Who What Where and When?…its Lex Davison in his Alfa Romeo P3 ‘50003’…the where is a little more interesting?…
My writer/historian friend Stephen Dalton thinks its Fishermans Bend, Victoria at the 13 March 1949 meeting…the background looks bucolic to me so it may be Ballarat Airfield in 1950? All correspondence will be entered into.
The shot itself is by George Thomas, i tripped over it…ripper shot which catches the essence of these airfield circuits.
I will get around to writing about this wonderful Alfa in due course, on the basis that it is Fishermans Bend Davo won the 12 lap, 25 mile scratch race from Charlie Dean in Maybach 1, those of you who have read my Stan Jones article will be familiar with this car, Arthur Wylie in a Ford V8 Spl was 3rd.
Credits…
George Thomas, Stephen Dalton, ‘Australian Motor Sports’ 14 April 1949
A titanic battle between Audi and Porsche had been expected,but in the end an accumulation of problems denied Audi victory for the first time in five years while the #19 Bamber/Hülkenberg/Tandy Porsche ran virtually trouble-free for 24 hours. So Porsche took its 17th victory at La Sarthe.
Photographer John Ellacott; ‘The three Mustangs of Pete Geoghegan, Norm Beechey and Bob Jane racing against each other for the first time, Catalina Park, Katoomba in Sydney’s Blue Mountains on 7 November 1965’…
And so commenced a wonderful period of Touring Car Racing in Australia. Between them these blokes won the Australian Touring Car Championship on 11 occasions; Bob Jane 1962/3 Jaguar Mk2, 1971/2 Chev Camaro ZL-1. Pete Geoghegan 1964 in a Ford Cortina GT, 1966-9 Ford Mustang and Norm Beechey, 1965 in a Ford Mustang and 1970 in a Holden Monaro GTS350.
For those with an interest in these Mustangs’ click on this link to read a detailed article by Australian historian/writer/commentator Mark Oastler, the login process is simple.
Graham Hill in his ‘American Red Ball Special’ Lola T90 Ford leads the latter stages of the 1966 Indianapolis 500 from Joe Leonard’s Eagle and Jim Clark’s Lotus 38. Fabulous Michael Turner painting…
Hill won the race from Clark and Jim McElreath’s Brabham. Graham lead the most critical part of the race, it’s last 10 laps after teammate Jackie Stewart slowed and retired his Lola T90, the BRM teammates also ‘roomies’ and Indy debutants in John Mecom’s Indy Team.
JYS, Hill and Eric Broadley giving GH a few tips about instrument location before the off…Note seatbelts, still 2 years away in F1, a bit earlier for Jackie after his big Spa shunt a fortnight later. (Autoextremist)
The race was not without controversy with more than one lap timer giving victory to Clark, who spun twice during the race without hitting anything on each occasion but causing some lap scoring confusion.
Hill was doubly lucky; he was not entered to race until the unfortunate Walt Hansgen was killed in the LeMans test weekend in a Ford MkII, the Brit taking the unfortunate Hansgen’s place in Mecom’s factory Lola entry, Mecom the American Lola importer at the time.
One of my earliest motor racing memories is of Hill’s car, the Lola featured big time in one of those ‘Boys Own’ type books we were all given as stocking fillers at Christmas. I have always had a soft spot for these big Lolas’ as a consequence. I still have the book but its in storage, i can’t remember what happened yesterday but the book’s articles on Hill’s Lola, the equally new curvaceous Lola T70 and Tony Lanfranchi’s psychedelic helmet livery i adopted as my own in 1979 stick in my mind. Come to think of it my Lola fetish started then!
Lola T80 being assembled at Slough in 1965. T80 unsuccessful, the T90 was an update of this car with the suspension geometry which held it back in 1965 addressed. (Lola Heritage)
The mid-engined invasion of Indianapolis was started by Cooper, Jack Brabham raced at Indy in 1961, Lotus had their first start with the pushrod-V8 Ford powered 29’s driven by Clark and Dan Gurney in 1963. Ferguson and Lola joined the stampede with mid-engined victory finally achieved by Team Lotus in 1965. Clark victorious in the Ford four-cam 4.2 litre V8 engined Lotus 38.
The US was a big market for Lola’s Eric Broadley, he achieved much success with the Group 7/CanAm T70 from 1965, USAC was another great opportunity. Broadley built the T80 for Indy 1965, but the car was late, wasn’t tested and was let down by suspension geometry shortcomings which gave the cars poor and unpredictable handling.
