from 2:34.2 to 2:30.8 this first time the big fella got into it. Brown lapped in 2:19.6, just shy of the 100mph mark.
0858 in the Warwick Farm paddock February 1968…the start of wings on the front, added since original factory build (WOT)Bill Brown in the RAC Trophy, Warwick Farm, May 1968. Sand in the throttle slides of the car so DNF (Rod MacKenzie)
Warwick Farm’s annual RAC Trophy race was on May 5.
This was a prize event on the best circuit. Matich lapped in 1:29 for pole, Allen did 1:32.9, Brown 1:33.0 for the outside of the first row. But the Ferrari managed to get ahead of the Elfin off the line and was second into the first corner and stayed there as Matich built up a lead of about ten seconds over the early laps. Sand got into the throttle slides of the V12 engine, however, and the Ferrari retired to give Allen second spot.
This was the race where Matich ‘unwound a blinder on the last lap just to prove the car was still ‘with it’, chopping 1.2 seconds off his Tasman meeting record and leaving the new time at a staggering 1:27.3′
The boss himself having a tilt during practice at Warwick Farm. David McKay in the big car, not so sure he mentioned this in his book (G Lanham)0858 sans rear bodywork, shot at SV workshop in Sydney (WOT)
Lakeside on May 12 brought a pair of Scuderia Veloce 1 – 2s,but the opposition had died in the pre-race buildup. Matich cracked the lap record in practice with a 53.7 in his first appearance at the circuit since his crash there in 1965. Allen did a 55.3, Brown a 57.2.
The minor race came first, with Allen scoring a win and Matich fastest lap (55.2, new record anyway) with the Elfin taking the lead from the start as Matich eased away with a sick engine. Matich pitted, but continued, the Repco suffering a loose valve seat, which prevented him getting top horsepower as he nailed it to get that record in the book. Brown finished 1.5 seconds behind Allen and actually lapped two tenths faster at 56.3, both of them under Allen’s old record.
The main event was a twenty-lapper, and in the minutes before the race Matich declared himself a non-starter and Allen trickled back into the pits with a bolt out of the steering. Brown was able to walk it in (best lap 58.4) as Geoghegan showed all his abilities at the helm of the 250LM to fill second ahead of a Lotus 23B. His best lap was 59.3 and he was less than nine seconds behind at the finish.
0858 cockpit shot taken at Surfers Paradise by Rod MacKenzie. Momo steering wheel, Veglia Borletti instruments all very Ferrari period-fitments. Note venting of wheel arch to release air pressure (Rod MacKenzie)
There was yet another race, an eight-lapper, at the end of the day, with the 2.5 open-wheelers combining with the fastest sports cars. The report doesn’t clearly explain how Allen got to be behind Phil West’s Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT23A Repco, but he was and seemingly couldn’t do anything about it. Brown won as he liked, scoring another SV 1-2 with West second this time.
I would say that West got away best, then the brute force of the bigger engined cars overpowered him, only Allen was stuck behind him as Brown got through to the lead. Anyway, Allen spent the rest of the race back there in a frustrated third, ‘perhaps over-flushed with determination, hounded West in the best showing of brute tactics seen for a long while, the big Elfin almost running over the Brabham into BMC lap after lap as West stopped to look at the view and Brown scampered up over BP. Allen tried to go under into KLG, avoiding disaster by a hair’s breadth, and pushed the Brabham wheel to wheel round the Eastern Loop. This excitement was too much, added to by Geoghegan who forced the 250LM to the front of Scott’s Lotus 27 to fill fourth spot.’
Des White wrote well, didn’t he? He pressed on. ‘The big battle looked worse as the backmarkers were lapped, disaster being forever imminent as very slow cars found themselves caught up in the 140mph battle between Allen and West, the Elfin being stopped and pointed with a dexterity seldom seen these days. Allen failed to get through, perhaps through trying too hard, and it was disappointing to see him slipstream to the flag. Should the big power of the Elfin have carried it from Shell to the flag first? Maybe, and there been breathing space for the initial build up.” Best lap to Brown, 56.6, Allen did 56.7, West 55.9, winning margin less than two seconds (1.6, actually).
SV lined up on the Surfers Paradise dummy grid prior to the 6 Hour in 1968. L.R; Leo and Pete Geoghegan 250LM which won, Des West/Bill Reynolds 275 GTB ninth, and Brown/Palmer 350 Can Am DNF accident (Rod MacKenzie)
Ray Bell, ‘Probably the event dearest to McKay’s heart was the Surfers Paradise 12-hour…
And he had Jim Palmer over from New Zealand to co-drive with Brown. But Palmer wasn’t up to it, lapping over five seconds slower than Brown in practice and wearing himself out in the process. Matich, who was racing quite a lot during this year, even entered the SR3 in this race with Glynn Scott as co-driver (only 2.3 seconds behind Frank’s times), so this car was the pace as the race got going, Brown following it through the field after both started slowly (Le Mans start). Lapping slower cars soon after the start, Brown was pushed off line and ran over some tyre markers on the edge and holed the radiator. The P4 was out…
David McKay saw the race slightly differently ‘…I had asked NZ Champion Jim Palmer to co-drive with Brown. Jim was a fast, safe driver very much in the Spencer Martin mould. I erred by not having Palmer start the race…The field as in the past, was composed of fast and slow open and closed cars and as always the onus is on the overtaking car. A second or two lost by backing off the throttle to make sure the tortoise knew he was about to be swamped was sensible driving…Less than 15 minutes into the race, Brown came up behind a Fiat 125 saloon, on the approach to Firestone, a fairly quick left hander. The Fiat driver, unaware Brown was diving down the inside held his line. The P4 had nowhere to go but over the grass and a white tyre marker demolishing the nose and oil cooler…Brown bought the mortally wounded P4 to a halt in front of our pit’.
