Allan Moffat’s works GTHO being unloaded off a ship onto the Macau docks in advance of the 1971 Macau GP carnival held on the weekend of November 20.
‘Be careful, blokes, if we drop it, they’ll shove us on the other side of the border! I couldn’t give a toss about Mao or his Little Red Book’. There is something rather surreal about the whole scene.
Ford entered this car, while the Holden Dealer Team – the works team – took an LC Torana GTR XU-1 up for Peter Brock. Both were Group E Series Production machines, whereas that Guia 200/ACP Cup was a Group 2 event, run to more liberal modification rules.
Brock’s LC XU-1, local signage probably the car’s entrant, Far East Motors. Wheels Globe Rallymasters or Sprintmasters (unattributed)Glemser and RS2600 are on the way to a record breaking pole of 2 min 56 sec (unattributed)
The star car/driver combo was recently minted European Touring Car Champion, Dieter Glemser aboard a 2.9-litre Ford Cologne entered ETCC Ford Capri RS2600 V6; 265-286bhp/ZF 5-speed/940kg/disc-disc/10×13 and 11.5×13 wheels. A weapon.
Brock’s XU-1 was ‘lightly modified’ from Series Production specifications, the only obvious external mod being fitment of a set of Globe Rallymaster aluminium wheels.
Moffat’s HO, upon closer inspection than most shots of this race in circulation allow – generally screen grabs of a video – is the more interesting as the machine is an XW HO gussied up to look a bit like an XY with its bonnet and shaker-air scoop. Is that attached to a 351 Windsor or Clevo?
Given the proximity of the late-season Australian enduros: Sandown, Bathurst, Surfers and Phillip Island, Howard Marsden shipped up an XW XY-HO Development Mule rather than the Real McCoy, it seems. Moffat won the last Manchamp round at Surfers on November 7. His and John French’s XY HOs finished in one piece, but maybe there wasn’t the time to prep and ship one of these cars to Macau. More likely, it just didn’t matter. Did FoMoCo Oz export any Falcons?
What are the VINs/names of the HO and XU-1 folks??
Moffat’s XW-XY HO Bitza. Team Harper, aka Wallace Harper & Co, the Hong Kong Ford distributorsBrock and Moffat on the first lap with Moffat about to exit stage right into the run-off area having messed up his Lisboa corner braking point in the bulky HO . Poon’s Alfa behind Brock with a BMW 2002 Tii looming as well (P Bennett)
The touring car events that weekend comprised two heats and a final. Brock qualified third in his Far East Motors-entered car behind Glemser and Albert Poon, who raced an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm lookalike; Autodelta engine and ‘Poon suspension. Neither Moffat nor Jim Smith – he of Cooper S and Camel Rover Repco-Holden fame – who raced a Teddy Yip-owned BMW 2002, cop a qualifying mention in my reference material, but the video indicates a row three start or thereabouts for Moff.
Poon ? Glemser and Brock before the off (P Bennett)Stature and stance of Glemser’s Group 2 Capris contrasts with Brock’s Series Torana (P Bennett)
The final comprised two events run concurrently: the Guia 200 was 20 laps of the demanding, unforgiving 6.115-mile track, and the ACP Cup 15 laps.
The perils of Macau were demonstrated all too sadly during practice when David Ma lost control of his Lotus 47 Ford FVA under braking for Statue Corner, while trying in the final session to qualify for the Grand Prix, and crashed fatally into a lamp post .
Glemser was an easy winner of the Guia from Poon and Brock, who diced throughout. Note that some references – all of the Australian ones – have Brock in second place having finished ahead of Poon who ran low on fuel in his last lap. Moffat went up the escape road on the first lap in the Big Henry and recovered to finish fifth.
The ACP Cup was taken by Ted Morrat’s BMW 2002 Tii from P Ramirez Toyota Corolla and Xie Dewen’s Cooper S. I don’t have a full list of competitors, but the videos show far more starters than my list of finishers, meaning my finishers list is incomplete.
Ted Morrat, BMW 2002 Tii, 1971 ACP Cup winner (J Santos)Moffat enroute to winning the Guia in 1973 aboard a works- Team Harper Ford Capri RS2600 (Getty)
Etcetera…
Allan Moffat was very impressed by Dieter Glemser and his Capri. Allan shared his Falcon XB GT Hardtop with the German in Moff’s unsuccessful 1974 Bathurst 1000 challenge.
Moffat returned to Macau. In 1973, he won the Guia in a 3-litre Ford RS2600. He was impressed enough to get FoMoCo Oz to buy him one of the Ducks Guts ultimate spec Capri’s in late 1974. Moff’s ex-works 3.4-litre Ford Cosworth GAA-powered RS3100 first raced in Australia in the Sandown Tasman meeting in February 1975, and at Macau that November, DNF.
Moffat’s FoMoCo Oz Capril RS3100 at Macau in 1975 (unattributed)
In the 1981 Guia, he was 11th in an RX-7. His final visit – his final ever race – was in 1989, when he finished third in the ‘Teddy Yip Mazda (MX5) Race of Champions’ on November 26 (below).
(Official Allan Moffat)
Harry Firth felt that Brock’s performance that ’71 Macau weekend, when he was very quick, changed him. Frankly, other than Glemser, who would hardly have extended his car more than he needed, it was not a field of great depth.
‘Peter came back from that a totally different person. He realised what international racing was all about. Totally different world. And he realised he was as good as any of them.’ Less than twelve months later, he bagged his first Bathurst crown.
Credits…
touringcarracing.net, Harry Firth quote from V8Sleuth, Getty Images, Official Allan Moffat FB page, Jose Santos, Paul Bennett Video
Bill Pitt, Jaguar D-Type, leads Doug Whiteford, Maserati 300S and race winner David McKay heading up Mountain Straight during the early stages of the 31-lap, 100-mile Australian Tourist Trophy at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, on October 6, 1958.
That weekend was an incredible double-header combining the Australian Grand Prix won by Lex Davison’s Ferrari 500/625, and the Australian Tourist Trophy.
It was the second running of an event first won by Stirling Moss in a Maserati 300S during the 1956 AGP carnival at Albert Park.
McKay, Whiteford, Phillips and Kiwi, Frank Cantwell’s Tojeiro Jaguar (unattributed)
By then, we had a good grid of outright current sports cars, including: Aston Martin DB3S – ex-works car for David McKay, and Warren Blomfeld’s Tom Sulman-owned customer machine, Maserati 300S – Doug Whiteford’s ex-works car, Derek Jolly’s ex-works Lotus 15 Climax FPF 1.5, Ron Phillips’ ex-Peter Whitehead Cooper T38 Jaguar, customer Jaguar D-Types for Bill Pitt and Jack Murray, plus a C-Type for young thruster Frank Matich. The quickest of the local cars was Gavan Sandford Morgan in Derek Jolly’s Decca Mk 2 Climax FWA.
Pitt and McKay head up Mountain Straight, while Whiteford, Phillips and Jolly negotiate Hell Corner (P Longley)
McKay won with Jolly’s 1.5-litre Lotus second – first in class – then Ron Phillips’ Cooper T38, Frank Matich in the Leaton Motors C-Type, Gavan Sandford Morgan, Decca MK2 Climax then Warren Blomfield’s Aston Martin DB3S in sixth.
(Edgerton Family Arc)
Etcetera…
(R Reid)
Early laps I suspect with Bill Pitt in the Geordie Anderson D-Type from the obscured Jolly Lotus 15 and distinctive blue flash of Ron Phillip’s Cooper Jag.
(K Devine Arc)Cooper T38 Jag, Bathurst paddock (P Kelly)
Not to forget Derek Jolly of course. He took ATT honours in the second of his Lotus 15s at Longford in March 1960, on that occasion Doug Whiteford’s Maserati 300S was second and Frank Matich third in a D-Type.
McKay in DB3S/9 and Warren Blomfeld in DB3S/103 below.
The Leaton C-Type was Frank Matich’s first Big Car and he handled it rather well in a career that stretched all the way to the end of the 1974 Tasman Cup.
He won the Australian Tourist Trophy four times: 1964, Lotus 19B Climax, 1966, Elfin 400 Oldsmobile, and 1967-68 in his Matich SR3: Oldsmobile powered in ’67, Repco-Brabham 4.4 powered in 1968. Not to forget the Australian Sports Car Championship aboard the 4.8-litre Matich SR4 Repco in 1969.
(K Devine Arc)
Educated guess territory…Jim Wright’s Buchanan TR2 from Harry Capes’ Jaguar XK120. 14th and 19th respectively. And below, Phillip’s Cooper Jag again, in front of I’m not sure who.
(K Devine Arc)
Credits…
Des Lawrence, Peter Longley, Edgerton Family Archive, Bob Ross Collection, Ron Reid, David Medley, Paul Kelly Collection, Ken Devine Archive
Stirling Moss, Aston Martin DBR/1, May 11, 1958, Targa Florio…
Luigi Musso was the class of the field that day and led from the first lap in a works-Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 3-litre V12 co-driven by Olivier Gendebien. Moss went off the road and damaged a wheel early on, then redeemed himself with a lap record more than a minute quicker than Musso, but the solitary Aston’s gearbox cried enough under the strain during its fifth lap.
