Allan Moffat tips his new car into Shell corner, Sandown Tasman meeting 1975, Ford Capri RS3100 on its Oz debut (B Keys)
Even though I’m a dyed-in-the-wool single seater and sportscar kinda guy, I’ve got my taxi favourites, Ford’s Cologne Capris are up-there on that list…
(I Smith)
These three shots show the debut of Allan Moffat’s ex-works car at Sandown on February 23. It wasn’t a bad weekend’s work either, third and a win from the two races.
Alastair McNaughton on the bonnet above and Pauline Moffat in the passenger seat below.
(I Smith)
Michael Strudwick has been posting some marvellous stuff on Bob Williamson’s Old Motor Racing Photographs – Australia Facebook page in the last fortnight, including these uber-sharp under-the-bonnet shots of Marvin da Marvel’s – the great Allan Moffat – Ford Capri RS3100 vin/tag/chassis # GAECPY19999 circa 1976.
Raucous Cosworth Engineering built Ford Cosworth GAA 3.4-litre four-valve, quad-cam, fuel injected 420bhp @ 8500rpm V6. Cast iron block, ally heads 280 lb/ft of torque @ 7000rpm (M Strudwick)(M Strudwick)
What else is on The List you might ask? Jaguar Mk2, Ford Lotus Cortina, Alfa Romeo GTA and GTAm, Norm Beechey’s Holden Monaro GTS350, any Ford Falcon GTHO, Bob Jane’s Holden Torana GTR XU1 Repco V8, Ford Falcon XA GT351 Coupe, Bryan Thompson’s Volksrolet Chev, John McCormack’s Chrysler Valiant Repco-Holden, Holden Torana A9X, BMW M3 and 625CSi, Ford Sierra RS500, Nissan Godzilla GT-R.
In my book, Australian touring car racing was homogenised, pasteurised and sodomised (poor Georgie Pell) with the advent of V8 Supercars. The shit-boring sameness of maxi-taxis is not for me, gimme grids of vast variety any day, the speed of said silhouette tourers is duly noted. Happy to be in the minority, as always.
(motorsportretro.com)
This US shot was in the motorsportretro.com bunch of Moffat Mustang shots. The inference is that Allan is behind the wheel, can any of you touring car specialists date and place this shot of a car in Bud Moore warpaint?
Google translate is pretty good but it choked on the German-English translation of this unusual scene…
Published in 1937, it’s probably a Benz magazine advertorial piece of some sort. I wonder what model it is – the car? Explanatory input welcome, I don’t think Mercedes were building ML’s back then.
Poster for the 1934 German Grand Prix at theNurburgring…
It’s famously the race in which Auto Union took their first GP win. Hans Stuck triumphed in the 4.4-litre V16 AU Type A from Luigi Fagioli, Mercedes W25A and Louis Chiron in a Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3.
(SSPL)
Grid before the off. #6 is the Rudy Caracciola MB W25A, #20 Goffredo Zehender Maserati 8CM, #1 Hans Stuck AU Type A. Alongside him is the Ulrich Maag Alfa Monza, #9 Luigi Fagioli MB W25A and beside him Laszlo Hartmann’s Bugatti T51, the AU on the row behind Fagioli is August Mombergers, #3 is the Ernst-Gunther Burgaller AU Type A, Hans Ruesch in the middle, Maserati 8CM, and #15 is the Luigi Soffietti Alfa Monza.
(SSPL)
All the fun of the fair. The Nurburgring paddock with only Louis Chiron’s Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Tipo B/P3 in the Eifel Mountains breeze
(Imagno)
Pitstop for Stuck’s winning Auto Union Type A, vents and ducts all over, note the torsion bar IFS, swing-axle at rear.
The race was important to the German teams, keen to avenge their defeat at the French Grand Prix, Montlhery on 1 July, where Louis Chiron won in a reliable Alfa Tipo B. The Silver Cars dominated at the Nurburgring where the Alfas and Maseratis were also-rans.
The race was also important for Caracciola’s return to form after his Monaco accident the previous year, and subsequent death of his wife in a skiing accident. His form was confirmed with a forceful drive which ended in retirement. Quick at Montlhery on 1 July – Rudy’s comeback drive after 14 months out of the seat – he showed he was on-it at the Nurburgring.