Bell, ‘Matich’s Repco engine dropped its bundle very late in the race and Geoghegan and his brother Leo won the race in the Scuderia Veloce 250LM.
‘That was the end of the P4’s racing in Australia. Matich was to debut his SR4 with its 5-litre quad-cam engine in November, cementing his position as top dog in the field and enabling him to go on and take more outright records.’
‘0858’ in cigarette company Team Gunston colours in Bulawayo, South Africa 1969. Note the car now has lights refitted – installed in Australia for the Surfers 6 Hour (unattributed)
Sale of ‘0858’ to Paul Hawkins…
Due to an error in paperwork, the car was invoiced to McKay rather than in Amon’s name, bringing forward the impost of import duty. The Customs Department provided extensions of time with the assistance of the Italian Chamber of Commerce who wanted the car to race in the Surfers 6 Hour and form the centre-piece of a Sydney trade show.
Under pressure to pay the duty, which was close to 100% of the cars purchase price!, or export it, McKay put the word out ‘…dear old Paul Hawkins had heard about the car being for sale from Chris Amon at an Oulton Park meeting. I was in the workshop when ‘Hawkeyes’ call came through ‘Is the car for sale?’ ‘Yes’, ‘How much?’ ‘US$30,000’. ‘If I buy it will you go me halves in a return ticket to Sydney?’. ‘Yes, ok’. ‘I’ll be there the day after tomorrow’. I’ll meet you Paul’
‘Simple and straightforward. Paul was making a name for himself as a successful sports car and GT racer and had been a favourite of Firestone…The car was to be shipped right after Surfers for Paul would drive it in South Africa’s sports car series with tobacco sponsorship and he would win’.
350 Can Am in the East London pits, front lights now faired. The car won this 500km race (royckdboats)
Paul raced the car in South Africa from November 1968 to January 1969 winning the Cape Town 3 Hour, GP of Bulwayo, Pietermaritzburg 3 Hour and the East London 500 Km.
As McKay mentioned above Hawkins was an Australian International plying his trade via his own team and as a ‘hired gun’ by works teams. He was racing a Lola T70 Mk3B Chev during the Tourist Trophy at Oulton Park, his car ending up in the trees, after probable suspension failure, poor Paul dying in the particularly gruesome accident and ensuing fire.
Both Hawkins and Alberto Ascari, the only two drivers to ‘Scuba Dive’ at Monaco both died on May 26, in an arcane bit of trivia. Mike Hailwood raced ‘0858’ at Magny Cours, first and Dijon DNF in May.
Gearbox fettling perhaps, prior to the East London event. 4.2-litre DOHC three valve per cylinder Lucas fuel injected V12. Ferrari 5-speed ‘box with ZF limited slip diff. Battery of coils clear to see (royckdboats)
The car was sold in the realisation of the Hawkins Estate,through David Piper, who raced so many mid sixties sports Ferraris’ of his own, and occasionally as a works-driver, to Alastair Walker who raced the car back in South Africa in November-December 1969 with sometime GP driver Rob Widdows as his co-driver.
The car was uncharacteristacally unreliable, perhaps tired, ‘0858’ failed to finish the Kyalami 9 Hour, Cape Town and Bulawayo 3 Hour events. ‘0858’ was second at the Lourenco Marques, Mozambique.
In 1971 David Piper bought the car from Walker, still with its extensive inventory of spare parts, enough as McKay states to make a second car less chassis…which is what Piper did. Ferrari provided him with all the necessary P4 blueprints in 1974. Piper, Nye says ‘had the chassis made by the original people in Modena. Ferrari gave it the number ‘0900’, a serial number also applied to a Chinetti parts built 312P in the US’. Several run-on cars have been built by Piper since.
David Piper sold 0858 to Florida real estate man/Ferrari collector Walter Medlin in 1971. He retained it until it was offered for sale – having been seized by the US Internal Revenue Service to pay Medlin’s outstanding tax debt – via RM Auctions in 2009. The car was eventually restored by Talacrest in the UK, somewhat controversially in the eyes of some, to its Spyder/Barchetta specification.
At the outset I wrote that four P4s were built, three P4’s and one converted P3 ‘0846’...
In the best traditions of historic racing there are now more P4s than in period…there are three or four ‘run-on’ cars built by Piper’s concern. In addition, ‘0846’, written off by the factory after a crash and fire at Le Mans in 1967 has been reborn, recreated or replicated depending upon your view of it.
I’m not suggesting ‘the experts’ necessarily know it all either.
Etcetera…
Amon at Warwick Farm (G Paine)Chris consulting with his crew in the Sandown pitlane, David McKay in shirt and tie (G Paine)Bill Brown, who drove the car after Amon’s departure back to Europe also had a steer of the Can Am 350 at Longford in both practice and a preliminary race (David Keep)(Rod MacKenzie)
That ‘Australian’ spare tyre which was fitted as a consequence of our local sports car regs at the time. SV solution was a neat one even if the weight is well outside the cars wheelbase, where else to put it!? The yellow ‘Gatto Verde’ stickers were a gift from Alf Francis to McKay. McKay makes mention of it in his autobiography but not actually what the stickers mean/represent. Ideas anyone?
Bibliography…
David McKay ‘David McKays Scuderia Veloce’, Paul Frere ‘Cars in Profile 246SP-330P4 Ferraris’, Doug Nye ‘The Potent P4…A Ferrari Fierce and Fine’ Sports Car World July/Sept 1982
Thanks to Stephen Dalton for the assistance in research material sourcing
Photo Credits…
Dick Simpson, Roderick MacKenzie, John Ellacott, wolseley680, WOT, Jim and Pat Smith, Ellis French, The Roaring Season, David Keep, oldracephotos, royckdboats, Mike Feisst Collection, Pete Coltrin, Harold Ellis, Glenn Paine, Geoff Lanham
Tailpiece…
Lets go out as we came in, with a fabulous shot, this time by Harold Ellis of Bill Brown, the sun gleaming off 0858 before blasting down the Longford public roads, big V12 howling at 180 miles per hour in February 1968…
Lorenzo Bandini heading for fourth place in his ‘Centro Sud’ Cooper T53 Maserati, ‘Warwick Farm 100’, February 1962…
The race was won by Stirling Moss in Rob Walkers’ Cooper T53 Climax from Bruce McLaren in a similar car.