‘Yep, I’ll supersize that with fries.’ Musso in command of the leading 250 Testa Rossa, not in need of assistance from the Ferrari pit, way out west (unattributed)Porsche did well with results as per the postcard
Musso’s car lost its brake fluid, but such was the car’s lead that he pitted, the Scuderia mechanics fixed the problem and Gendebien brought the car home first in the 10 lap race on 10hr 37.58 from Jean Behra/Giorgio Scarlatti Porshe 718RSK 10:43.38 with Wolfgang von Trips/Mike Hawthorn third in another works Ferrari 250TR on 10:44.29.
Luigi Musso and Olivier Gendebien before the off, while below, Jean Behra gets ready to start in the RSK he shared with Giorgio Scarlatti, and below that, the same car at rest.
Classic Targa family shot, the cautious family man on the inside of the corner watch the Ferraro brothers – Pietro and Paolo – Ferrari 250 GT LWB (DNF) while macho-man puts himself and the babe at risk on the outside.
(unattributed)
Luigi Musso jumps out of the winning car in the shot above, the more you look the more you see! Mechanics in natty brown overalls, lots of ’em, quick-lift jack to the right, the Shell man to the left and overall vibe grab mine.
While Peter Collins does his thing in the Testa Rossa he shared with Phil Hill to fourth place, 2.5 minutes or so behind the race winners, below.
(Getty-Klemantaski)(J Alexander)
This pairing reminds me that Phil Hill made his Grand Prix debut with Scuderia Ferrari on the Nurburgring, during the 1958 German Grand Prix on August 3, the day Peter Collins died at the wheel of a Ferrari Dino 246, Phil was in a 156, the F2 variant, shot above.
Luigi Musso died chasing Mike Hawthorn during the French Grand Prix at Reims a month before on July 6, both on 246 Dinos.
Alfonso de Portago died at Cavriana during the May 12, 1957 Mille Miglia aboard a Ferrari 335S, while Eugenio Castellotti was killed at the wheel of Ferrari 801 testing at Modena that March 14.
Mike Hawthorn’s death at the wheel of his Jaguar Mk1 on the Guildford Bypass – as the reigning but retired Ferrari World Champion – bookended a horrific two years for Ferrari. Driver error in all cases folks, mistakes could be awfully expensive in them-thar days…
Etcetera…
Jean Behra blows off a bus during practice…while Peter Collins shows off the voluptuous lines of the Testa Rossa below.
(Wikipedia)
The FIA reacted to the 1955 Le Mans and 1957 Mille Miglia tragedies by limiting outright cars contesting the 1958 World Sportscar Championship to a capacity of no more than 3-litres.
Ferrari picked up where they left off with the 4-litre 335S, the 3-litre, circa 300bhp 250 Testa Rossa won four of the six championship rounds: Buenos Aires, Sebring, Targa and Le Mans and the championship from Porsche, the other pair of outright wins on the Nurburgring and at Goodwood went to the Aston Martin DBR1/300 who were third in the title chase.
Collins, maaagic shot! (Y Debraine)(T Matthews)
Technical Specifications in brief…
Tipo 128LM 60° SOHC two-valve Colombo V12, alloy block and head. Bore/stroke 73.0/58.8 – 2953cc, Compression ratio 9.8:1, six Weber 36DCN carbs, two distributors, circa-300 bhp @ 7200rpm.
Four speed all synchro gearbox, diff ratios:3.55, 3.77, 4.00, 4.25, 4.59, 4.86:1
Tipo 526 welded steel ladder frame chassis, 2350mm wheelbase, 1308 front track, 1300 rear track.
Independent front suspension by upper and lower wishbones, coil springs and Houdaille shocks. Rigid rear axle on customer cars, De Dion on factory cars, coil springs, Houdaille shocks
Drum brakes, Borrani wire wheels with 5.50 x 16 inch front tyres and 6.00 x 16 rears. Body by Scaglietti. Weight circa-900kg
Moss chases Collins
Credits…
Michael Wright, targapedia.com, Ted Walker, Getty Images-Bernard Cahier-Louis Klemantaski, Yves Debraine, Tony Matthews, Jesse Alexander, barchetta.cc
The victorious Olivier Gendebien/Phil Hill 4-litre Ferrari 330 TRI/LM V12 chassis # 0808 blasts through The Esses on the way to victory at Le Mans over the June 23-24, 1962 weekend.
Ferrari finished 1-2-3 in a dominant display, the one-off car of the Belgian/American duo completed 331 laps with Pierre Noblet’s Ferrari 250GTO five laps in arrears, the driving duties shared with Jean Guichet. In third was the Leon Dernier/Jean Blaton Equipe National Belge entered 250 GTO on 314 laps.
In fourth and fifth place – best of the rest – were two of the new Jaguar E-Type Lightweights, Briggs Cunningham and Roy Salvadori in an open drophead, and Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent aboard the latter’s coupe.
Superb weather to start the race. Paddy Hopkirk in the Sunbeam Alpine he shared with Peter Jopp (DNF) with Leon Dernier in the third placed Ferrari 250 GTO alongside (MotorSport)(MotorSport)
When the CSI/ACO created a new outright ‘experimental’ class for cars of no more than 4-litres (GT cars had the same capacity limit) Ferrari built one final variant of the long running and so successful Testa Ross sportscars and ‘threw its keys’ to their most experienced endurance pairing, the Gendebien/Hill duo having won at La Sarthe in 1958 Ferrari TR/58, and 1961 Ferrari 250 TRI/61. Gendebien also won in 1960, sharing his Ferrari 250 TR59/60.
Olivier Gendebien practising the mid-engined Ferrari 268 SP during the Targa weekend in May 1962. The car didn’t start after Phil Hill ran off the road (MotorSport)
The Maranello mob had been focusing their energies on new fangled mid-engined Dino V6 and V8 sportscars (above), but rightly figured they may be able to squeeze one more win out of old hardware. In so doing Ferrari 330 TRI/LM 0808 became the last front-engined car to win the 24 hour classic outright.
(MotorSport)
The 1962 Le Mans winner started life as 250 TRI/60 chassis, #0780TR, a Fantuzzi Spyder that was badly damaged by Cliff Allison at the Targa Florio in March 1960. He had a front tyre blowout in practice. Back at Maranello it was rebuilt from bits donated by the wrecked 250 TR59/60 #0772TR then raced at Le Mans. Willy Mairesse and Richie Ginther drove the car but retired with a broken driveshaft on the Sunday morning.
#0780 was then returned to the factory and fitted with a TRI61-style high rear body incorporating a Kamm tail, the front was unchanged. In this form it was used as an aerodynamic test-bed by Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarini to develop the ’61 TRI body.
The Mairesse/Parkes Ferrari 250 TRI/61 chassis #0780 on the way to second place at Le Mans in 1961. This swoopy, sensational car was torn down and donated much of its parts except engine, chassis, body, etc to create 330 TRI/LM #0808 (MotorSport)
The car was raced extensively in 1961, placing second at Sebring (Giancarlo Baghetti, Ginther, Taffy von Trips) and at Targa where it was crashed. This time the car was fitted with a new TRI/61 nose before finishing second at the Nurburgring 1000Km driven by the Rodriguez brothers, Ricardo and Pedro. A late pitstop to replace a broken front wheel lost the chance for the NART entered car to win. Mairesse and Mike Parkes raced it at Le Mans, finishing second behind the winning sister, works Gendebien/Hill Testa Rossa. The chassis finally bagged an overdue win when Lorenzo Bandini and Georgio Scarlatti won the Pescara 4 Hours late in the year.
Gendebien 1962 (MotorSport)#0808 Le Mans 1962 (MotorSport)
Convinced that one of their big front-engined TRs could still do the trick, #0780 was torn down and rebuilt around a new chassis – #0808 – and Tipo 163 Colombo 4-litre SOHC, two-valve V12. The dry-sumped, 60 degree, 3967cc (77×71 mm) engine had modified cylinder heads incorporating bigger valves, fed by six twin-choke Weber 42DCN carbs, it gave about 390bhp @ 7500rpm, about 50bhp more than the 250TR unit. The five speed gearbox was modified to take the extra power and torque.
The new chassis, a more sophisticated mix of traditional ladder frame, and multi-tube spaceframe was 63mm longer than the 250’s, in part this was to accommodate the slightly longer engine and to improve overall balance. Suspension design was a carryover from the 250; upper and lower wishbones, coil springs and Koni dampers both front and rear. Steering was by way of worm and sector.
Nice shot showing the the rear aero/roll bar of #0808 in 1962, whereas the shot below is of the cockpit 12 months hence at Le Mans, with the aero structure removed by NART (MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Wheels/tyres were Borrani wire/Dunlop-6×16 inch and 7x16inch front/rear, brakes were Dunlop disc front and rear, front/rear tracks 1225mm, the wheelbase 2400mm – same as the short-block – and weight quotes very from 685Kg to 820Kg!
To cap it all off, Carozzeria Fantuzzi built a new body, developed with the aid of Ferrari’s small wind tunnel installed in 1960, to Pininfarina’s design incorporating an aerodynamic roll hoop which served to aid the flow of turbulent air caused by the cockpit/windscreen and therefore improve high speed stability.
#0808 first appeared at the Le Mans test in April driven by the defending winners, Gendebien and Hill. It recorded fastest time of the day despite damp conditions and being fitted with only three Webers, so wasn’t raced, but was rather developed further at the factory and one test at Monza before dominating Le Mans.
The off, Le Mans 1962. (MotorSport)(MotorSport)
It wasn’t a cakewalk though. Hill broke Mike Hawthorn’s lap record in practice but both drivers experienced a slipping clutch all weekend. This had to be managed by precise ‘changes and using a taller gear than optimal, neither driver expected it to last the race.