Lola T90 Ford cutaway drawing. Car also designed for Offy 4 cylinder engine. Aluminium ‘full monocoque’ chassis, offset suspension; front top rocker operating inboard mounted spring/damper and lower wishbone. Rear, inverted lower wishbone with additional locating link, single upper link, single radius rod and coil spring/damper units. Adjustable sway bars front and rear, rack and pinion steering, 2 speed Hewland transaxle, Ford DOHC 4 valve, Hilborn fuel injected 4.2 litre V8. Circa 425 bhp @ 8000 rpm in 1965
Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill helping Mecom’s mechanics with the fettling of the rear bodywork of Jackie’s T90 #43, the Scot and the other Scot, Clark, both unlucky not to win the race…Graham’s #24 Lola behind. (LAT)
The Lola T90 which followed for 1966 addressed the T80 shortcomings…
The T90 chassis was an aluminium monocoque constructed from Indy mandated 16-guage aluminium. Sheet steel diaphragms front and rear provided additional internal stiffness, externally a sloping scuttle in front of the instrument panel gave additional rigidity.
Lola Heritage ‘Tubular steel subframes were attached to both the front and rear of the chassis, the front subframe carrying the oil tank, radiator and the forward mountings for the lower wishbone. At the rear there were two subframes above and below the two-speed Hewland gearbox, the upper one carrying the attachment point for the single top link and the top spring/damper mounting. The lower subframe had the mounting points for the lower wishbones’.
‘The T90 was designed to accept either the 2.8-litre, 4-cylinder Offenhauser engine or the 4.2-litre 4-cam Ford V8. The Offy, built by Meyer-Drake in California was fitted with Hilborn fuel injection and a Paxton Roots-type supercharger and gave some 520 bhp, the Ford, whilst slightly less powerful, was a more known quantity having won the 1965 race in Jim Clark’s Lotus 38’
Lola T90 build, Slough 1966. Looking very sexy in its Specialised Mouldings body. Distinctive Lola ‘knock-offs’. Fuel cells still to be inserted into monocoque. (Lola Heritage)
The cars front suspension was inboard with fabricated rocker arms at the top operating coil spring/damper units and wide-based lower wishbones.
‘Rear suspension was fairly conventional with one departure from the norm. At the top of the upright was a single adjustable top link attached to the top chassis subframe whilst at the bottom a wide-based wishbone (reinforced on the left), mounting to the rear of the upright, was mounted to the lower chassis subframe. There was a single adjustable lateral link running from the lower front of the upright to the subframe that allowed for toe-in alterations. The unusual feature to the design was the single top radius rod, a lower rod was not used to to the difficulty of a suitable chassis attachment point due to the fuel tank design. As was the norm at this time front and rear suspension was offset to the left by three inches, the theory being that this helped the car through the left-hand turns at Indianapolis.’
These drawings as well as showing the T90’s lines also nicely show the suspension, offset to the left, as was the convention of the time on speedways. (unattributed)
Ford DOHC Four-Cam Indy V8 Engine…
Ford’s 1963 Indy engine fitted to the Clark and Gurney Lotus 29’s was an aluminium variant of its 260cid Falcon/Fairlane small block V8, it developed 350-376 bhp at 7200 rpm on 103 octane fuel fed by 4 Weber 58mm carbs.
Ford, after Lotus’ great showing (they was robbed) in 1963 decided to build an engine capable of developing 50bhp more but with a weight gain of no more than 50 lbs over the aluminium pushrod engines 345lbs.
Ford evolved, using many parts from the earlier engine, a DOHC motor with four valve heads, the combustion chamber ‘pent roofed’. The engine had ‘between the Vee’ exhaust as tests showed power was optimised with this setup. Hilborn fuel injection was used, in 1965 the engines developed 425bhp @ 8000rpm.
The block was cast of aluminum alloy using patterns modified from the production 289cid production ‘small block’. Cast iron cylinder sleeves were a shrink fit in the block and were sealed at the heads with copper laminated steel O-rings. In order to clear the two banks of camshafts in the heads, the 10 attaching studs were moved closer to the cylinder centerline. An additional 8 studs protruded from the heads maintained clamping force needed to seal the combustion chambers. The space occupied by the camshaft in the normal production engine was replaced with an oil tube. This acted as a gutter and collected oil as it drained from above to keep it off the reciprocating assembly.