Lorenzo Bandini 1967. (Unattributed)
Bandini joined Centro Sud in 1961 making his championship debut at Spa having scored 3rd place in the Non-Championship Pau GP earlier in the season.
He raced in the Southern Summer gaining valuable experience in the powerful F Libre cars raced in Australasia at the time against the Worlds best.
Bandini contested the Warwick Farm International, his only race in Australia but competed in New Zealand at the start of the year coming 5th in the NZ GP at Ardmore and retired at Wigrams airfield circuit and at Teretonga with an oil leak and ignition problems respectively.
Born in 1935, he commenced his racing career on motorcycles, progressing into cars with a borrowed Fiat 1100. He came to the attention of ‘Centro Suds’ Mimmo Dei after Formula Junior successes in Stanguellini and Volpini chassis’ in 1960 and 1961.
Have always thought BRM’s and Cooper’s look great in BRG but they look even better in red!? Lorenzo in his ex-works BRM P57 1.5 V8 in the British GP, Silverstone 1963. An excellent 5th in the race won by Jim Clarks’ Lotus 25 Climax. (Unattributed)
Victorious at Le Mans in 1963 in Ferraris’ first V12 mid engined endurance racer the 250P. He shared the car with fellow Italian Ludovico Scarfiotti. (Unattributed)
Bandini drove his first GP for Ferrari in 1962but for 1963 drove in their sports car squad, Centro Sud kept him in GP racing campaigning an ex-works BRM P57…Ferrari did enter him in the last 4 GP’s of the season…he also won Le Mans in’63 partnered by Ludovico Scarfiotti in a Ferrari 250P.
For 1964 he partnered John Surtees in the F1 team winning the Austrian GP at Zeltweg, sadly his only Championship GP win.
First in the Austrian GP at Zeltweg in August 1964 ahead of Richie Ginther in a BRM P261 and Bob Anderson, Brabham BT11 Climax…(Unattributed)
Patiently bleeding the brakes of his Ferrari 158 in practice for the German GP, Nurburgring 1965. 6th in the rcae won by Clarks’ Lotus 33 Climax. (Unattributed)
Disappointment on his face, Bandini pulls to the side of the Reims circuit, 1966 French GP. He was in the lead of the race and pulling away, of all things his throttle cable broke, well before the days of potentionometers! Jack Brabham took the lead in his Brabham BT19 Repco and became the first driver to win a race in a car of his own manufacture and name. (Unattributed)
Always competitive in F1, if not an absolute ‘ace’ Bandini was unlucky not to win the 1966 French and US Grands Prix’ when well in the lead of both races , mechanical problems with his 3 litre V12 Ferrari 312 intervening.
Famous shot first published in Automobile Year. Lorenzo in the Ferrari P2 he shred with local Nino Vaccarella to win the 1965 Targa Florio. (Automobile Year)
Luckier in sports car racing, in addition to the Le Mans victory, he also won the Targa Florio in 1965 and the Daytona 24 Hours and Monza 1000Km in 1967 racing the superb Ferrari P4 partnered with Chris Amon whom he first met at the NZ GP in 1962, Chris campaigning a Maserati 250F before he came to Europe…
Lorenzo died in a gruesome accident at Monaco in 1967, the fire which took his life accelerating improvements to circuit and driver safety, not the least the abolition of hay-bales with which he collided, fuelling the ensuing fire.
He was an immensely popular driver with his colleagues, the media and fans, 100000 of whom were in the streets surrounding the Reggiolo church in which his funeral was held.
Bandini in the gorgeous Ferrari P4 at Monza, 1967 1000Km’s which he won with Chris Amon. The P4 4 litre V12 was outgunned by the 7 litre Fords and Chaparrals that year but still scored some successes. (Unattributed)
Shell ad to celebrate the 1963 Le Mans win. #10 Rodriguez/Penske Ferrari 330LM TRI, #18 P Hill/Bianchi Aston DP215, # 21 victorious Bandini/Scarfiotti Ferrari 250P, # 23 Surtees/Mairesse Ferrari 250P, # 8 McLaren/Ireland Aston Martin DB4 GT
Roger Penske aboard his devilishly clever Zerex Special sportscar in 1963…
By 1962 Penske was a well established competitor. While later his friend and driver Mark Donohue coined The Unfair Advantage phrase in racing, Roger himself contrived a clever plan to develop a very quick sportscar for the lucrative US series.
After careful study of the SCCA Rulebook Penske concluded that while the sports car regulations required said cars to have two seats, the rules didn’t define their dimensions.
Roger’s cunning stunt involved resurrection and fitment of a very small passenger seat and sportscar bodywork to a Cooper T53 Climax F1 car (chassis #T53 F1-16-1) crashed by Walt Hansgen during the 1961 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.
Walt was launched over Olivier Gendebien’s Lotus, Olivier having spun and re-entered the circuit right in Walt’s path. Briggs Cunningham, the Cooper’s owner, sold the damaged car to Penske in the ‘Glen paddock less engine.