The major potential opposition comprised a mix of other Ferraris, two Maserati Tipo 151s entered by Briggs Cunningham and the works Aston Martin DP212. After the Rodriguez brothers’ works-Dino 246SP retired at 4.30am on Sunday morning, the 330 inherited a four lap lead, they extended to five laps before the end.
(MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Don Rodriguez acquired the car after the race, with Pedro driving the NART prepared car – now devoid of roll hoop which Chinetti didn’t consider aerodynamic – win to a Bridghampton GP win and second place in the Canadian GP in late ’62. After Ricardo Rodriguez was killed in the Mexican GP, Master Gregory raced #0808 to fourth in the Nassau Trophy.
Into 1963, Pedro and Graham Hill raced the car to third at Sebring behind two new, mid-engined 3-litre V12 250Ps. At one stage the 330 led by three laps until mechanical, electrical and exhaust manifold problems intervened.
Graham Hill, #0808 at Sebring in 1963 (L Galanos)Pedro during a pitstop at Le Mans in 1963 (unattributed)Penske, Le Mans 1963 NART 330 TRI/LM (MotorSport)
NART entered the car at Le Mans to defend its title, Pedro and Roger Penske started from pole, then trailed the works 250Ps until a rod failed during the ninth hour. Lubricant on tyres can be a lethal mix, Penske lost the car and took Jo Bonnier’s Porsche 718/8 GTR out in the ensuing prang which left Penske uninjured but #0808 severely damaged, and never to be raced again.
Returned to the factory for repair, the car was fitted with a Fantuzzi coupe body (below) and returned to the US where it was purchased by Hisashi Okada who used it as roadie from 1965 to 1974. Pierre Bardinon used it similarly until commissioning Fantuzzi to return it back to ’62 specs in 1974-75. It continues its life as global investable commodity
Scrappy, crappy shot of #0808 in Fantuzzi coupe guise circa 1963 (Wikipedia)Le Mans 1963 (MotorSport)
Etcetera…
(MotorSport)
The Mairesse/Parkes 250 TRI/61 #0780 – the 330 ‘donor car’ – with a touch of the opposites at Le Mans in 1961.
(MotorSport)
“The clutch Mauro, the clutch…”. “Treat it like your girlfriend Pheel…very, very gently.” Or words to that general effect.
Alan Jones was a formidable weapon in anything; it took him four or so years to clear F3, but it was whammo after that as he stepped into more powerful cars: Formula Atlantic, F5000 and F1.
He raced F5000 on most continents, here in an F5000 in drag, a 5-litre central-seat Can-Am car, Carl Haas Lola T333CS Chev, at Riverside on October 15, 1978, where he won from fellow Aussie, Warwick Brown’s similar VDS Racing machine.
(R Deming)
Jones won five of the 1978 championships’ ten rounds, gathering 2712 points and the title from Brown, on 2548 then Al Holbert in another T333 on 1674 points.
Watkins Glen 1978 (P Goesina)
Jones is swapping notes in the Watkins Glen pits above with Jean-Pierre Jarier who raced a works Shadow DN10 Dodge, Q6/DNF gearbox. Brown won that round from Al Holbert and Rocky Moran, all three raced Lola T333CS, with Jones a DNF.
Jones at Watkins Glen (P Goesina)(P Goesina)
The rear of Jones’ T333CS Chev in the Watkins Glen paddock, essential elements at this end of the car are a 5-litre 525bhp or so Chev V8 and Hewland DG300 five-speed transaxle.
In the US, many Lola T332 Chev F5000 cars became Lola T332CS Chev Can-Am cars by buying the requisite body kit from Lola. You could buy a T332CS from the factory as well. The mildly updated Lola T333CS could be converted back the other way. The VDS Racing Lolas that Warwick Brown raced in the 1978-79 Rothmans F5000 internationals were T333 HU1 and HU2 fitted with good ‘ole T332C bodywork.
Despite missing half the season, Jones was equal seventh in the 1975 Shellsport British F5000 Championship 1975, together with Bob Evans. He won two rounds in RAM Racing cars, here at Brands Hatch on August 25, aboard a March 75A powered by the Ford Cosworth GAA 3.4-litre twin-cam, four-valve V6 fitted to Ford’s Cologne Capri RS3100 touring cars. Tony Brise and Guy Edwards were second and third aboard T332 Chevs.
Redman, Lola T332C Chev, Jones, Lola T332 Chev, Ongais, Lola T332 Chev, Oliver, Shadow DN6B Dodge and the rest #4 Pilette, Lola T430 Chev and #7 Sam Posey Talon MR-1A Chev (Getty)
Brian Redman and Alan Jones on the front row of the rolling start Mosport Park round of the 1976 US F5000 Championship on June 20, 1976.
Jones won here and at Watkins Glen later in a season where Jones mixed his Surtees F1 and F5000 programs, finding the latter much more satisfying!
Allan Brown wrote, ‘With two rounds to go, Jones (2 round wins) and Oliver (1 win Shadow DN6B Dodge) were tied for the championship lead, but when Oliver retired at Road America, and Jones had to miss the race to be at the Dutch GP, Redman (3 wins) won and leapt into a significant points lead. Third place in the last round secured the Lancastrian his third successive title, while Al Unser’s win (1 win Lola T332) propelled him into second place in the final points table.’
Grids of great depth that year, in addition to the above, competitors included Warwick Brown, Vern Schuppan, Teddy Pillette, Peter Gethin, Graham McRae, John Cannon, Brett Lunger, Danny Ongais, and occasionals/one-offs David Purley, Bruce Allison, Derek Bell, Maurizio Flammini and Patrick Tambay.
Jones, Sid Taylor/Teddy Yip Lola T332 Chev leads Peter Gethin, VDS Racing Chevron B37 Chev early in the 1977 Sandown International won by Max Stewart, his final race win (B Forsyth)
Jones was far and away the quickest bloke on the grid in Australia’s four-round Rothmans F5000 Championship in 1977. Still, he jumped the start in the Oran Park AGP, boofed a car in Surfers Paradise, then had overheating at Sandown and DNFd. Still, he won in Adelaide and made it awfully clear to his countrymen – having not raced in Australia since finishing second in the September 1968 Sandown 3-Hour touring car race in a Holden Monaro GTS327 shared with Clive Millis – just how blindingly quick he was!
Sandown pits (R Steffanoni)
The Jones/Millis second place Holden HK Monaro GTS327 at Shell Corner, Sandown during the September 3-Hour ‘Bathurst warm up’.
While entered by Jones, the car has Lloyd Holyoak Holden signage on it. Holyoak – still with us – was one of Stan Jones’ oldest friends/employees/confidants/supporters, so for sure Lloyd will have pulled the car off his Warrandyte dealership forecourt. One little old lady owner etc…
(M Bisset)
Melbourne enthusiast/historian David Zeunert (second from right) organised a small gathering of Stan Jones Nutters to pay our respects on the centenary of Stans birthday, March 16, 2023, at Springvale Cemetery, a stone’s throw from Sandown.
That’s Lloyd Holyoak sharing his recollections of all things Stan. Some Melburnian Aussie Rules fans may recall Holyoak, a very handy cricketer and football player in his youth, as the North Melbourne Football Club President when North won the VFL ’77 Flag.
(M Bisset)
Credits…
Kurt Oblinger, Richard Deming, Peter Goesina, Lola Heritage, Rod Steffanoni, autopics.com.au
The magic hands are those of Bugatti’s Chief Mechanic, ‘Le Grand Robert’, Frenchman Robert Aumaitre working on a T51 straight-eight, twin-cam, 2.3-litre engine…
Louis Chiron with his Bugatti Type 51 near Molsheim in 1931 (sciencephoto.com)T51, Nurburgring German GP July 19, 1931. Race won by Rudy Caracciola’s Mercedes-Benz SSKL by over a minute from the Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi Bugatti T51s (Z Glass)
Bugatti’s Miller 91-inspired twin-cam design – 1931-35 T51 2262cc 60×100, T51A 1493cc 60×66, T51C 1991cc 60×88 – featured a monobloc design with a shared crankcase. The main bearings comprised three ball bearings in the middle and two roller bearings, one at each end. Rod bearings were roller. Lubrication was by jet and splash with a special oil pipe for the front main bearing.
The twin overhead camshafts were driven by a train of gears mounted at the front of the engine and operated two valves per cylinder. A single (T51) Zenith 48K carb fed a Roots type supercharger, with a Scintilla magneto firing one plug per cylinder. The engine gave about 180bhp @ 5500rpm.
T51 Nurburgring German Grand Prix July 19, 1931. Inlet side (Z Glass)Robert Aumaitre and Pierre Veyron at the Avus, Berlin. Veyron won the Avusrennen Voiturette race, 197km, in a Type 51A on May 21, 1933, from Ernst Burggaller’s similar car (Z Glass)
Robert Aumaître ‘came to service with Bugatti in 1930 and was Jean Bugatti’s mechanic. He experienced Jean’s last moments, when he was killed on August 11, 1939, a traumatic experience that haunted hm until his own death,’ recorded the bugattipage.com.
‘After WW2, he assisted French driver Jean Monneret and was involved in record attempts with various Vespas at Montlhery. He designed a Vespa-driven catamaran that crossed the channel in 1947, and was involved in a rally for bicycles with engines from Paris to Alpe d’Huez. After his retirement as manager of a big Cognac company, he spent his last years in Molsheim,’ where he died aged 93 on January 11, 1997.