The bottom end was beefed up considerably. The special forged steel crankshaft was held by 4-bolt bearing caps on numbers 1 through 4. Main and rod bearing journals are the same size as the 289, as is the engine’s stroke – 2.87″. The rod journals are crossdrilled for better oiling at high engine speeds. The rods are from the 289 HiPo, modified for floating pistons pins. The pins are 289 HiPo pieces. The oil pan is cast magnesium and is a structural part of the engine. ‘Ears’ cast integrally with the pan provide the engine/chassis mounts.
As summarised above, the cam-ground forged aluminum pistons have a pent-roof dome to closely fit the combustion chambers. Compression is 12.5:1. The cylinder heads housed 4 valves per cylinder with a central spark plug. The plugs are canted toward the 1.64″ diameter intake valves. Exhaust valves are 1.36″ diameter. The camshafts run in bearing bores in the cylinder heads directly over their valve banks. Valve clearance is adjusted by the selective fitting of the followers. Intake ports are between the cams with exhaust out the top of the heads between the vee. This was done to do away with the nightmare of exhaust tubing normally required. Hilborn injection is used having been selected for its light weight and simple low-pressure design.
The 255 CID engine weighed 406 lbs and produced in excess of 425 BHP at 8000 RPM. Useful power/torque was developed from 6000 with a rev limit of 9000 RPM
Once developed by Ford the engine was sold and serviced via Louis Meyer. In 1966 Ford built 20 engines which retailed at US$23000. The wonderful engines evolved over the decades, in both normally aspirated and turbo-charged form as Indy rules changed.
Checkout this website which gives an in-depth account of both the DOHC engine and the pushrod V8’s which preceded it, click on this link for an interesting read; http://www.quadcamford.com/development.html
Indy 1966 first lap shunt. Hill #24 Lola, McCluskey #8 Eagle Ford, Joe Leonard #6 Eagle Ford , Al Unser Lotus 38 to the left of his side-on car, Gary Congdon #53 Huffaker Offy, Don Branson in the sideon #4 Gerhardt Ford and the rest…(unattributed)
1966 Indianapolis 500…
Lola Heritage ‘Learning the lesson from 1965 Lola made sure the T90 was ready in plenty of time for the 1966 Indy 500, the John Mecom Racing Team-entered car made it’s debut at the March season opener at Phoenix International Raceway. Success was immediate with Roger Ward finishing second in his Offenhauser-powered T90 and a month later Ward took the winner’s laurels at Trenton’s 1-mile paved oval when he won a rain-shortened race ahead of Gordon Johncock.
Come the month of May and there were three T90s, all entered by John Mecom’s Houston-based team, ready to run at Indy qualifying, Roger Ward in his successful Offenhauser-engined car and Rookies Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill who were both Ford-powered. There was nothing much between the cars at the end of qualifying, Stewart was 11th fastest at a speed of 159.972 mph, Ward 13th at 159.46 mph and Hill 15th at 159.243 mph.’
The Indianapolis Star called the 1966 Indy 500 ‘the most fantastic, confused and incredible 500.’ And it may have been. This was the ‘500’ marked by a 16-car crash at the start when Billy Foster’s car hit the rear of Gordon Johncock’s Gerhardt setting off a violent chain reaction that eliminated 11 cars, including those of A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Don Branson and Cale Yarborough.
Foyt suffered minor injuries, a cut finger and a bruised knee when he climbed out of his car and scaled a fence to get away from the scene.
Jim Clark’s ‘STP Oil Treatment’ Lotus 38 Ford in the Indy pits 1966. Andrew Ferguson at left. I put a can of the stuff in Mums Morrie 1100 but it didn’t seem to go any quicker…the sticker on the rear window looked good tho. I thought so, she didn’t! #12 the car behind Clark is the Chuck Hulse driven Watson Ford. Lotus 38’s well raced, Lotus Indy tool ’65-’67. (unattributed)
The race was red-flagged for the second time in three years and was re-started after a one hour and 23 minute delay.
Mario Andretti took the lead at the restart but retired shortly thereafter with engine failure. Clark lead but spun twice with handling maladies without hitting anything, pitting on each occasion to have the car checked. Stewart and Lloyd Ruby in an Eagle diced for the lead before fuel stops put Clark back in the lead.