Walt Hansgen Cooper T53 Climax T53 F1-16-1, the Zerex donor car, behind is Penske in his Cooper T53 Climax. US GP Watkins Glen 1961. Both cars 1.5-litre Coventry Climax FPF powered (Ron Nelson)
Zerex Climax looking absolutely superb on pole as Penske settles himself into the cockpit for the 200 mile Puerto Rico GP in 1962. He won from Tim Mayer’s Cooper T57 Monaco and Dan Gurney, Porsche 718 WRS (Getty Images)
The car was then repaired, rebuilt and transformed by Roy Gane and Penske himself by fitting a wider alloy body with round and square tubing and added brackets to support the new body and mini-seat. Its first race, still 2.7-litre Climax FPF powered, was the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside in October ’62.
It was an International event that attracted the world’s best including Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Dan Gurney, Innes Ireland and Masten Gregory as well as world class Americans Penske, Jim Hall, Hansgen, Ken Miles, Lloyd Ruby and others.
The Zerex, to all intents and purposes a current GP car with an all-enveloping body, promised to be competitive!
At a distance, even up close, the car appeared to be a single seater in contravention of the rules, as soon as it was unloaded in the paddock the SCCA was deluged with protests.
Watched by a large crowd of media, mechanics, spectators and drivers Penske calmly undid the Dzus fasteners attaching the left side panel to reveal a small, cramped, passenger seat, whereupon the lanky Philadelphian attempted to insert himself into said seat…The car was kosher, legal to the letter of the rules, Penske was canny enough to have the SCCA Chief Technical Inspector see the car when it was being concepted and approve it as being compliant.
Nearly in…Penske sees the funny side even if the competition doesn’t before the car takes to the track, LA Times GP 1962 (Dave Friedman)
The car won three events in late 1962; at Riverside during its first race meeting from Jim Halls Chaparral 1 Chev, at Laguna Seca and the Puerto Rico GP.
The Riverside and Laguna races were USAC sanctioned. The car was protested but USAC allowed it to run, but storm clouds were brewing from some very pissed off, wealthy, influential car owners.
LA Times Riverside 1962. Penske leads # 63, the Hansgen Cooper Buick, #5 McLaren Cooper Monaco Climax, #8 Jerry Grant Lotus 19 Buick, #66 Jim Hall Chaparral 1 Chev, #3 Masten Gregory and #26 Lloyd Ruby both Lotus 19 into turn 1 lap 1. Penske won (Dave Friedman)
Penske on the grid at Puerto Rico. The car looks simply fantastic, workmanship a treat (Dave Friedman)
In the winter of 1962, the entire chassis centre section was cut, shut and widened by Penske’s team to provide a seat either side of the Zerex centre-line to meet the quickly-tightened 1963 rules…
The car (lets call it Evolution 3 in this form) was sold to John Mecom, the body modified to conform, a new windshield and roll bar was added and the machine repainted in Mecom’s blue and white colours.
Zerex in the paddock, circuit unknown in 1963 with full roll bar and space for second seat, offset driving position-Zerex Evolution 3. Climax FPF and CS5 ‘box on display, as are simple brackets to retain the body and truly ‘orrible but seemingly effective curvy frame (unattributed)
The Zerex raced throughout 1963 in this form winning two SCCA national events at Marlboro Motor Raceway and Cumberland. Across the Atlantic it was first in the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch in August, Roy Salvadori placed second in a Cooper Monaco Climax that day.
LA Times GP, Riverside 1963. Owned by Mecom, still driven by Penske it was second to Dave McDonald’s Cooper Ford ‘King Cobra’ (Dave Friedman)
LA Times GP ’63. A fantastic 200 mile race initially led by Halls Chaparral, DNF. Here is the later dice between Penske and McDonalds’ Shelby Cooper Ford for the lead, McD prevailed in the 289cid small block Windsor engined Cooper (Dave Friedman)
See this YouTube footage of both the 1963 LA Times GP and 1964 Sebring 12 Hour…
The Zerex is historically significant in that it was sold to Bruce McLaren after Nassau in 1963. It was effectively the first in the long line of very successful McLaren sportscars which became the dominant force in Can-Am/Group 7 racing from 1967…
In 1962 Bruce, a factory Cooper driver, and Penske shared a Cooper Monaco Maserati at Sebring. Bruce later wrote, “After that race I came back to England and asked Charlie Cooper if I could run the sports car side of the Cooper Car Company because I felt sure there was a tremendous market for this type of car to use an American engine for American racing. I was convinced at that stage that sportscar racing was going to really boom providing there were cars available, and that it would be a great market for an English manufacturer. Charlie turned me down flat.”
Penske moved on from the Zerex as it became less competitive. He drove a Chev engined Cooper for Mecom and later a Chaparral before retiring from driving in late 1964, having signed to race for Jim Hall again in 1965.
The Zerex Climax was still sitting in John Mecom’s workshop together with an aluminium Traco modified Oldsmobile F85 engine which had never been fitted to the car. Bruce bought it and shipped it back to the UK, fitted with a 2.7 FPF. The Olds F85 (the block was used in much modified form, as the basis of the 1966 F1 Championship winning Repco Brabham RB620 3-litre V8) was on a pallet.
Bruce raced it with the 2.7 Climax and slightly modified bodywork (Evolution 4 if you like) in the Aintree 200 where he defeated Jim Clark’s Lotus 30 Ford, and in the Silverstone International where he won again, this time from Salvadori’s Cooper Monaco Maserati 5-litre.
Start of the 1964 Aintree 200. L-R: #87 John Coundley Lotus 19 Climax, #95 Tony Lanfranchi Elva Mk7 BMW, Jack Sears AC Cobra, Bruce is on the right in the Zerex Climax. McLaren won from Jim Clark, Lotus 30 Ford and Sears’ Cobra (unattributed)
The day after Silverstone Zerex was stripped at Bruce’s new, modest, dirt-floor workshop in New Malden, South London where the chassis rebuilt from just behind the front suspension to just ahead of the rear suspension with a new McLaren designed centre-section welded in. The work was done by Wally Willmott and Tyler Alexander.