Strange is that this piece omits Aumaitre’s time with Gordini post-war, where he was again Chief Mechanic.
Credits…
Zoltan Glass/Science and Society Picture Library, bugattipage.com, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, sciencephoto.com
Alan Hamilton launches his Porsche 906 Spyder off the line at Collingrove during his successful assault on the track record over the Easter 1967 long weekend, 35.60 seconds.
It’s a delightfully bucolic Angaston, Barossa Valley scene complete with a couple of Humpy Holdens – an FJ and 48-215 – and a part hidden Gunter-Wagen, VW Beetle. Great stuff, John Lemm.
While the laddos should be drinking in the 908 visage, their eyes are on the prize sitting in the Valiant AP5/6! That’s a Toyota Crown S40 and a Holden HD too. The Japs really upset the local order with their Crown, which was far posher and better built than the contemporary Holden Premier and Ford Fairmont. I wonder who the bloke in the red driving suit is?
(J Lemm)
And below on April 10, 1971, Easter again, Hammo is in the process of winning the second of his four Australian Hillclimb Championships, at Collingrove with his second 906 Spyder, this one had chassis number 906-007 too.
The great Hope Bartlett’s MG Q-Type at Wirlinga during the March 1938 Interstate Grand Prix/Albury Grand Prix weekend. The race was won by Jack Phillips and Ted Parsons in their self-built Ford V8 Special.
Commitment, Gordon Mitchell was absolutely nuts about his racing! ‘My Simca Station Wagon that I bought for $15, towing my Bugeye Austin Healey Sprite across the Nullarbor to an early night race meeting at Oran Park and a race meeting at Warwick Farm in 1971. Memories.’ It’s only 3820 km each way…London to Moscow is 2900 km.
Mitchell was a racer of vast experience with a CV extending from several Sprites, to Porsche 911S, Morris Marina V8, Alfa Romeo GTV, Fiat 131 Abarth, Fiat X19 Abarth and many more.
Fiat 131 Abarth Wanneroo (G Mitchell Coll)
I’ve had some fun lately thumbing through my 1969-72 collection of Racing Car News researching a piece on FoMoCo Oz two Ford GTHO Super Falcons. It takes a helluva long time because of the tangents, not least the ads, wasn’t it a great mag in the day?
Bernie Haehnle was a turn of the 1970s Formula Vee Ace who did well in Series Production and a season or so of Formula Ford in a Bowin P6F. What became of him?
(L Hemer)
‘The Narellan Cup meeting at Oran Park on 6th November 1971, was the first night meeting held after daylight saving began in NSW,’ wrote Lynton Hemer.
‘This meant that the organizers could include Formula Vees in the programme with 4 and 6 lap races at 5:30 and 6:30, before the darkness set in. Here are Bernie Haehnle, Damon Beck, Paul Bernasconi, Laurie Campfield, Denis Riley and Enno Buesselmann.’
Bruce McLaren on the way to winning the November 18, 1962, Australian Grand Prix in his Cooper T62 Climax at Caversham, Western Australia.
It was a lucky victory in that Jack Brabham was taken out when he zigged, and Arnold Glass zagged, eliminating Jack’s Brabham BT4 Climax and clipping the wings of Arnold’s BRM P48 Buick 3.9 V8. John Youl and Bib Stilwell were second and third in Coopers T55 and T53, respectively.
(K Devine)
David McKay susses Bruce’s new Cooper; he bought Jack’s Brabham BT4 shortly thereafter. More about this car here:https://primotipo.com/2016/05/20/bruce-lex-and-rockys-cooper-t62-climax/ On the road near Perth, below, Eoin Young, Wally Willmott, Bruce McLaren and Cooper T62 Climax FPF 2.7.
(K Devine)(K Devine)(M Kass)
The Max Winkless/Jan Woelders Porsche 356A 1600 during the August 21-September 8, 1957 Mobilgas Round Australia Trial.
The winners were Laurie Whitehead and Kevin Young in a VW Beetle 1200 ahead of five other Beetles!
The other ‘Porsche Cars Australia’ 356s were driven by Tom Jackson/David McKay (1500) 27th – above with Jackson working on his car – and the boss, Norman Hamilton (356A), the other cars of Hamilton and Winkless/Woelders were DNFs.
I guess 1971 Australian F2 Championship, Henk Woelders was Jan’s son? Henk is ahead of an Elfin 600 1.6 Lotus-Ford F2 pack at Calder: he, John Walker and Clive Millis, the black and yellow interloper is Peter Larner’s Rennmax.
(S Johnson)
And below Henk sharing an HK Holden Monaro GTS327 with Dyno Dave Bennett during the 1968 Sandown 3 Hour enduro, DNF, the race was won by the Tony Roberts/Bob Watson GTS327. More about Henk here:https://primotipo.com/2018/12/30/henk-woelders/
Unusual colour shot of Don O’Sullivan in his Matich SR3 Repco 720 4.4 V8 during 1969.
The Perth-based racer did quite a few East Coast meetings in 1969, finishing second in the 1969 Australian Sports Car Championship behind Frank Matich’s dominant Matich SR4 Repco 760 4.8 V8. His mechanic/engineer/driver and lifelong friend, Jaime Gard, was based in the Matich workshops that year to prepare the car and lend a highly skilled hand with FM’s cars, too, on occasion
Lynton Hemer catches the sun and beautiful lines of Bill Brown’s new Porsche Carrera RS at Warwick Farm on May 6, 1973. The inside front is just clearing the deck.
Meanwhile, Scuderia Veloce’s Bob Atkin was in the pits and took this shot of one of the races on the same day on the grid: Brian Foley in his Alfa Lightweight- the ex-Mildren-French GTA after further ‘Project 9’ surgery by John Joyce’s Bowin Cars team over the summer of 1972-73, Brown, Carrera RS, Bob Steven’s Mustang and another Grace Bros 911S, one of the Geoghegans I guess.
(B Atkin)
Scratch-men Frank Kleinig, Kleinig Hudson Spl, and John Crouch, Delahaye 135, start the handicap New South Wales Grand Prix, Mount Panorama, Bathurst October 1946.
Rare feel the vibe colour shots of the first Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island over the November 20 1960 weekend; the Bathurst 1000 started right here, of course, folks.
Car 43C below, amongst the ‘BRM mechanics’, is a works Morris Major driven by Rod Murphy and John Callaway. Activ-8 was a local oil company, Golden Fleece’s brand at the time. HC Sleigh Ltd sold Golden Fleece to Caltex in 1981.
(J Devine)(J Cronin)
You can just see a glimpse of Bass Straight below the distant Shell banner in this Main Straightaway – I’m channelling Mike Raymond – photograph. The Mercedes 220SE was crewed by the Youl brothers, Gavin and John, DNF.
(C Munday)
A couple of Garrie Cooper shots at Wanneroo Park, Western Australia.
The first shows him #5 on the grid of the WA Road Racing Championship on May 3, 1970, aboard his Elfin 600D Repco 830 2.5 V8 alongside fellow South Aussie John Walker’s Elfin 600B Lotus Ford 1.6 with Craig McAllister, Macon Ford 1.6 on the left. Cooper won from Walker with Bob Ilich’s Brabham BT21B Cosworth SCB third. See a piece about this race and Cooper’s car here:https://primotipo.com/2018/03/06/garrie-cooper-elfin-600d-repco-v8/
The one below is of Ansett Team Elfin: Garrie Cooper and John McCormack’s Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden F5000s at the Wanneroo Indian Pacific Plate meeting on August 12, 1973.
Cooper took out the three heat event overall with two wins to McCormack’s one Mac fastest of the day however a new lap record of 56.8 sec during the final 20 lapper.
(R Hagarty)
Credits…
John Lemm, Bill Forsyth Collection, Martin Kass, Bob Atkin, Ken Devine, John Cronin, Peter Cartwright, Mark Goldsworthy Collection via Bob Williamson, Sandy Fernanace, Chris Munday, Rob Hagarty, Stewart Johnson, Stephen Stockdale, Gordon Mitchell Collection
Dan Gurney awaits the start of the 1962 Indianapolis 500 in his Thompson Buick V8, with Fritz Voigt and Mickey Thompson in attendance, Memorial Day, Indiana, May 30, 1962.
Jack Brabham and John Cooper started the mid-engined Indy revolution – I’m not suggesting they were the first to race a mid-engined car there – in 1961 with their tiddly 2.7-litre Cooper T54 Climax FPF.
Mickey Thompson wasn’t the only Indycar builder to take the mid-engined bait, but one of his three Thompson Buick V8s driven by Indy debutant Dan Gurney, was the only mid-engined car that took the start in 1962.
His John Crosthwaite-designed, aluminium-bodied machine comprised a lightweight spaceframe chassis, a modified new aluminium Buick BOP – Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac – 215cid V8 and a Halibrand transaxle.
This revolutionary, aluminium production V8 weighed only 317 pounds, about 200 pounds less than Detroit’s cast iron equivalent thereof. Let’s stick with the engine for a bit.
Buick’s innovative V8 featured a deep-skirt aluminium block containing an assortment of iron and steel parts: cast-in bore liners, forged connecting rods, and a crankshaft supported by five main-bearing caps. The result was an engine that weighed 324 lbs, circa 200 lbs less than Chevy’s small-block V-8 (GM Media)
While the ads of the three General Motors’ subsidiaries that fitted the motors to their cars extolled the virtues of better fuel economy and a lighter car, racers looked at the obvious lightweight performance potential too.