Great shot of Hill and Lola Supremo Eric Broadley discussing the cars setup during Indy qualifying 1966. See the quick change safety fuel cells/filler cap. Ignition cutout wired to steering wheel beside drivers thumb. (unattributed)
Ruby took the lead but his car was then black-flagged for the loss of oil, leaving Stewart in the lead from Clark and Hill. Hill had progressed through the field without making mistakes and benefiting from others errors or misfortunes, by lap 175 he was past Clark for 2nd. Stewart lead, until with 25 miles to go his oil pressure diminished, his engine scavenge pump failure gave Hill the lead he was not to relinquish.
Despite protests by Lotus’ Colin Chapman and sponsor Andy (STP) Granatelli that Hill had been incorrectly scored with an extra lap, the unofficial results stood. Hill won $156,297 for his victory, Jim Clark finished second battling an ill-handling car the entire race, Jim McElreath’s Brabham Ford was third and Stewart was classified 6th.
Hill drove a quick, clean race. He stayed out of trouble and was in front for the final laps which mattered, putting lap scoring disputes to one side…What a gorgeous looking, in a brutal kinda way, car! (unattributed)
Another start shot; Cale Yarborough #66 Vollstedt Ford and Dan Gurney’s #31 Eagle Ford. Indy 1966. (unattributed)
Jackie Stewart.
Jackie Stewart in the ‘Bowes Seal fast’ John Mecom owned Lola T90 Ford Indy 1966. Eric Broadley front lower left, chief mechanic George Bignotti in the Texan hat, Mecom in the tan short sleeved shirt in front of Bignotti (unattributed)
JYS with the face of a man focused on the qualifying task at hand. He qualified 11th, he was classified 6th after an oil scavenge pump failure caused his retirement. Lola T90 Ford, Indy 1966. (Dave Friedman)
Graphics and Imagery Hill/T90.
Lovely artwork of Hill and his Lola T90 (D Sire)
1967 Lola T92 Ford.
The successor to the Lola T90 was the mildly updated in bodywork T92 for 1967, here raced by John Surtees in his one and only USAC race, the ‘Rex Mays 300’ held at Riverside in November 1967, a road course John knew well from his CanAm campaigns. His John Mecom entry DNF’d with magneto trouble in the race won by Dan Gurney’s Eagle Ford. The car did not use offset suspension on road circuits…
John Surtees, Lola T92 Ford. Riverside 1967. (unattributed)
American Red Ball Company.
Even though the name has been in my brain since 1967, i had no idea what they do, clearly not the case in the US as they are an old established well known global removalist and transit organisation. So now i know! http://www.redball.com/long-distance-moving-company/our-rich-history/
Tailpieces…
Hill looking the focused driver he was. Interesting shot shows the conventional rear suspension albeit with 1 rather than the usual 2 radius rods to locate the suspension fore and aft. Seat belts, roll over bar too low in the event of a rollover and cross-over exhausts all clear as is all enveloping bodywork of the T90 to smooth air flow and top speed, F1 cars at the time largely devoid of rear bodywork. (unattributed)
Nice bit of modern art; Top>Bottom; Stewart, Clark, Hill. Friends and Champions all. (olivesart.com)
This years running of the Endurance Classic is this coming weekend, i like ‘Car’ magazines to the point summary of the contenders, pictured above is the Toyota TS040 and below the Audi R18…
Doug Whiteford was one of Australia’s racing greats, he won the Australian Grand Prix thrice- in 1950 aboard ‘Black Bess’ his Ford Spl and in 1952/53 in this Talbot-Lago T26C ‘110007’ here on the forecourt of his ‘BP Servo’, 200 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, Melbourne in 1957…
I tripped over the photograph in the National Library of Australia archive, it’s clearly a BP promotional shot, the ‘Snapper’ was Wolfgang Sievers. ‘COR’, the other brand on the pump, is the acronym of the ‘Commonwealth Oil Refineries’, which was acquired by BP some years before, the pumps were co-branded for a while as part of the evolution of one brand to the other.
These establishments are all of an age aren’t they? The owner operated service station with generalist mechanics working on all makes and models is sadly a thing of the past. The ‘counter jumper’ in the average ‘Mega Servo’, if you can make yourself understood at all, is unlikely to know a dipsticks location let alone anything of real use.
The shot didn’t make sense actually.