(Imagno)
Rudy Caracciola and Alfred Neubauer before the off, Caratch was back with a vengeance despite needing help getting in and out of the car. Once ensconced he was mighty fast
(SSPL)
#22 Battilana Alfa Monza, #20 Zehender Maserati 8CM, #6 Caracciola MB W25A, #12 Maag Alfa Monza, #1 Stuck AU Type A, #11 Hartmann Bugatti T51, #9 Fagioli MB W25A then the Momberger and Burgaller AU Type A’s.
(SSPL)
Fagioli’s Benz W25A, #2 Momberger’s AU and #15 Soffietti’s Alfa before the off. Fagioli was drafted into the team in the event Caracciola was not up to snuff after his convalescence. Luigi knew he had a fight on his hands within the team as Rudy was quick from his Montlhery return.
Stuck’s Auto Union lead early from Caratch’s Mercedes W25A and raced hard, breaking the lap record several times ahead of Fagioli Mercedes, Chiron Alfa P3, Moll Alfa P3 and Nuvolari Maserati 8CM. Rudy snuck past Stuck at the Karussell on lap 13 but the Benz’ eight-cylinder engine failed and he soon retired. Stuck regained the lead, the order was as above except that Momberger replaced Moll in the gaggle.
The supercharged 3.4-litre straight-eight of Caracciola’s Mercedes W25A being fettled, plug change perhaps, before the off (SSPL)
Stuck on the left getting plenty of attention in the pits, Caracciola on the right (SSPL)
With four laps to go Stuck was concerned about his engine water temperature and signalled as such to his team, who waved him on, only to be told after the race that the team had changed the gauges. What he was reading was oil not water temperature!
Stuck and Auto Union took a great win, Auto Union’s first GP victory from Fagioli, Mercedes Chiron’s Alfa and Nuvolari in a Maserati 8CM but Caracciola was the star of the show and back with a vengeance!
(Imagno)
Hans Stuck is a very happy chappy, after 4 hours and 38 minutes of hard work he won the race. Plenty of uniforms around in these shots even in 1934.
Credits…
Kolumbus.f1, Imagno, Science and Society Picture Library, Tony Turner
Etcetera…
(T Turner)
After this article was first posted, my friend Tony Turner sent me these two marvellous photographs and this note.
“Back in 2016 I went for a holiday in Germany. It was only when I went for a stroll around our temporary base in Remagen that I realised that I was in the birthplace of Caratch – the street sign was a definite clue, the sculpture in a little park nearby definite confirmation. I suspect it features the later W125 rather than the 1934 W25. It seems his grandfather (?) founded a big hotel there, which was taken over by successive generations, so the name’s still quite well respected in the town.”
(T Turner)
Tailpiece…
(SSPL)
Momberger and Burgaller shared this Auto Union Type A, DNF after completing 20 laps. Auguste Momberger is alongside the cockpit.
Great shot of Dave Walker in front of a gaggle of cars in the Mondello Park pitlane over the May 11 1969 weekend.
His works-Jim Russell Lotus 61 Formula Ford is in front of Emerson Fittipaldi’s Merlyn Mk11A with another future Grand Prix driver, Tony Trimmer in the black Titan fourth in the group.
Walker went backwards to go forwards with FF. He had been quick in his poorly funded F3 exploits in Europe since arriving from Australia in the mid-1960s but revitalised his career in works Lotus FFs. He won the 1969 Les Leston Formula Ford Championship aboard the Lotus 61 in 1969, dominant seasons in F3 aboard Gold Leaf Team Lotus 59 and 69s followed in 1970-71, then F1.
Walker during the 1964 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Park in February 1964. He was ninth aboard his Brabham BT2 Ford 1.5, the race was won by Jack Brabham’s Brabham BT7A Climax FPF 2.5 (autopics.com.au)
Trimmer was second in the title aboard his Frank Williams racing Titan Mk4. Other drivers of note competing that year included Colin Vandervell, fifth using Lotus 61 and Merlyn Mk11A chassis, Ian Ashley, sixth in an Alexis, not to forget Tom Walkinshaw who was equal 14th in a Hawle DL2 – years before his switch to touring cars – with a youngster named James Hunt 21st in another Merlyn Mk11A.
Emerson was eighth but spent a good part of the year focused on F3, winning the BRSCC/MDC Lombank British F3 Championship aboard a works-Jim Russell Lotus 59 Ford. Walker was 11th in a Lotus Components 59, and Hunt 15th using Brabham, Lotus and March chassis.