The Buick and Pontiac 215 engines were identical but Oldsmobile’s ‘Rockette V8’ had revised heads. The Buick version used a five-bolt pattern around each cylinder, while the Oldsmobile jobbie used a six-bolt pattern to alleviate potential warping of the heads on high-compression variants of the engine
To the Olds party-faithful, the changes made the new engine look like its much respected predecessor, the Olds-Rocket V8, and to those seeking big power gains, the Olds F85 engine was the go, the extra head bolt would assist in avoiding blown head gaskets in performance applications.
You can feel and hear the vibe in this pre-start shot (IMS)
Crosthwaite – Thompson – Buick Indy Car 1962…
British engineer John Crosthwaite designed the Thompson 1962 machine for Mickey Thompson.
Crosthwaite’s and Thompson’s collaboration came about after John’s success with the Dolphin Formula Junior built by a company owned by Bud Hull, in the San Diego/Del Mar area of Southern California. Thompson noticed the pace of the cars and sought him out: https://0398ca9.netsolhost.com/dolphin01.htm
Soon, Thompson and his sponsors, Harvey Aluminium and Jim Kimberly of Kimberly Clark, approached Crosthwaite to design a mid-engined car inspired by those by then de rigeur in European road-racing for the 1962 500.
John Crosthwaite, Jack Brabham and Buddy Hull at right after testing the Dolphin Mk1 Fiat FJ at Riverside in November 1960 during the US Grand Prix weekend. Brabham had already won his second F1 World Championship in Portugal a couple of weeks before (Wiki)John Crosthwaite with one of his completed ’62 Thompson Buicks in Thompson’s Long Beach machine shop. Note the fuel tank locale, Halibrand wheel and beefy spaceframe. Body buck for something else? (Wiki)
Thompson Buick Design & Construction…
Crosthwaite drew on his earlier work in drawing a tubular steel spaceframe chassis, with fully independent suspension front and rear: upper and lower wishbones and coil spring/dampers and adjustable roll bars at the front, and a single upper links, twin radius rods and and gain coil spring/dampers and adjustable bar at the rear. The 16-inch Halibrand wheels and Firestones were way smaller than the usual 18/20 inch units used by the big, heavy roadsters.
The engine was a radical choice as well. Offies had ruled the day for decades. Not only was the Buick V8 the first stock-block engine raced at Indy since 1946, but it was also, as we have seen, brand-new. General Motors had developed a technique to cast aluminium engines in large volumes. The 3.5-litre 317 lb aluminium Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac BOP 215 V8 was the first volume production V8 in the world and was just on the market, fitted to the Buick Special, Oldsmobile F85 and Pontiac Tempest. More on the engine mods shortly. The transaxle was a Halibrand two-speed: fast and much faster! It was mated to the engine via a bespoke, shallow, cast bell-housing.
There was no pressure! The project had to be completed in just 120 days. Crosthwaite worked long hours living in a motel close to Thompson’s Los Angeles workshop where the car was built by a crew led by Fritz Voigt.
Key elements laid bare in the Indy garage: spaceframe chassis, modified Buick 215 stock-block aluminium V8, Halibrand two-speed transaxle, disc brakes (D Friedman)Hilborn fuel injection, roller rockers by Iskenderian or Crower (D Friedman)
Buick 215 V8…
The Buick V8 underwent significant performance surgery to be match fit against the 4.2-litre fuel-injected Offys, which gave about 350 bhp in 500-mile race spec at the time.
While multiple parties were involved in the engine’s development, the key modifications were made by Scarab engineers, who worked on improving the engine’s breathing capacity, and Mickey Thompson’s team who experimented with fuel injection and made a specially fabricated intake manifold to suit.
Or is that the case? There seem to be two schools of thought…
In its August 1962 issue that year, Hot Rod reported that the Buick was a Mickey Thompson (M/T) project with no factory help. M/T pistons with a 14:1 compression ratio and M/T aluminum rods were coupled to an M/T cast ductile-iron crankshaft with a 3.10-in stroke. (M/T was then marketing “Cast Billet” stroker crankshafts for popular V8s.) Iskenderian supplied the roller camshaft and kit, while Bob Bubenik engineered the gear drive for the cam and oil, water, and fuel pumps. HIlborn fuel injection with both laydown and vertical-stack manifolds were tried, but vertical stacks proved best. Quoted output was 330 bhp on straight methanol fuel.
Buick 215 engine, mods as per text (MMCG)(MMCG)
A few years later, in a May, 1970 feature Hot Rod interviewed some Buick executives who had a different perspective. In this version, noted Buick engineer Nelson Kunz led the three-month program, working closely with Thompson. Oversize cylinder liners allowed a bore of 3.6125 inches, but here the 3.10-in ductile iron stroker crank was a welded Buick piece and the connecting rods were 4340 steel. Large-port head castings and a Crower H-1 roller cam kit completed the combination, which produced 370 bhp at 7200 rpm. They reported about 15 engines were built with a few sent to sports car teams, including Lance Reventlow’s Scarab operation.
It’s hardly surprising if GM was a bit cute about its involvement in-period, given the Motor Racing Ban Deal between the Big Three at the time: GM, FoMoCo and Chrysler. On the balance of probabilities, Traco were involved too. They built a 3.9-litre modified, Weber-fed, Buick 215 V8 for Lance Reventlow, which was fitted to his Scarab RE Formula Libre car raced by Chuck Daigh in the February 1962 Sandown Park International.
That race was won by Jack Brabham’s Cooper T55 Climax. While the new Scarab chassis needed development – it was never raced again – the potency of the engine impressed onlookers, including Brabham, whose first Repco-Brabham F1 V8, built in 1965, used the Oldsmobile 215 F85 block in modified form; the RB620 3-litre V8 won World Drivers and Constructors Championships in 1966.
These early developments of the BOP 215 V8 Mickey Thompson and others were very important to the engine’s subsequent use by Repco-Brabham Engines and in the back of Bruce McLaren’s new McLaren-Elva sportscars, and others. More about the Scarab RE Buick in this article: https://primotipo.com/2016/01/27/chucks-t-bird/
Ain’t she very sweet, a handsome, purposeful machine in every respect. DG during the obligatory posed qualifying shot (IMS)
1962 Indy 500…
Dan’s primary race program in 1962 was with Porsche in F1 and endurance sportscars. He therefore arrived in Indiana match fit and as sharp as a tack.
Gurney told Andrew Ferguson about his debut year at Indy in 1962 in Ferguson’s research for his great book, ‘Team Lotus – The Indianapolis Years’.
‘I had first gone to Indianapolis in 1962, at the invitation of an entrant named John Zink. I took the obligatory driver’s test in his traditional front-engined Offy roadster, but what he was hoping to qualify for the race was a rear-engined frame. I’m sure it was actually an old Lotus chassis – powered by a Boeing gas turbine.’
‘He had some Boeing engineers who were keen to promote these things as high-reliability, cheap-to-run engines powering Kenworth trucks. One of the engineers was running one on the street in a ’32 Ford roadster, which must have been quite exciting.’
Dan smiling as best he can, Moore 62 Boeing during Indy qualifying (IMS)Boeing Model 502-10F turboshaft engine, a lightweight unit normally used in helicopters, being fettled at Indy. Moore 62 chassis aka John Zink Trackburner Spl (IMS)
‘But when Jack Zink appeared at Indy with his turbine car he was stiff and sore and his face and arms covered in scabs and grazes, because while testing the car back at some place in Oklahoma he’d flipped it during a test run. And when I got out on to the Speedway in the car it was plain that its 350 horsepower wasn’t enough. A gas turbine develops maximum torque at stall, like a steam engine, so the faster you ran it the less it delivered.’
‘In those days we were still having to brake into the turns at Indy, so when you went back on the gas that turbine could set very competitive corner speeds, and came off the turns with good acceleration. But part way down the straight it would be all over for the day. It just ran out of power and stopped accelerating.’
‘I was really having to hustle it in the effort to set competitive lap times, and it became clear that it just didn’t have enough power. So I told Zink that if he could find anyone to drive it faster he shouldn’t worry about hurting my feelings – he should go right ahead and try them…and then Mickey Thompson asked if I’d like to drive one of his new rear-engined Buick V8-powered cars.’
Thompson and Fritz Voigt during Indy qualifying. The ‘body-off’ shots suggest a high level of design and execution quality despite the tight timelines involved (MMCG)‘Fancy meeting you here Colin!’ Gurney greets his Indy 500 guest, Colin Chapman, from the Hospitality Suite! Rather a successful weekend for them both (D Friedman)
Dan had a lot riding on the race. He had funded Colin Chapman to come over and see the 1962 Indy 500 with a view to hooking Lotus and Ford up for a proper shot at the 1963 500. Dan knew an Indy version of the then ‘spankers Lotus 25 monocoque – which debuted at the Dutch GP in May that year – was a race winner.
Dan’s switch to Thompson’s aluminium Buick V8 stock block-powered mid-engined Crosthwaite design proved a good one. The Indy Rookie qualified the new car a tremendous eighth with a speed of 147.886 mph, impressive in every respect. Having said that, Dan was of course, racing mid-engined cars all the time, there was nothing unconventional about the layout to him.
Up at the pointy end, the top three were Roadsters: Parnelli Jones’ Watson Offy from Rodger Ward’s similar car and Bobby Marshman’s Epperly Offy in third.