In its Penske modified form the car lacked the torsional rigidity to cope with the additional power and torque of the Olds V8. The (Evolution 5) chassis was far stiffer that the Zerex modified frame. The main chassis longerons performed dual purposes as structural members and as conduits for oil and water from the respective radiators to the engine. A Colotti gearbox from one of Bruce’s Tasman Cooper T70s was mated to the Olds engine.
With no time to fabricate a new exhaust system, the car was flown to Mosport with eight stub exhausts poking up through the tail, there he won first time out.
McLaren victorious upon debut of the (then named) Cooper Oldsmobile with its new chassis centre section and Olds engine. Players 200, Mosport, Canada 1964 (unattributed)
Given the sensitivities about Jack Brabham’s departure from Cooper and construction of his own cars with Ron Tauranac, calling the car a McLaren was not going to wash with Charlie and John Cooper so the hybrid was entered as a Cooper Oldsmobile at Mosport.
Back in the UK he won the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch in August, then starred at Goodwood’s Tourist when he started from pole, led and set fastest lap before retiring.
With all of his research complete – with the aim of building a McLaren sportscar – Bruce sold the car, via John Mecom and Teddy Mayer to Dave Morgan. The Texan raced it throughout 1965 and 1966 in the US and Nassau. From Morgan the car was sold to Leo Barboza in Venezuela and then on to two other South American owners.
The prototype McLaren M1A Oldsmobile appeared later in 1964, dominance was not too far away!
Continually modified, the hybrid Cooper T53/ Zerex/McLaren Olds maintained its Unfair Advantage for three years…
Cooper T53 aka Zerex aka Cooper Olds in Venezuela shortly after its arrival in 1967 (unattributed)
In late June 2022 the Zerex/Cooper Olds was shipped to the UK and is to be offered for sale by Bonhams during the September 2022 Goodwood Revival Meeting.
Paddock shot in 1963, circuit unknown. Cooper T53 standard front suspension comprises upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/damper units. Evolution 3 widened chassis and offset driving position, and second full size seat to comply with end of ’62 tightened rules is clear (unattributed)
Mosport ’64 colour shot of Bruce’s ‘new’ Cooper Olds – ain’t she sweet? (Bruce McLaren Trust)
Bibliography and Credits…
The Nostalgia Forum generally and Doug Nye’s posts on topic specifically, Bruce McLaren Trust, MiniWerks Forum. Photos credits David Friedman, Ron Nelson and the Bruce McLaren Trust
Tailpiece…
The ad which inspired this article I spotted in a pile of Road and Track magazines I bought. I was well aware of the Zerex Special, if not the infinite detail. The thing I didn’t know or care about was the derivation of the Cooper’s name. Penske secured sponsorship from Dupont to promote their Zerex antifreeze, not a product ever available in Australia, so now I know!
Bib Stillwell leans his Cooper into Homestead Corner, you can see and feel the energy being expended in extracting all the performance the car has to offer in this John Ellacott shot…
Stillwell was four times Australian National ‘Gold Star’ Champion from 1962 to 1965, his early sixties battles with rival Frank Matich in both single-seaters and in sports cars, Matich in his Lotus 19 or 19B, were legendary.
Both were Australian champions in both types of car and fierce rivals- Stillwell the Melbourne motor dealer/semi-professional racer and Matich, the Sydney based, and perhaps first truly professional Australian driver.
Stillwell in the Monaco just ahead of Frank Matich, Lotus 19b Climax, Lakeside, Queensland, perhaps the 1963 Tasman Meeting. (Peter Mellor)
In Sportscars Stillwell won the ‘Australian Tourist Trophy’ aboard the Cooper Monaco in 1961 and 1962. Matich won it in 1964 in a Lotus 19B Climax and in 1966 racing his almost brand new Elfin 400 Olds (aka the ‘Traco Olds’), then in 1967 in his first self-built Matich SR3 Olds and again in 1968 in a Matich SR3 Repco.
The ATT was not contested in 1969 but Frank’s Matich SR4, powered by a 5 litre quad-cam Repco ‘760 Series’ V8 was the fastest car in Australia of any sort that year. It was built to contest the Can-Am Series in 1968 but was too late in completion to compete so Frank used it to destroy the opposition at home a year later instead.
Bib acquired this ex-Moss car in the UK. The chassis number is uncertain but Doug Nye believes it to be the car ordered by Moss in April 1959 as a kit of parts ex-factory which was then built up by Keele Engineering.
The Monaco was lightly raced by the great Brit, commencing with the British GP meeting at Aintree in 1959, DNF after qualifying on the front row. He took the car to Scandinavia in August winning races at both Karlskoga, Sweden and the Roskilde Ring, Copenhagen, Denmark and it was then put to one side as he focussed on a Lotus 19 to which the engine and ‘box from the Monaco were fitted.
Bib bought the car off Moss during a trip to the UK in 1961.
At Stillwell’s Kew, Melbourne Holden dealership workshops it was fitted by Gerry Brown with a 2.5 Litre Coventry Climax FPF four cylinder engine and gearbox out of one of Bib’s Cooper single-seaters upon arrival in Australia and was soon ready in time for the 19 September 1961 Warwick Farm meeting.
Starting a familiar pattern, the Stillwell transporter left its Cotham Road, Kew, Melbourne base to go to Adelaide with two cars- Bib raced both his Cooper T53 in the Australian Grand Prix at Mallala in October 1961 finishing second to Lex Davison- Lex in Bib’s older Cooper T51, and the Cooper Monaco that weekend.
The Monaco arrived in Australia with the standard leaf spring rear suspension configuration but Alf Francis had modified the rear chassis bracketry to also allow the use of a coil spring/damper set-up- both were used in Oz.