Lotus Components built about 250 Lotus 61/61Ms from 1969-71, they were huge sellers, successful too with the wedge styling taking its cues from the 1968 Indy Lotus 56 Pratt & Whitney.
Credits…
Nick Sparks photo via Hans Hulsebos, autopics.com.au, Getty Images
Tailpiece…
Nice portrait of 29 year old Dave Walker at Crystal Palace in October 1970. Lotus 59A Ford F3.
That weekend, Mike Beuttler, Brabham BT28 Ford, won his heat, Walker his, and the final from Beuttler, Trimmer and Gerry Birrell.
Walker won the 1970 MCD Lombank F3 Championship, Carlos Pace (Jim Russell Lotus 59/59A) the BARC Forward Trust F3 title, and Tony Trimmer the BRSCC/MotorSport/Shell Super British F3 Championship, Brabham BT28 Ford.
Coopers galore! Alan Brown, Eric Brandon, Juan Fangio and Mike Hawthorn in F2 Cooper T20 Bristols before the Lavant Cup, Easter Monday 14 April 1952. This race was one of a series of performances which vaulted Hawthorn into a GP Ferrari seat in 1953.
Hawthorn won the six-lapper from Brown and Brandon and set the fastest lap.
Equally impressive was Hawthorn’s second place behind Froilan Gonzalez’ Ferrari 375 in the Formula Libre Richmond Trophy. Duncan Hamilton placed third in a Talbot Lago T26C.
And Fangio? I have one report that says the great man raced John Cooper’s Cooper T20 to a misfiring sixth place but he doesn’t appear at all in the results for the Lavanat Cup and Richmond Trophy I have. John Cooper offer the ride after Alfa Romeo failed to appear. Happy to take your advice on this one.
The thoroughly delightful Eunice Fidock is shown beside an Austin 7 Special at Dowerin, Western Australia circa 1935.
Dowerin is a wheatbelt community 160km north-east of Perth. It had two pre-war racing venues, the Lake Koombekine one mile, dirt, circular speedway, and the Dowerin Showgrounds speedway in town. I’m not sure which of the two this is, but I’m happy to take advice.
My friend Tony Johns, Austin racer/historian is on the job as to chassis type and number, albeit he suspects a Perth built body on a standard or Super Sports chassis.
Eunice hails from Cottesloe, an inner Perth beachside suburb. Looking like that she would have cut quite a dash at Cotts’ Indiana Teahouse. Resplendent in leopard-skin shorts, she is showing lots of bumpy-curvy bits for the times and is therefore well armed to keep the more amorous of Dowerin suitors at bay. I’ll leave the make of weapon to you NRA members.
Credits…
Lake Perkolilli Revival Facebook page, State Library of Western Australia
Tailpiece…
(SLWA)
A slightly later model Austin – an Austin Junior Forty – shown in a Perth dealership circa 1951.
JPJ ponders the challenges of the day, the not long retired Gerard Larrousse by the left-front. ID’s of others folks?
Jean-Pierre Jabouille (JPJ) gathers his thoughts at the wheel of the Renault Alpine A500 Formula 1 test car during a two day session at Paul Ricard/Le Castellet, June 6, 1976. It’s a year before JPJ raced a Renault RS01 at Silverstone during the British GP weekend, the return of the great Regie to Grand Prix racing.
I tripped over this shot during my Patrick Tambay obituary research, it made me chuckle as Jabouille was a very busy boy that year, at the epicentre of three Renault race programmes; the European F2 and World Sportscar Championships and F1 test program.
The JPJ (up) Jean Guichet, Alpine A220 3-litre V8 at Le Mans in 1968, DNF electrics in the 16th hour. Rodriguez/Biancho won aboard a JW Ford GT40, 3-litre class by the 2.2-litre Rico Steinemann/Dieter Spoerry Porsche 907 (Twitter)Happy chappy. JPJ after a win in the AGACI Cup, Montlhery April 28, 1968. Matra MS5 Ford, in front of Depailler’s works Alpine A330 Renault and Bernard Baur Brabham BT21B Ford
By then he was already a driver with vast experience, having started racing in the Coupe Renault 8 Gordini in 1966, then progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 2. He placed second in the French F3 championship, behind Francois Cevert in 1968, and Patrick Depailler in 1971, racing Matra MS5 Ford and Alpine A360 Renault respectively.