A couple of youngsters who done real good! Roger Penske wishes Dan well before he jumps in and puts on the ‘belts mandatory at Indy. Note the crash pad on the steering wheel and injection trumpet debris protector (IMS)Mickey Thompson and Dan Gurney just before the start (R Brock/Getty)
After the start, Gurney gradually worked his way into ninth place after the initial stages. The only incident in those early stages was on lap 17 when a four-car pile-up involving Jack Turner, Bob Christie, Allen Crowe and Chuck Rodee. Noteworthy is that AJ Foyt lost a wheel off his Trevis Offy on lap 69.
Running nicely, on lap 92 of 200, Dan experienced a problem with the rear end and was forced to retire. A leaking Halibrand transaxle was later attributed to an improperly mounted seal around the starter shaft in the back of the gearbox which fell out and killed the gearbox.
The race was won by Ward from Len Sutton’s Watson Offy then Eddie Sachs’ Epperly Offy, with Dan classifed 20th and in the money to the tune of $US5161.
Pitstop for Dan, who was out on lap 92 in the Thompson Harvey Aluminium Spl (unattributed)(D Friedman)
Despite not finishing, the Thompson Buick’s performance was considered noteworthy as it demonstrated again the potential of the rear-engined layout and a light aluminium stock block V8 at Indy.
The move looked prophetic on Dan’s part when one of two drivers who drove the John Zink Trackburner Spl aka Moore 62 Boeing. After Dan left, Duane Carter, and then Bill Cheesbourg, tried to get the Moore 62 up to speed but couldn’t. Cheesbourg followed Dan to Thompson’s outfit and drove the #35 Harvey Aluminium Special – Thompson Buick – #35 but missed the cut as did Chuck Daigh who had preceded him…
A third #33 Thompson Buick owned by Jim Kimberly was driven by Porky Rachwitz and Jack Fairman, who both failed to qualify.
The Thompson Harvey Aluminium Special at Indy in 1962 (B Tronolone-Revs)
Etcetera…
Gurney aboard Zink’s Watson Offy for his Rookie Test, Indy 1962, and the shot below (D Friedman)
In order to pass his rookie test Gurney used a good, old, reliable Roadster. Zink’s Offy powered car was no less a chassis than the updated Watson used by Pat Flaherty to win the 1956 race for Zink.
Of interest, perhaps, from indycar.com. ‘Rookie tests from 1936-80 took place during practice for the Indianapolis 500 in May, when the track was open nearly the entire month. Many rookie drivers took advantage of turning their required laps early in May, when there was less traffic because veteran drivers often waited until later in the month to begin their programs.’
(unattributed)(LAT)
Rookie tests for seasoned professionals such as Gurney may seem a little strange, during July 1962 he had won his first championship Grand Prix for Porsche at Rouen-Les-Essarts aboard the the 1.5-litre flat-eight powered car (above).
But Indianapolis is a treacherous place, especially back then.
Porsche 804 laid bare at Zandvoort in May 1962, the meeting at which Gurney – along with the rest of motor racing – went WOW over Chapman’s new monocoque Lotus 25 Climax (J Alexander)
As a consequence, ‘In 1981, the Rookie Orientation Program was formalized. The biggest difference between ROP and previous rookie tests was the entire session was reserved for rookies only, with the session taking place sometime in April or early May. Drivers no longer needed to find clear track amid veteran practice to learn the ropes.’
‘It doesn’t matter if the driver is making their first NTT Indycar series start in the “500” or has extensive global racing success. They all must take the test.’
‘Some noteworthy drivers who were established stars before their first Indy 500 start required to take a rookie test include existing or eventual F1 World Champions Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Denis Hulme, Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell and Fernando Alonso.’
Click on the link, then go to note 3, ‘Moore 62 Dan Gurney’, read that, then click on the link to the ‘Len Williams report’ for an amazing account of the car’s construction, testing by Zinc on the track at his ranch, and then the fun and games at Indy trying to coax the car into the race. Truly wonderful stuff.
Moore 62 Boeing turbine and Halibrand transaxle. Designer Denni Moore has gone to great lengths to stiffen the large opening that contains the bulky turbine engine ((D Friedman)Thomson and Voigt, this angle shows how the Thompson Buick’s engine is mounted offset left (MMCG)Firestone boys do their thing. Symmetry albeit offset left! (IMS)Dan Gurney on the Indy 500 and GP racing in 1965Mickey Thompson and John Crosthwaite sandwich a Harvey Aluminium representative well before the #35 car failed to make the ’62 500 cut in the hands of Chuck Daigh and Bill Cheesbourg! (JC Collection)
John Crosthwaite…
Crosthwaite died on September 5, 2010, aged 84.
After the Mickey Thompson cars for the 1962-63 Indy 500, Crosthwaite joined Holman Moody in July 1963. When their Indy project fell through, Crosthwaite commenced at BRM that December.
Later in his career, he was involved in designing chassis for road cars, including the Intermeccanica Italia, the Bond Bug, and the Reliant Scimitar GTE.
Crosthwaite worked with some notable figures/businesses in the sport, including Cooper, Team Lotus, Graham Hill, Dan Gurney, and Jackie Stewart. His innovative designs, particularly for the Indy 500, left a lasting impact on motorsport engineering.
Buick had an ad ready to go had they won in ’91…Gary Bettenhausen DNF radiator after 89 laps, the best placed Buick turbo-V6-powered car was Stan Fox’s Lola T91/00, which was eighth in the race won by Rick Mears’ 2.65-litre Penske PC20 Ilmor Chev 265-A V8.
Credits…
David Friedman Archive, Macs Motor City Garage, psychoontyres.co.uk, Ray Brock/Getty Images, Bob Tronolone-The Revs Institute, Indy Motor Speedway, IMS-Indianapolis Motor Speedway Archive, oldracingcars.com, GM Corp, John Crosthwaite Collection via Wikipedia, LAT, Jesse Alexander, indycars.com
The John Reaburn/Nicholas Granville-Smith Ford GT40 during the 1968 Nurburgring 1000 km.
Melbourne-born John Reaburn – 20/10/1936-26/11/2016 – raced sports cars briefly in Europe in the mid-1960s before retiring at the ripe old age of 32 at the end of ’68.
He inherited the bug from his father Wal who raced a Humpy Holden and operated WJ Reaburn Auto Electrical Engineers Pty. Ltd. from 891-893 High Street, Armadale, Melbourne.
Reaburn’s Holden FJ at the Geelong Speed Trials date unknown (R Simmonds Archive)A brace of Buchanans. John Reaburn chases Wally Mitchell at Phillip Island, date unknown
John raced the Holden and then made his name with consistent winning pace in a potent Buchanan Holden from April 1960 to July 1961. Into the mix were drives in Jaywood Motors, Appendix J Holden Humpy, and FC.
He competed in the 1960-64 Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island and Bathurst, sharing a Singer Gazelle with Harry Firth in 1960, and then Firth’s works Ford Cortina GT, Zephyr MkIII and Falcon. He also raced a FoMoCo Cortina GT in the first Sandown enduro, the 1964 6-Hour International, with Geoff Russell finishing a rousing third outright..
Reaburn in the Ford Falcon XP he shared with Harry Firth during the April 1965 Ford 70000 Mile Durability Run at the FoMoCo You Yangs proving ground (Ford)Firth/Reaburn works-Cortina GT during the April 1964 Lowood 4 Hour, winning their class and ‘outright’
He took on the big-car challenge in 1965, finishing fifth in the one-race Australian Touring Car Championship at Sandown won by Norm Beechey’s Ford Mustang. Raeburn’s mount was the 7-litre Ford Galaxie left in Australia after the ’64 Sandown International by Sir Gawaine Baillie.
Reaburn jumped on a ship for Europe with the intention of racing the car in the UK, but Baillie had sold it before he got there. Brian Muir was third in that Sandown ATCC in his Holden EH S4; he too was soon heading off to the UK, very successfully so.
Reaburn, perhaps, in the Baillie Galaxie at Warwick Farm in 1965 (P Reynell)
Undeterred, Reaburn started working for Graham Warner’s Chequered Flag Motors in 1966, driving their Shelby Cobra in the Zeltweg 500 km (DNF oil leak) that September. He was in the best of company, sharing the grid with GP drivers Jochen Rindt, Jo Siffert, Mike Spence, Innes Ireland, Mike Parkes, David Hobbs and Bob Bondurant.
Nick Brittan wrote about Reaburn in Motoring News during 1966, ‘Raeburn Shines in Driving Test. I don’t seem to be able to get through a month in this column without making some comment about a new Australian driver. In fact I’ve been accused of running an Antipodean news sheet.’
Johnny Reaburn is the latest of the “gday there mate” brigade that are invading our shores. Johnny, a massive, lantern-jawed Melburnian, ran Holdens and FoMoCo cars back home.
JR in the Zeltweg pits in 1966. Bob Bondurant raced the other Chequered Flag Cobra, DNF engine. And yes, like me, the signwriter struggled with the spelling of JR’s name (JR Archive)JR during the September 1966 Zeltweg 500km DNF oil leak in the Chequered Flag Shelby Cobra. Race won by the works Porsche 906 crewed by Gerhard Mitter and Hans Hermann (Zdjecie)
‘Bathurst class successes, three Lowood 4 hour races on the trot, second in the Sandown 6 hour, plus numerous other solid performances, are grounds for giving the bloke a trial.’