Stillwell Cooper at Sandown 1963. Coil spring rear suspension in this shot (Kevin Drage)
Cooper Monaco during the Warwick Farm International meeting in 1961. Transverse leaf spring rear suspension configuration in this shot. Look at all those curvy bits of tube, offensive to engineering purists but effective all the same! Coventry Climax 2.5 or 2.7 FPF engine. Citroen Ersa gearbox (Ray Bell)
In Australia the car also raced with a 2.7 ‘Indy’ Climax FPF with which it was timed at 160mph on Longford’s ‘Flying Mile’ in 1963. In a quest for still more speed, in October 1964 the car was fitted with an ex-Scarab RE/Arnold Glass BRM P48 Buick V8.
Lance Reventlow sold one of his engines to Arnold Glass after the one off appearance of his mid-engined Scarab RE Buick Intercontinental Formula car raced by Chuck Daigh at Sandown’s opening meeting in March 1962. Glass replaced the somewhat temperamental BRM 4 cylinder engine with the lightweight, 3.9 litre aluminium, pushrod V8.
In Stillwell’s hands the car won the 1961 and 1962 Australian TT, the Victorian Sports Car Championship in 1962 and 1963 and the South Pacific Sports Car Championship at Longford in 1962.
Stillwell at Warwick Farm in the Cooper in 1965, at this stage fitted wth the ex-Scarab/Glass Buick V8 (R Austin)
The Cooper Monaco with the ex-Scarab/Glass Buick V8 behind the car and ‘George, a mechanic at East Malvern Motors where we both worked for Ray Gibbs’ quipped Mike Kyval. This is during the period Tony Osbourne owned the car. Gibbs was one of the cars drivers in that period of ownership- and prepared the car (M Kyval)
Sold to ‘Pitstop Motors’ Dick Thurston, he first raced it at Calder in January 1966- shortly thereafter he was fifth in the 1966 Australian Tourist Trophy at Longford- a race won, as mentioned above by the Matich Elfin 400 Oldsmobile.
The car was was soon sold on, still in Melbourne, to South Yarra’s Tony Osbourne of ‘Argo Racing’- as in Argo Street South Yarra, who raced it at Calder in May 1966 and then contested the first Surfers Paradise 12 Hour race together with Murray Carter and Ray Gibbs- the beast completed 96 laps of the race won by the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM crewed by Jackie Stewart and Andy Buchanan.
The car subsequently passed through many owners hands including Fred Wheelhouse, Peter Nielson, Charles Dominelli before acquisition by Pat McLernon of Dandenong, Victoria who fitted a new body built by Ted Proctor in Sydney, by this stage a Ford 302 V8 was fitted. Stan Rumble owned it for a while before the wonderful machine fell into the loving hands of Paul Moxham who restored it to original Coventry Climax engined form.
In 2000 Frank Sytner and John Coombs acquired it, the car has raced in Europe since then.
Mallala is a wonderful, challenging shorter circuit built on a former RAAF airfield 60 Km North of Adelaide. (Kevin Drage)
‘Scuderia Stillwell’ arriving and unloading the Monaco and Cooper T53 at Mallala- South Australia Gold Star meeting in October 1962 after the long haul from their Kew.
Mallala is a fabulous little 1.6mile/2.6Km circuit 55Km north of Adelaide. It was built on the site of former ‘RAAF Base Mallala’, which was acquired by a group of enthusiasts in 1961..the opening meeting in August 1961 was won by Bib Stillwell in a Cooper…
Stillwell had a good start in life…
He attended Trinity Grammar and Scotch College in Hawthorn and at 22 had parental support for his original small MG dealership in 1949, but over the decades grew his business.
He was awarded a Holden franchise in 1953 operating from Cotham Road Kew, and later as a Ford, BMW and other prestige marques dealer building a large group with his own talent and entrepreneurial flair which prospers in his families hands today long after his death.
His management skills were world class, his interests included aviation. After success in that field from the mid-sixties in Australia- distributing Beechcraft and later Lerjets he was appointed President of the Lear Corporation in the US in 1982, a position he held for 3 years before returning to Australia to a ‘second motor dealing career’ in luxury franchises and historic racing, he died on June 12 1999.
Stillwell happy in victory, Cooper Monaco, Mallala October 1962. He took wins that day in this car and the Gold Star event in his Cooper T53 Kevin Drage)
I rather like this observation Michael Lynch made in his obituary of Bib published in the Melbourne ‘Age’ newspaper.
‘The links between business and sport, and the characteristics required to succeed in both, have often been drawn. Drive, determination, persistence, talent, luck, the ability to think outside the obvious and seize opportunities that others don’t see – and then make them work – are all characteristics shared variously by top sportsmen and the leading lights of the business world.’
’Stillwell, who died suddenly last weekend from a heart attack, had all of them in good measure, showcasing them in both his sporting career, which ran until the mid-1960s, and then his business career, which was still being developed at the time of his death’.
Cooper T49 ‘Monaco’ Specifications…
The Cooper Type number is 49- the car was given the ‘Monaco’ name in recognition of Jack Brabham’s victory in the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, his first GP win on the way to his, and Coopers first World Championships as driver and constructor.
Of typical curved Cooper space frame construction, the car owes most of its hardware to its single-seater siblings. Front suspension is by upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/damper units with an adjustable roll bar. At the rear top location is provided by a transverse leaf spring, with a lower rear wishbone. Brakes are disc all around, steering rack and pinion and typical Cooper alloy wheels of the period were used.
Most of the cars were fitted with Coventry Climax FPF engines of varying capacities, Stillwell’s mainly with a 2.5 but it was raced with other engines as recorded above. Gearbox was the Citroen ERSA or Colotti units- the Moss/Stilwell car was first fitted with a Cooper CS5, 5 speed transaxle.
Stillwell again at Lakeside. Cooper Monaco 1963. (Peter Mellor)
Etcetera…
(Sparks Family)
Another successful Mallala weekend for Stillwell, this time after winning the 19 August 1961 ‘Mallala Trophy’ Gold Star round.