By 1957 Doug had well before sold this car to Owen Bailey who owned and raced it at the time, Doug had acquired an older, but more advanced in specification T26C, chassis ‘110002’.
Owen’s son Rob is a fellow racer/Alfista, he and Stephen Dalton have helped with the facts or a theory anyway… we think the car is at Doug’s ‘Temple of Speed’ for fettling, Whiteford was the expert on these cars in this part of the world.
‘110007’ is in BC Ecclestones’ collection, ‘110002’ still in Oz. I am beavering away on an article about these two fabulous Lagos which should be finished soon…
(Clem Smith via Ray Bell)
Doug Whiteford’s T-L ‘110007′ leads Stan Jone’s Maybach onto the main straight at Woodside, the Adelaide Hills road circuit in October 1951, Whiteford won the race with Stan second.
Just look at the nature of the place- ‘Stobie’ telephone poles, fence posts, railway crossing etc. A tragic accident in a motor-cycle handicap race where an early starter completed his first lap before the scratchmen had gotten away and killed two people in the starting area gave rise to police and State Government concern causing the imposition of a ban on racing on public roads in South Australia.
Mark Hughes ‘MotorSport’ coverage of Grands’ Prix is my favourite, ’twas not the greatest of contests, victory for Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes…
Hughes…’Long straights, slow corners, the tiny rear discs of the hybrid cars, degrading rubber that cannot be pushed for the full distance, the absence of safety cars giving no margin on fuel and brakes: on this occasion these things combined to neuter one of the calendar’s traditional highlights’.
‘Automobile Year’ Ad for Heuer stopwatches of the 1950’s…
By the time i started racing in 1979 the day of the digital ‘Accusplit’ had arrived, but no way known was i going to have one of those new-fangled digital devices. My heroes had been timed by Heuer, so too were to be my humble Formula Vee efforts.
Dad was duly despatched to buy a pair on one of his Hong Kong trips, i still have them of course, complete with the boxes in which they came and the blue ribbon to which they were attached to the girlfriend of the day.
Liz had many talents not the least of which were her race weekend skills, all encompassing, inclusive of lap timing as they were.
Its a bit like chronographs really, yer can buy one with a digital movement but its not the same as a beautifully hand crafted Swiss piece filled with tiny, complex, exquisitely engineered mechanical ‘gubbins’ contained in a sculptured metal shell…
The Casio which followed the Heuers needs a battery! More functional and accurate than the Swiss items but nowhere near as beautiful or evocative!
Australias’ ‘Scuderia Veloce’ supremo, David McKay practising the noble art of multiple stop-watch operation at Warwick Farm in the mid ’60’s. (David Mist)
(Graham Howard ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’)
Jim Clark and Graham Hill swap notes prior to the start of the 1967 Australian Grand Prix, Warwick Farm, Sydney. It would be a good season for them both…
Their new F1 Lotus 49’s await their return to Europe, the Ford Cosworth powered cars established a package of integrated design which became the F1 standard for the duration of the 3 litre formula. Their is plenty of press interest in the two stars, teammates for the first time in 1967 and Hill’s #5 Lotus 48.
Behind them in the ‘Farm pitlane is Kevin Bartlett’s Brabham BT11A Climax, KB just in shot with his foot on his front Goodyear. Sixth in the race for him, an excellent result in the old car.
Start of the 1967 AGP. #5 Hill Lotus 48 FVA 1.6, #6 Clark Lotus 33 Climax 2.0 V8, #3 Jackie Stewart on pole, BRM P261 2070cc V8. (autopics.com.au)
The 48 was Lotus’ new car for the inaugural 1.6-litre F21967 season. Designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe, it was in essence a ‘mini’ Lotus 49 which made its successful debut in the ’67 Dutch Grand Prix on June 4.
Keen to get in some early season testing of the new car, Colin Chapman sent the first chassis to Australia for the Warwick Farm round of the Tasman Series, the Australian GP that year, held on 19 February for Graham Hill to drive. Hill was popular at the Sydney circuit, the promoters paying plenty of money to get the Brit and his new Lotus to New South Wales for just one race. Of added local interest was that Hill had just returned to Lotus having been a BRM driver since 1960. Mind you, in Australia he raced in our internationals the Ferguson P99, Brabham Climaxes owned by ‘Scuderia Veloce’ as well as various BRM’s.