‘What shook everybody up last week was his performance at the passout at Brands with the Motor Racing Stables outfit in front of a big crowd of journalists and enthusiasts. Eight lessons in a Formula Ford with the passout in an F3 in the reverse direction on the Club circuit, Johnny equalled the time set by professional driver and instructor Tony Lanfranchi on his fourth lap.’
‘He improved his time by a full seven-tenths of a second on the remaining six laps. Tony then jumped back in the car, but it took him twelve laps to equal the time Johnny had set. He should be deported or given a drive, as this was his first time in open wheelers.’
He raced Mike de Udy’s Porsche 906 with Roy Pike in the Reims 12 Hours in 1967 (DNF), and took part in several 1968 World Sportscar Championship rounds. His car was a yellow Ford GT40, chassis #1001, owned by Andy Cox, ‘who had won money on the football pools and bought himself a GT40,’ wrote Doug Nye.
Reaburn’s driving partners were Nicholas Granville-Smith and another Australian tyro who did a stint at The Chequered Flag, Tim Schenken.
Monza 1000km grid April, 1968 (JR Archive)Nurburgring 1000km April 1968, on the way to 21st place (LAT)
At the Monza 1000 km in April he shared the car with Schenken, DNF engine. At the Nürburgring on May 19, he and Granville-Smith were 21st in the 1000 km.
At Spa-Francorchamps, the week after the Nurburgring, back with Tim, John had a major off on the first lap of the 1000 km enduro.
Doug Nye was there reporting the event for Motoring News and wrote on The Nostalgia Forum, ‘It absolutely widdled with rain and early in the race John dropped the car in the pack on the right hand kink coming down the hill from La Source, past the pits. The GT40 spun round and round and round in a ball of spray and only near the bottom of the hill – entering Eau Rouge – did it finally slither off onto the grass and subside into a ditch on the left side of the track. It was very spectacular, with phenomenal avoidances all round. Pity, he’d been driving it pretty well until then.’
Nurburgring, JR ahead of the second place works Porsche 907 of Hermann/Attwood (LAT)Raeburn with Brigitte Bardot (JR Archive)
Reaburn reported his exploits back home via Racing Car News. Amongst the unreported good times of high performance off the track was a week-long dalliance with Brigitte Bardot that was memorable enough for her to purchase him a Rolex watch inscribed, ‘To Johnny, Love BB’. ‘True story’ confirms Greg Smith, who had a lot to do with Reaburn in the modern historic era, ‘I’ve seen the watch.’
‘Don’t forget that he was instrumental in getting the David Price-written Joan Richmond book published (Joan Richmond: The Remarkable Previously Untold Story),’ chipped in Bob King.
Reaburn tested an F3 car at Brands Hatch in 1966, matching class front-runner Tony Lanfranchi’s times, and a works F2 Lotus 48 Ford FVA at Hethel in 1967, but, being a tall unit, decided to concentrate on sports car racing.
He quit racing at the end of 1968, aged 32. In recent years John lived in retirement with his wife in Mooroolbark, Victoria. He died of a stroke on Saturday, 26 November 2016, aged 80.
Etcetera…
A Truish Story from 1965 by Clark Watson.
‘Young John Reaburn, south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, six-foot-five in his socks, had come to England on the back of a Bathurst class win with Harry Firth. Europe didn’t care. Single-seater cockpits were built for midgets, so John ended up on the showroom floor of Chequered Flag Motorsport in Savile Row, selling Elans and the odd Ferrari while demonstrating Colin Chapman’s ultra-rare analogue driving simulator — one of only two ever made.’
‘One day, a Scottish Lord named Andy walked in — heir to half the Highlands, banned from racing by his mother until he produced heirs of his own. Instead, he spent the family’s millions running sports-car teams and collecting rogues like McLaren, Amon, Rindt, Surtees, and Bondurant. He took one look at the giant Australian and decided he liked him. Soon, John was testing for Andy’s private outfit and sharing a flat in Clapham with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.’
‘What happened in that flat stayed in that flat — except one story that finally slipped out. One winter evening, Andy dropped John home after a test day and said only, “Midnight. Sofa. Helmet. I’ll pick you up.” Over dinner, Bruce and Chris just sniggered. When John reached for the wine, they pushed water at him and told him to sleep. Just after midnight, a rattly old lorry reversed down the lane. Andy was directing mechanics who whipped a sheet off the load to reveal a gleaming silver Shelby Daytona Cobra, already thudding and rocking on its springs. Andy climbed into the passenger seat. “You drive.” They ghosted through sleeping London, turned right into Hyde Park itself — gates closed, lights out — pure madness.’
‘Fifty metres from disaster, the park blazed into light and the gates swung wide. Men in bowlers closed them again behind the Cobra. Andy grinned. “Foot flat, Johnno. The gates always open if you’re quick enough.”
‘The Midnight Stakes – the exact course. Horse Guards Parade → up the Mall → full slide around the Victoria Memorial (“the cake top”) → hard left into Hyde Park along South Carriage Drive → blast out at Marble Arch → down Park Lane → left into Constitution Hill → long, long opposite-lock slide back into Horse Guards Parade forecourt. Roughly 2.9 miles door-to-door. They did a slow reconnaissance lap first, just to let the oil warm and the tyres scrub in. Then they lined up again on the gravel.Top hats, tails, cigars, brandy, chalkboards, bowls of £100 notes. Tradition since the Napoleonic Wars on horseback, motorised by the Bentley Boys in 1929. Tonight it was John’s turn.’
‘Andy smacked the quarter panel. “Helmet on. The clock starts the moment you leave the forecourt. Don’t lift for the park — the gates will open.” John tightened the belts until they bit, clicked first, and dropped the hammer. Out of Horse Guards flat in second up the Mall, braked as late as he dared for the right into the park — 150 mph showing — then flat again. Lights flared, gates flew open, the Cobra thundered through the empty park like a silver bullet. Hard left at Marble Arch, 152 mph down Park Lane, police Pandas with blues twinkling, blocking every side street. One huge four-wheel drift around the Victoria Memorial — two perfect black doughnuts for the tourists to puzzle over next morning — then flat out down Constitution Hill and a long opposite-lock slide back into Horse Guards 1 minute 58.4 seconds dead.’
‘New outright record. John was dragged from the ticking Cobra, bundled into a waiting black cab and whisked home while the toffs threw top hats in the air and settled their bets. The record stood exactly thirteen nights. Then Chris Amon took the same 2.9-mile loop in a full Le Mans-spec GT40, big Ford V8 spitting blue flame, touching 198 mph past the Dorchester, and stopped the clocks at 1 minute 47 seconds flat. That night, the birds left every tree in Hyde Park in one black cloud, and half the palace windows rattled in their frames.’
‘The next morning, a humourless new Assistant Commissioner killed the game stone dead. The Cobra disappeared onto a ferry for Ireland before lunch, the chalkboard vanished, and the Horse Guards Midnight Stakes were declared finished “for the duration”.
‘Or so they say. Because if you’re ever in central London on a moonless night and you hear a big American V8 or a Le Mans Ford bark just once after the clocks strike twelve, sending the birds flying from the trees……you’ll know the gates are still opening for someone.’
Reaburn in the Buchanan Holden at Rob Roy, date unknown (L Sims Archive)AMS September 1960 (G Edney Collection)(JR Archive)
Outside Rootes HQ in Melbourne (?) 1960 with Harry Firth. Seventh in Class C 1960 Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, up front of the class was the Geoff Russell/David Anderson/Tony Luxton Peugeot 403.
(JR Archive)
The word according to Harry…’Now listen here cock, just do this, this, and that, and we’ll win the class’, date and place unknown, yes, Harry is leaning on a Cortina.
(B Wells)
Bathurst 500 1964, the Bill Buckle/Brian Foley Citroen inside the Firth/Reaburn FoMoCo Cortina GT. Third in Class D and Class C respectively.
Zeltweg 500km grid on September 11, 1966. Johannes Ortner, Abarth 1300 GT, John Reaburn, Shelby Cobra and David Hobbs in Bernard White’s Ferrari 250LM.
(JR Archive)
In the Monza pits during the 1968 1000km weekend, that’s Tim Schenken in the sunglasses awaiting his turn at the wheel.
Schenken was a prudent co-driver choice, being the man on every team manager’s list. That year, he won the British Formula Ford Championship, Merlyn Mk11, the BRSCC-MCD British F3 Championship, Chevron B9 Ford/Brabham BT21X Ford/Brabham BT28 Ford and the Grovewood Award. Not bad…
Credits…
John Reaburn Archive via Greg Smith, Ebay, LAT, Ron Simmonds Archive, Leon Sims Archive, Peter Reynell, Brier Thomas, Graham Edney Collection, Bruce Wells, Ford Motor Company, Zdjecie on Historia jakiej nie znacie, David Lowe photo via Tony Johns’ archive
And below making up for lost time through traffic in the latter stages of the 1969 Monaco GP, McLaren M7C Ford, where Bruce was fifth in the race won by Graham Hill’s Lotus 49B Ford.
The CSI/FIA banned the hi-wings overnight Friday-Saturday so I guess this is the Thursday.
(G Johannson)
The victorious Surtees/Scarfiotti Ferrari 250P at Sebring in 1963, the Scuderia’s sixth outright Florida win in eight years
Ferrari took the first three places in the prototype and GT classes, the Index of Performance and the lap record, not a bad weekend’s work…
(M Fistonic)
John Surtees guides his works-Lotus 18 Climax FPF 2.5 around Ardmore Aerodrome during the January 7, 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix.