In 1968 JPJ made both his Le Mans and F2 debuts, and from 1970 mixed F2 racing and sportscar competition for a best of third at Le Mans aboard Matra MS670Bs in 1973-74. Despite an education in the humanities he developed a gift for the engineering of racing cars and their development, a role he performed for Alpine throughout.
JPJ aboard the Matra MS670B he shared with Francois Migault at Le Mans in 1974. They were third in the race won by the sister MS670C of Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larousse (LAT)JPJ, Alpine A440 Renault-Gordini 2-litre V6, Magny Cours 1973. The poor performance of the cars in 1973 led to the winter developments which made the cars utterly dominant in 1974 (unattributed)Tyrrell 007 Ford during the 1975 French GP at Dijon. JPJ was Q21 and 12th in the race won by Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T. Scheckter was Q2 and ninth, Depailler Q13 and sixth in the other two 007s
After a couple of failed attempts to qualify for a Grand Prix he made the cut for Tyrrell in the 1975 French GP, qualifying 21st and finishing 12th in a Tyrrell 007 Ford. Importantly this gave him an appreciation of a competitive F1car, albeit a normally aspirated one, as he and his colleagues toiled to get the turbo-charged Renault-Gordini CHS V6 engine competitive in terms of power, throttle response and longevity…quite a challenge, despite the wealth of engineering nous the French giant possessed.
JPJ Elf 2J Renault-Gordini from Patrick Tambay, Martini Mk19 Renault-Gordini at Nogaro in 1976 – perhaps Jean-Pierre Jarier’s Opert Chvron B35 Hart behind (MotorSport)Renault-Gordini 2-litre CH1B V6 in the back of an Elf 2J at Thruxton in April 1976, both cars DNF. Maurizio Flammini won in a works March 762 BMW (MotorSport)
The jewel of a 2-litre, quad-cam, four valve, fuel injected V6 – the design of which was credited to a team led by Francois Castaing – was blooded in 2-litre sports-prototype competition. After a shaky start in 1973 the revised Renault Alpine A441 won all seven races of the 1974 2-litre Championship. The 300bhp CH1B engine was then handed to Jabouille and Tico Martini to mount a two team, four car, Elf supported attack on the 1976 European F2 Championship.
An Elf 2J spaceframe takes shape in Jabouille’s workshop, where folks? (G Gamand Collection)JPJ with the bi-winged Elf 2J, Rome GP 1976. Jabouille perhaps inspired by Frank Matich’s success in a similarly endowed Matich A50 Repco-Holden F5000 machine in 1972-73 (unattributed)
In 1975 JPJ and his collaborator, engineer and ex-motorcycle/F3/sportscar racer Jean-Claude Guenard had built a spaceframe Elf 2J BMW F2 car which won the Salzburgring round of the F2 championship. They built two, or perhaps three new machines that winter for a a torrid All French F2 Battle in 1976.
The Equipe Elf Switzerland Elf 2J (aka Jabouille 2J) team – sponsored by the Swiss Gruyere and Emmental Cheese Foundation – took first Renault-Gordini blood over the Ecurie Elf Martinis at Vallelunga in early May. JPJ won the GP di Roma from Patrick Tambay, while Michel Leclere was fourth in the other Elf 2J, and Rene Arnoux retired the other Martini Mk 19 with engine failure.
Spaceframes weren’t so common in 1976 – they are still about today of course – so Ron Tauranac must have had a chuckle at Porsche’s ongoing success and the Elf 2J triumphs in endurance racing and F2 that year (G Gamand Collection)JPJ, Michel Leclere and Giancarlo Martini, March 762 BMW at Vallelunga during the 1976 Rome GP weekend (MotorSport)
It was a timely win. JPJ and Patrick Depailler managed to run into one another from the front row of the Nurburgring 300K enduro aboard Renault Alpine A442 prototypes in front of Renault’s top-brass the month before. “Patrick was on pole, I was third but made a good start and took an immediate lead, imperative because it was raining and if you weren’t at the front it would be impossible to see anything,” JPJ recalled to Simon Taylor in a MotorSport interview.