Jim Clark did all of the Tasman rounds in New Zealand and Australia that summer. He won the title in a Lotus 33 Climax, his 1966 F1 mount ‘R14’ fitted with the 2 litre Coventry Climax FWMV V8 engine with which he started the 1966 F1 season, the first year of the 3 litre F1. He used the car until the BRM engined Lotus 43 was ‘ready’ to race.
The new 48 F2 car had a full monocoque chassis made from aluminium sheet with steel bulkheads front and rear. Bolted to the rear bulkhead was a tubular steel subframe which carried the unstressed FVA engine and ZF gearbox. Front suspension used top rockers operating inboard mounted springs and dampers. The rear suspension was also conventional; single upper link, reversed lower wishbone, twin radius rods and coil spring/ damper units.
The 48 used the Ford Cosworth FVA, one of two engines contracted from Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin by Ford. Significantly the engine proved Duckworth’s design direction for his F1 V8, the Cosworth DFV which made its race debut at Zandvoort in the back of the equally new Lotus 49. The FVA’s design commenced in July 1965, its first bench test was in March 1966 and its first race in July 1966. The engine was well tested prior to its trip to Australia in the summer of ’67.
The remarkably successful unit combined a four-cylinder cast iron Ford Cortina block with an aluminium Cosworth head. FVA was an acronym of the ‘four valve assembly’ or ‘four valve type A’ of the engine’s new head. Twin overhead camshafts were used of course, driven from the crankshaft by gears. Equipped with Lucas fuel injection, the dry sumped engine developed circa 220 hp @ 9000rpm.
Ford Cosworth FVA Engine Cutaway drawing by Theo Page.
Graham Hill qualified Lotus 48 chassis ‘R1’ well amongst the Tasman Formula 2.5 litre engined cars, 3rd on the grid with only the V8 engined cars of teammate Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart’s BRM in front of him. He may only have had 1.6 litres but the chassis was clearly good and Hill was always been quick around Warwick Farm, the Sydney circuit a very technical one.
Stewart was very fast throughout the Tasman, he won it in ’66, but the BRM’s gearbox was at its limits with the greater stresses of the P60 BRM V8, now at 2070cc and developing much more power and torque than the same engine in its original 1.5 litre F1 guise ever produced. But the car held together at the ‘Farm, Jackie won from Clark and Frank Gardner in a Brabham BT16 Climax FPF, the old 2.5 litre F1 Climax four cylinder engine well and truly outclassed by ’67.
Hill’s new Lotus 48 expired with gearbox maladies on lap 25 but he gained valuable miles on the brand new chassis in advance of the European F2 season, which both he and Clark contested.
Intended as a customer car, the 48 was exclusively campaigned by Team Lotus during 1967, privateers used uprated 41’s. The new Lotus was quick but encountered the Brabham BT23, one of Ron Tauranac’s most successful designs. The 48 won four F2 races in 1967, three in Clark’s hands, the fourth by Jackie Oliver in the combined F1/F2 German GP at the the Nürburgring.
Whilst the Brabham BT23 was the car of the season many of its victories were taken by ‘graded drivers’, notably the ‘King of F2′ Jochen Rindt, whilst graded drivers did win races they could not score championship points. The 1967 title was won by Jacky Ickx using both Matra MS5 and MS7 chassis’, FVA powered.
Lotus continued with the 48 in 1968, 4 chassis were built in total, but struggled again with the dominant Brabham BT23’s. Jean Pierre Beltoise won the ’68 title in a Matra MS7 FVA. 1969 would be a ‘different kettle of F2 fish’, the Dave Baldwin designed Lotus 59 a much more competitive tool.
Graham Hill tucked into the comfy cockpit of his beautifully finished Lotus 48. He is on the grid of the ‘Guards 100’, Snetterton in March 1967. Hill was 2nd to Rindt’s Brabham BT23. (Max Le Grand)
III Gran Premio Barcelona, Montjuic, Spain 31 March 1968…
Jim Clark, Lotus 48 FVA, Montjuic, Barcelona 1968. (Unattributed)
Jim Clark aviating his Lotus 48 during practice for the first European F2 event in 1968.
He started the season strongly with victories in his Lotus 49 in both the South African Grand Prix held at Kyalami on 1 January and the Tasman Series, including the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Park, Melbourne. Jim won 4 of the 8 Tasman rounds, his Lotus used the 2.5 litre Ford Cosworth V8 variant, the ‘DFW’ so he came to this F2 event ‘razor sharp’.