Looking very natty in his BRDC badged blue blazer, it’s perhaps a posed BP publicity shot, whatever the case, a top shot.
(P Skelton)
Stephen Dalton reckons this shot of the Monaco is at Calder in January or February 1962.
Credits…
John Ellacott, Kevin Drage, Ray Bell, James Allington cutaway, Ken Devine Collection, Reg Sparks Collection via Craig Sparks, Phillip Skelton via Tony Johns Collection
The Nostalgia Forum, Richard Austin, John Blanden ‘Historic Racing Cars in Australia’, Mike Kyval
Tailpiece: Equipe Stillwell during the November 1962 Caversham AGP weekend…
(K Devine)
The open-wheeler is a Cooper T53 Climax- Bib was third in the AGP behind Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T62 and John Youl’s T55 at Caversham off the back of winning the Gold Star from Youl and Patterson- he took victories at Bathurst and Mallala on the way to the title.
Revvie manhandling the big brute to victory in the 1971 CanAm Championship with the required levels of finesse, touch and strength these big, heavy oh-so-spectacular cars required…
Revson won the title by 10 Points from Denny Hulme having won 5 of the 10 rounds.
The M8F was the last of a line of cars which commenced with the 1968 M8A, the new for ’67 M6 and new for ’72 M20 being sufficiently different to be treated outside the M8A/B/D and F 1968-1971 ‘works cars’.
The cars were of course the fastest road racing cars of all at the time.
This shot was taken by noted American journalist/photographer Pete Lyons at the Laguna Seca hairpin in October 1971. Days later Lyons was ‘given the ride of his life’ in this car at Riverside! Lucky boy. Revson won at Laguna from Jackie Stewarts’ Lola T260 Chev and McLaren teammate Denny Hulme. (Pete Lyons)
Tex Hopkins greets Revson, victorious at Watkins Glen July 1971. He won fron Denny Hulme and Jo Siffert Porsche 917PA (Todd Treat)
Revsons 1970 and 1971 seasons in CanAm, in 1970 with the Carl Haas factory Lola T220 Chev, and his Indy performances vaulted him back into F1 with McLaren, his ‘second bite at the F1 cherry’ having done a few races in Parnell entered Lotus BRM’s in 1964. He quickly showed it was right where he belonged.
Such a charismatic driver and tragically talent unfulfilled, his performances in the M23 McLaren in 1973, not just his two GP wins at Silverstone and Mosport showed he was a regular winner if not a champion in the right car. A versatile driver as well, quick in TransAm, CanAm, F1 and Indycars, different disciplines all.
Check out this link for an article on Revsons’ 1973 McLaren M23…
Surtees races through the ‘Green Hell’ to victory, Nurburgring 1000Km, his Ferrari 250P shared with Belgian Willy Mairesse, 1963…
It was a Ferrari 1-3 with a 250GTO and 250 Testa Rossa in second and third driven by Noblet/Guichet and Abate/Maglioli respectively.
The 250P was Ferrari’s first mid-engined V12 sports prototype and the class of the year, comprehensively winning the championship for the Scuderia.
The 3 litre V12 engined cars won the Sebring 12 Hour, Nurburgring 1000Km and Le Mans 24 Hour classics and spawned the 250LM, effectively a 250P with a roof and 3.3 litre engine. The 250/275LM won Le Mans in 1965 after the GT40’s and Ferrari P2’s fell by the wayside. https://primotipo.com/2014/07/03/pete-geoghegan-ferrari-250lm-6321-bathurst-easter-68/
The 1970 Le Mans 24 hours was won by the Hans Hermann/Richard Attwood Porsche 917K , Kurtz, or short tail…
The win was Porsches’ first outright Le Mans victory. In second place, 5 laps behind was the so-called ‘Hippie Car’, the wildly painted Martini International 917LH, Langheck or long tail. The car was driven by Gerard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen, starting a trend of cars with stunning finishes which continues today…
Nissans radical front mounted and front wheel drive 3 litre V6 twin turbo 2015 LMP1 Le Mans contender…sinfully ugly but audacious and gloriously different…yet again sports car racing shows how lacking in technical innovation F1 is…
The victorious Ron Flockhart/Ivor Bueb Ecurie Ecosse entered D-Type Jaguar during the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours, it was the third and last win for the fabulous car which reigned supreme at la Sarthe from 1955-1957…
The winning car covered 4397km, an average speed of 183kmh, a record which remained unbroken for four years. D-Types also finished second, third, fourth and sixth, an unparalleled result to that time. Ninian Sanderson/John Lawrence were second, Jean Lucas/ Jean-Marie Brussin third, Paul Frere/’Freddy’ Rouselle fourth and Mike Hawthorn/Masten Gregory sixth. Flockhart also won the race in 1956 partnered with Ninian Sanderson.
The car on its back is the Tony Brooks/Noel Cunningham-Reid Aston Martin DBR1/300. Brooks ran wide on the exit of Tertre Rouge, rolled and was hit by Umberto Maglioli’s Porsche, the cars were running second and seventh respectively at the time. Both drivers escaped without serious harm, the incident happened during the twelfth hour of the race.
XKD606, Bueb up leading the Lewis-Evans/Marino/Martino Ferari 315S (fifth), #4 behind the Ferrari is the Hamilton/Gregory D Type (sixth)(unattributed)
Undated unattributed shot of the ‘Browns lane’ factory, a C-Type being fettled as well as the Ds. (unattributed)
Technical Specifications and XKD606…
The summary technical specifications of the ‘XKD’ were included in this earlier post on its close brother the ‘XKSS’; https://primotipo.com/2014/05/30/72/
The winning car was XKD606, the last long nosed 1956 works car built, it was unraced that year as Desmond Titterington crashed it in practice. Jag withdrew as a factory team from racing at the end of 1956, 606 was delivered to Ecosse in November 1956 and was successful in 1957 with a 3.8-litre fuel injected engine at Le Mans with plenty of works support. This engine gave circa 306bhp@5500rpm and 312lb ft of torque@4500rpm.