Colin Chapman sent a pair of Lotus 18s south that summer to keep his drivers sharp over the European winter: team drivers Surtees, Jim Clark and Innes Ireland made the trip with Lotus’ Queerbox doing its bit to despoil the results.
Surtees was NZ GP DNF gearbox (winner Brabham Cooper T53), Levin DNF radiator (Bonnier Cooper T51), and Wigram DNF undisclosed from pole (Brabham Cooper T53).
(M Fistonic)
For Jim Clark above, it’s a little better: NZ GP sixth, Levin second and Wigram DNF stall.
For the record, Roy Salvadori was a DNF gearbox at Wigram and second at Teretonga (Bonnier Cooper T51) in a Yeoman Credit Lotus 18 ‘on his way’ to Australia to do the Oz Internationals in one of Jack’s Cooper T51s.
Ireland was second to Moss in the ferociously hot Warwick Farm 100 (Moss Lotus 18) but DNF in the Victorian Trophy at Ballarat Airfield (Dan Gurney BRM P48).
A couple of stud-meisters at Warwick Farm in 1961, Innes DOB 12/6/1930, Stirling 17/9/1929 (M McGuin)(CAN)
I’d forgotten Jo Bonnier’s two ‘Tasman’ wins in 1961 aboard an old Cooper T51 Climax.
Here he is on the Teretonga International grid on pole at right with Denny Hulme’s Cooper T51 Climax, Pat Hoare, Ferrari 256 and Tony Shelly’s Cooper T45 Climax – with ? Lycoming Special looming large at the far right.
Bonnier won from Roy Salvadori, Lotus 18, then Hulme, Hoare and Shelly.
(CAN)
And, the wonders of Facebook, one for the Cooper historians from Classic Auto News‘ Allan Dick.
‘Bonnier had a successful 1961 tour with Yeoman Credit. He won convincingly at Levin (beating Jim Clark) and Teretonga despite having an old car. After winning the main Teretonga race, he went off in the Flying Farewell (an all-in race at the end of the race weekend, a ‘Butcher’s Picnic’ in Australia), damaging the car so badly that it wasn’t considered worthwhile taking it back to Europe, so it was stripped of its parts and left in Invercargill. Nobody knows what happened to it. Here it is being recovered from the lupins (above) at the end of the main straight.’
(Lister Cars)
Archie Scott-Brown and Brian Lister ponder the construction of the prototype Lister-Jaguar chassis BHL2, registered MVE303…and 506 306 in late 1956 or early 1957 at the Lister family’s Cambridge workshop.
Scott-Brown had a fabulous season, winning 11 of the 14 races he entered including breaking the unlimited sportscar lap record, during the race or practice, on every circuit the team visited.
Press release, what date folks? (Lister Cars)(Classic & Sportscar)
He and a mechanic then took the Lister to New Zealand for their 1958 summer internationals, where the car – registered 506-306 – won two more races. Archie took a 12-lap Le Mans start preliminary at Teretonga and the 150-mile Lady Wigram Trophy (above), finishing ahead of two Grand Prix cars: Ross Jensen’s Maserati 250F and shooting star Stuart Lewis-Evans’ Bernie Ecclestone-owned Connaught B3 Alta.
In an era where such fast cars were usually sold to a lucky (or not) colonial at the end of the trip, the Lister returned home ‘to clear the Customs bond in New Zealand,’ wrote Doug Nye. Sadly, BHL2 was then torn down with many of its fit and well components used in the build of other car(s).
Ken Wharton punts his awesome BRM P15 V16 around Ardmore during the January 9, 1954 New Zealand Grand Prix
He had the 100 lap 300km race shot to bits when brake problems intervened, finishing second behind Stan Jones in Maybach 1, with Tony Gaze HWM Alta third.
Enzo Ferrari ponders the 300bhp, SOHC, two-valve Repco-Brabham V8-engined Brabham BT19 in the Monza pits during the September 1966 Italian GP weekend.
Ludovico Scarfiotti brought home the pancetta for the Scuderia, mind you, winning the race from Mike Parkes in another Ferrai 312 with Denny Hulme third in his Brabham BT20 Repco.
(LAT)
Still, the pace of the little-ies shouldn’t have surprised Enzo in that transitional year: the 2-litre Coventry Climax and BRM-powered Lotus 33s of Jim Clark and Graham Hill, and his own Dino 246 of course. The title was there for Ferrari’s taking; all they had to do was keep John Surtees in the saddle for the year…
Meanwhile, Jack was having a grouse time. Time enough to slip home mid-season for the opening week of Surfers Paradise International Raceway – his race was on August 14 – collect some cash, demonstrate Repco’s wares to the punters, then go back to Europe and wrap up the World Championship…which he did at Monza.
(NAA)
The logistics of it all are interesting.
Win the German GP in BT19 on August 7, pop it in a Qantas 707 to Australia (or whatever), get it from Melbourne or Sydney to Surfers. Do the whole thing in reverse, get BT19 race prepped, then truck it off to Italy.
Meanwhile, Jack jumped a jet to Scandinavia and won two ‘Euro F2’ rounds from Denny: the Kanonloppet, Karlskoga on August 21, and the Finlands GP at Keimola Ring on August 24. JB in a BT21 Honda, DH in a BT18 Honda. August wasn’t a bad month, really. Some sort of engine problem let the Repco side down in Queensland, it could easily have been a win a weekend for Jack…
(Ebay)
Mike Spence at the wheel of the Chaparral 2F Chev he shared with Phil Hill at Le Mans in 1967, DNF transmission failure after 225 laps in the race won by the Ford Mk4 raced by Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt.
Kuniomi Nagamatsu on the way to victory in the May 3, 1971 Japan Auto Federation Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji International Speedway aboard his Mitsubishi Colt F2D/F2000 R39B 2-litre.
He won the 35 lap, 225km race from his teammate Osamu Masuko in another F2D from then Japanese International Tetsu Ikuzawa’s Lotus 69 Ford FVC 1790cc in third place.
Nagamatsu’s win was the culmination of six years of Mitsubishi single-seater racing in Japan and Macau using Brabham chassis/copies thereof; the F2Ds are Brabham BT30 chassis in drag. Lower drag that is, the aero on these cars was the work of Mitsubishi’s aviation subsidiary.
The engines were home grown too. Initially production motors with the usual mix of increased bore, heads, carbs and cams but by 1971 Topsy was a 2-litre, twin-cam, four valve, fuel injected F2 engine that should have won the 1972 European F2 Championship if someone – how bout Bernie Ecclestone, having just acquired Brabham – had done a deal. Instead, Mitsubishi handbrake turned away from single-seaters and into the forests where they were already gaining international success…
Who said high-airboxes were started by Tyrrell/Matra during 1971?
Ferrari gave it a whirl on Richie Ginther’s Ferrari 156 at Reims during practice for the 1961 French Grand Prix, he didn’t race with it, so presumably the jury was out as to its performance. That’s Carlo Chiti with the top of his head chopped off.
And below in the LWB (it’s a joke folks) Ferrari 156 #0001 at Monaco on May 14 where he scored a rousing second place behind Mighty Moss in Rob Walker’s Lotus 18 Climax and in front of more-fancied teammates Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips. See here for the evolution of 246P to 156:https://primotipo.com/2015/10/04/monaco-panorama-1958/
(GPL)
And below Richie all, fast and loose in his competition debut at Sandberg Hillclimb on April 8, 1951. The car is Bill Cramer’s MG TC 2 Junior Ford V8, the poor little chassis would have been groaning at the seams…
(Revs Institute)(primotipo archivio)
Brian Redman contesting the 1976 Teretonga International aboard a Fred Opert Chevron B29 BMW 2-litre Euro F2 car in the Peter Stuyvesant International F5000 Series.
F5000’s greatest star was to race a RAM Racing F5000 but Fred Opert came to the rescue after they withdrew. Brian thrilled the Kiwis with his talent, he was equal fourth in the series with Graeme Lawrence’s Lola T332, Ken Smith won the four race series in his Lola T330/332 Chev.
Redman was fourth at Pukekohe, second at Manfield, DNF engine at Wigram and DNF wheel at Teretonga.
Manfield pits 1976 (D Bull)(Getty)
N.A.R.T.’s Ferrari 250LM #5893 – the 1965 Le Mans winner in the hands of Johen Rindt and Masten Gregory – dangles above the wharf at Le Havre after its trip from New York on the liner, France, September 18, 1968, destination, La Sarthe.
Masten Gregory ahead of a bunch of cars, including #11 Brian Muir’s Ford GT40, Andre De Cortanze #30 Alpine A220 Renault Gordini, the #60 Willy Meier Porsche 911T and Umberto Maglioli’s Chev Corvette. All were DNFs with the exception of the De Cortanze/Jean Vinatier Alpine, which was tenth. The ’68 race was won by Pedro Rodriguez/Lucien Bianchi in a JW Automotive Ford GT40.
(EBay)
The Gran Premio dell’Adriatico 1981 European F2 Championship round at Misano with Miguel Angel Guerra’s works Minardi Fly 281 Ferrari Dino, 13th, ahead of Oscar Pedersoli’s Ralt RT2 BMW, DNF.
McLaren Cars, Milan Fistonic, Lister Cars, Stuart Dent Collection, Gerry Johannson, GP Library, National Archives Australia, David Bull, Ebay, Revs Institute, Getty Images, LAT, CAN Classic Auto News via Allan Dick, Mitsubishi, Michael McGuin