Despite Clark’s speed, Jackie Stewart won the race in his Matra MS7 FVA, Jim was tagged by Jacky Ickx at the first turn, a ‘bonzai’ move down the inside taking out the innocent Scot, deflating a tyre and rearranging the rear suspension. Ickx was involved in another accident on lap 2 and retired. Karma at play!
The shot below is of #1 Clark, with Hills nose in shot, in the middle is an innocent Jochen Rindt, Brabham BT23 FVA. Ickx shot off down the road in his Ferrari 166. The next F2 round was the ‘II Deutsche Trophae’ at Hockenheim the following weekend.
Hill’s Lotus 48 nose, Jochen Rindt caught up in the melee in his Brabham BT23 FVA and Clark, Lotus 48 FVA. (Unattributed)
End of Clark’s race, flat tyre and shagged rear suspension. Lotus 48 FVA. Barcelona 1968. (Unattributed)
YouTube Footage of the Barcelona Race;
Hockenheim 7 April 1968…
Jim Clark before the off and (below) in the early stages of this fateful, awful race and the probable high speed tyre deflation which caused the accident that claimed the champions life.
Jim Clark, relaxed before the off and Dave Sims. Hockenheim 7 April 1968. Lotus 48 FVA. (Rainer Schlegelmilch)
Clark, Lotus 48 FVA, Hockenheim 7 April 1968. (MotorSport)
Lotus 48 Technical Specifications…
Chassis; aluminium monocoque with rear subframe. Front suspension; lower wishbones, top rocker actuating inboard coil spring/dampers, roll bar. Rear suspension; reversed lower wishbones, top links, twin radius arms, coil spring/dampers, roll bar
Steering rack and pinion, Brakes, discs all-round, Gearbox ZF 5DS12 5 speed.
Weight 420 kilo / 926 lbs. Length / Width / Height 3,797 mm (149.5 in) / 1,727 mm (68 in) / 762 mm (30 in)
Wheelbase / Track (fr/r) 2,330 mm (91.7 in) / 1,473 mm (58 in) / 1,473 mm (58 in). Wheels (fr/r) 13 x 8 / 13 x 10
Ford Cosworth FVA…
Pretty much the ‘engine de jour’ of the 1.6 litre F2 from 1967 to 1971, the FVA won all of the European titles in that period.
Cast-iron Ford Cortina 1600 ‘116E’ 5 bearing block, aluminium head, 1,598 cc. Bore/Stroke 85.7 mm/69.1 mm, DOHC, 4 gear driven valves per cylinder, Lucas fuel injection and electronic/transistorised ignition. Circa 220 bhp @ 9000rpm.
Those with a strong technical interest in the Cosworth FVA and its role in relation to the subsequent Cosworth DFV V8 Design will find this treatise of interest;
Mini Lotus 49 indeed! Clark in his svelte Lotus 48, Pau GP 1967. 4th behind 3 Brabham BT23’s; Rindt, Hulme and Alan Rees. (Unattributed)
Clark in his Lotus 48 from Jackie Stewart’s Ken Tyrrell entered Matra MS7, both Ford Cosworth FVA powered, 1st and 2nd, Chris Irwin’s Lola T100 3rd, Jarama, Spain July 1967. (Unattributed)
Jackie Oliver jumping his works Lotus 48 into 5th place, and first F2 finisher, German GP August 1967. He drove a great race, Hulme victorious in his Brabham BT24 Repco. (Unattributed)
Hill on the way to 3rd place in the Oulton Park ‘Gold Cup’ in September 1967 amongst the F1 cars, Jack Brabham won in his BT24 Repco from Jackie Stewart in a Matra MS7 FVA F2 car. (Brian Watson)
Graham Hill in the Tulln Langenlbarn, Austria paddock in July 1968. NC with insufficient laps. Rindt won the race in a Brabham BT23C. ‘Chequered Flag’ truck contained the McLaren M4A driven by Robin Widdows also DNF. (Unattributed)
For the sake of completeness…this is the Dave Baldwin designed, spaceframe chassis F2 Lotus 59 which succeeded the 48. ‘Twas an FF/F3/F2 car, much more successful than the Lotus 48 but again the Brabham BT 28/30 gave it a good run for its money! Here G Hill at the Pau GP in April 1969 with high wings having only weeks to run before being outlawed by the FIA during the Monaco GP weekend. Hill DNF with fuel metering unit failure, Jochen Rindt victorious in the other Winkelmann Racing 59B. (Unattributed)
Credits…
Graham Howard ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’
Max Le Grand, autopics.com.au, MotorSport, Rainer Schlegelmilch, Theo Page, Brian Watson, Roger Linton
Tailpiece: 1967 AGP Warwick Farm…
(R Linton)
Start of the race from the pit counter.