Flockhart in red alongside Ivor Bueb post victory with the Ecosse Team and XKD606. (unattributed)
The car was raced at Buenos Aires later in 1957 by Flockhart and Galvez, but was crashed by Flockhart and rebuilt with a new chassis and bonnet.
The car remained in Ecosse’ hands in 1958-1960 and raced again at Le Mans by Flockhart and Bruce Halford in 1960, it failed to finish. The car raced on into 1961 in the hands of privateer Jack Wober and was split into two after a crash – the body and rear suspension, and front subframe and engine, both halves were then completed with replica parts creating two ‘original cars’.
The Louman Museum in The Hague acquired both cars in 1994. XKD606 was recreated by repair and uniting its original components, these days it is used frequently in historic events.
Flockhart returns the car post finish, Le Mans 1957. (unattributed)
Ron Flockhart…
Ron Flockhart at the wheel of the awesome, wild but unsuccessful BRM Type 15, the 1.5-litre supercharged V16 racer by then running as a Formula Libre car in the UK. In essence the car was late and largely missed the Grand Prix formula for which it was designed. Goodwood, Easter Monday 1954. (John Ross Motor Racing Archive)
Flockhart began racing motor bikes in Italy and the Middle East after the War before being de-mobbed by the British Army, having served in WW2.
He commenced in cars with the the ex-Raymond Mays ERA R4D in 1952, progressed to a Connaught and was picked up by the Owen Organisation where he was essentially their third driver. He contested fourteen championship Grands Prix between 1954 and 1960, the last aboard a Cooper T51 Climax in the US Grand Prix at Sebring. He was very competitive in sports cars, inclusive of the two victories at Le Mans.
# 6,8,7 Jean Behra, Ron Flockhart and Harry Schell in BRM P25’s and #2 Masten Gregory Maserati 250F, #15 Horace Gould Maser 250F. Daily Express Trophy, Silverstone 1957. Behra won from Schell and Flockhart, Gregory was 5th. (John Ross Motor Racing Archive)
Flockhart in his BRM P25 Monaco GP 1959. He spun on lap 64 having qualified well in 10th. Jack Brabham won in a Cooper T51 Climax, his first Championship GP victory.(unattributed)
Like many drivers of the period, Ron Flockhart was a pilot who flew to and from the circuits of Europe more quickly than commercial airline or car travel allowed.
He used an Auster for a long time to places such as Folkingham, Snetterton and Silverstone while testing for BRM in the UK, and introduced Jack Brabham to light aircraft.
His racing injuries restricted his activities somewhat, but his love of flying and passion for speed led him to decide to attempt the Sydney-London record for petrol powered planes. The attempt was backed by the United Dominions Trust who wanted publicity for their racing team ‘UDT Laystall’, a noted equipe of the period.
His first attempt in 1961 fell 1500 miles short of London when his Mustang suffered serious engine failure, rain having seeped into the engine whilst on the ground in Greece. Flockhart enjoyed Rock-star fame and attention in Australia before and during the attempts. To add insult to injury the first plane was written off after suffering a cockpit fire before take-off.
Ron Flockhart in his ‘Border Reivers’ Cooper T53 Climax, Ballarat Airfield, Victoria 1961. He raced well, 3rd behind the factory BRM P48’s of Dan Gurney and Graham Hill. He also raced in Australia the following summer in a Lotus 18. (autopics)
Ron competed in New Zealand and Australia that summer before setting off for London in a second ex-RAAF Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation built Mustang G-ARUK on 12 April 1962.
He left Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne’s southern outer suburbs enroute to Sydney where he was heading to have additional fuel tanks fitted. The Mustang had only been in the air 10 minutes, heading east over the Dandenong Ranges when he radioed in to report ‘I’ve got trouble. I’ve lost my compass, I’m at 3000ft and in heavy cloud’, immediately after this, contact with the plane was lost, the aircraft crashed into bush on the Monbulk hillside in thick cloud and light misty rain. Flockhart was still in the aircraft debris which was spread around the crash site, strapped to the remains of his seat with his parachute attached.
Ron Flockhart in the hours before his death. P51 Mustang CA-18 Mk21 frame # ‘A68-113’ was one of many built by the Australian ‘Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’ in Melbourne during WW2 (Geoff Goodall)
A Ministry of Aviation Report did not conclusively determine the cause of the accident but it was considered a possibility ‘that the pilot temporarily lost control of the aircraft whilst circling in cloud, and that it subsequently stalled during the recovery and turn to avoid the high terrain…’
Etcetera…
Lovely portrait of Ron Flockhart at the 1959 Silverstone ‘Daily Express International Trophy’ meeting in May. RF finished 3rd in his BRM P25, the race won by Brabhams’ Cooper T51 Climax. (John Ross Racing Archive)
Etcetera…
Flockhart Le Mans 1957 (Automobile Year)
Nice shot of Flockhart cornering the D Type during the ’57 race. ‘XKD606’ works supported with factory 3.8-litre injected engine, last of the ‘long-noses built’ (unattributed)
Ron Flockhart in the D Type he shared with Ninian Sanderson to win Le Mans in 1956 (Automobile Year)
Flockhart leads the second placed sister Ecurie Ecosse D Type of Sanderson/Lawrence over the line, record distance travelled which stood for the next four years (unattributed)
Flockhart fifth in his Cooper T51 Climax, Warwick Farm 100 January 1961. The race was won by Moss in a Lotus 18 Climax (John Arkwright)
Photo Credits…
Motorsport Magazine, autopics, Geoff Goodall, John Ross Motor Racing Archive, John Arkwright, Automobile Year
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