Hill’s Lotus 48 FVA at right, Clark, Lotus 33 Climax and Jackie Stewart, BRM P261 on the front row. Brabham is behind Stewart and Denny Hulme behind Jack in Repco ‘640’ V8 engined Brabhams
Ivan Capelli in his Leyton House CG901 Judd, 1990…
It’s been interesting to learn about and admire the careers of the sports’ outstanding contemporary engineer/designers and those of the decades which pre-date my interest in the sport.
It’s the ones who have enjoyed enduring success I have been most drawn to. Janos’ and Chapmans’ contributions over 30 years truly amazing.
Dr Porsche, Vittorio Jano and Jim Hall predate my period of interest but Colin Chapman, Mauro Forghieri, Gordon Murray, John Barnard and Adrian Newey i have followed since 1972.
CG901 monocoque inside the teams autoclave, Bicester 1990 (Pascal Rondeau)
Newey has been ‘the man’ in F1 for the better part of 25 years with ten constuctors titles for three teams; Williams, McLaren and presently Red Bull.
Like the others he is degree trained and his practical experience is rooted in time spent as a race engineer. He is different though, in that his primary degree is in Aeronautics and Astronautics. It was the application of the science of aerodynamics, increasingly important in the overall F1 design package as regulations progressively became more restrictive in other areas, at March nee Leyton House in 1988-1991 which first brought him to the attention of Patrick Head, Frank Williams and others.
Race prep of 3 CG901 chassis in June 1990 (Pascal Rondeau)
The overall pace of the March 881 and it’s successors top speeds at different circuits made it clear they slid through the air rather nicely, better than many other cars with the same engine or considerably more grunt.
That the cars ‘batted above their weight’ made it clear he could do more with greater resources, as has been proven the case.
The 1988 March 881, powered by John Judds’ 3.5 litre V8 finished 6th in the constructors championship, in 1989 the March 891 Judd finished 12th, drivers Mauricio Gugelmin and Ivan Capelli retiring from most of the races.
Drawing of the LH CG901 Judd…engine 3.5 litre V8 not 3 litre…(Peter Hutton)
In 1990 March F1 morphed into ‘Leyton House’…the Japanese company acquired the team it had previously sponsored. Neweys’ Leyton House CG901 Judd was quick in the hands of its two drivers after a mid year update of the aero package to correct ‘erroneous wind tunnel data’. Capelli lead the French Grand Prix for many laps before being passed by race winner Alain Prost. The team finished 7th in the Constructors Championship, Newey was fired and quickly hired by Williams all the same.
And the rest, as they say, is history. The 1991/2 Williams FW14 Renault, Neweys’ first Williams won 17 Grands’ Prix and Leyton House, amid allegations of financial misdemeanours and the arrest of its CEO disappeared without trace in early 1993 having changed it’s name back to March F1 for the 1992 season…
Ivan Capelli LH CG 901 Judd leads Alain Prosts’ Ferrari 641 during the 1990 French GP. Wonderful 2nd place for the Italian ahead of victor Prost. (Unattributed)
The gorgeous lines of Capellis’ LH CG901 at Suzuka, Japanese GP 1990. Q13, DNF with ignition dramas on L16. (Unattributed)
Leyton House workshops in June 1990 (Pascal Rondeau)
LH CG901 design elements. Carbon fibre chassis, suspension double wishbones, pushrod and rocker actuated coil spring/dampers front and rear. Judd EV 3496cc 76 degree DOHC 4 valve N/A V8, 660bhp. March 6 speed manual transaxle. carbon ceramic brakes. 520Kg. (Unattributed)
Estoril 21 September 1990, a practice Judd V8 engine change during the Portuguese GP weekend (Pascal Rondeau)
Credits…
Peter Hutton, Pascal Rondeau
Tailpiece: Ivan Capelli, Leyton House CG901 Judd at the Allsport Studios on 15 May 1990…
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