Jabouille and Cevert had of course been scrapping with one another for years in France and the circuits of Europe. “I braked fairly late for a downhill left-hander, but Patrick tried to follow me and slid off hard into the barriers. We hadn’t touched, but I hit a drainage cover, got sideways and crashed. All the Renault managers were there and after about one kilometre both cars were out. They were absolutely livid, not so much with me, but suspended (the by then very well established Tyrrell GP driver) Patrick for the next three races. I think that was something of a first in the sport…”
Jabouille at Le Mans in 1976. He shared his Renault Alpine A442 with Patrick Tambay and Jose Dolhem, DNF with piston failure in the 11th hour. Race won by the Jacky Ickx/Gijs Van Lennep Porsche 936 (MotorSport)The unseen long, hard slog of racing, JPJ testing an A442 Renault Alpine at Paul Ricard in February 1975
That season Renault-Alpine finished a distant second to Porsche in the World Sportscar Championship, with 47 points to the Zuffenhausen outfits 100 achieved with the Porsche 936 turbo. Renault would of course eventually win at Le Mans in 1978 when Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud triumphed aboard a A442 . In 1976 JPJ’s best result was third place sharing his A442 with Jean-Pierre Jarier at Dijon.
At that stage – the first WSC win for Renault-Alpine was at Mugello when Gerard Larrousse and JPJ triumphed in 1975 – Renault’s primary competition goal was to win at Le Mans. But as they made the 1997cc, Garrett turbo-charged circa 490bhp semi-monocoque, Hewland TL-200 equipped sports-racer consistently competitive there was cross pollination to the 1.5-litre F1 engine development program in which JPJ was totally immersed.
There was no such reliability problems for the circa 300bhp @ 10500rpm CH1B F2 V6 variant mind you. JPJ and Rene Arnoux went at it hammer-and-tongs all of that 1976 season with Arnoux winning four rounds of the ’76 Euro F2 title, JPJ three, and Leclere one. In the wash-up JPJ scraped home by a point, 53 to 52. There was karma in this, Jabouille had had a long F2 apprenticeship and of course designed and built his weapon of war, both would enter Grand Prix competition soon enough.
(unattributed)(unattributed)
Engineer Bernard Dudot was instrumental in the development of the team which developed the turbo-charged engine. He outlined to Doug Nye that the 1976 F1 project team comprised four people, engineer, Jean-Pierre Boudy and two or three mechanics with Dudot splitting some of his time to it among his endurance commitments.
By then Castaing was General Manger of Renault Sport – formed in 1976 – and it was he who designed the F1 Alpine A500 laboratoire monoplace test car (photos above), Dudot having told Renault Chief Executive that it was possible to make a competitive F1 engine out of the cast iron block V6.
Initially Jabouille tested 2.1-litre CHS type Le Mans, and EF1 1.5-litre engines back-to-back in A442 sportscars at Paul Ricard. Initially Jabouille found the 1.5-litre undriveable, “The compression ratio was so low that we couldn’t get sufficient fuel pressure to start the engine,” JPJ recalled.
“Every morning one of the mechanics would get up before the others and put a camp-stove beneath the engine to warm it up, at the time it was the only way we could get it started. It seemed a long road from there to an engine capable of winning GPs…”
The huge problem of throttle response was addressed, in part by running a little less boost, “while Mahle and Goetze, their piston, liner and ring suppliers learned with them, as did Garrett, whose production turbochargers were made to inadequate tolerances for F1. Compressor wheels, turbines and axle wheels all failed, at this time they were running 130000rpm on plain bearings.” Doug Nye wrote.
These brief paragraphs do nothing more than skim the surface of the engineering and manufacturing challenges presented and overcome. A more thorough exploration of the evolution of the V6 from victorious 2-litre endurance and F2 engine to fire-breathing 1.5-turbo is for another time.
Three photographs during the 1977 British GP weekend at Silverstone. JPJ, Renault RS01 Q21 and DNF lap 17 with turbo failure. Race won by James Hunt’s McLaren M26 Ford from Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T2 and Gunnar Nilsson, Lotus 78 Ford (MotorSport)(Twitter)Renault Gordini EF1 1492cc single Garrett-turbocharged 510bhp @ 11000rpm engine (MotorSport)
JPJ made the Renault RS01’s race debut at Silverstone in 1977, where the Yellow Teapot retired from the race but not before making a big impression with what would become the new engine paradigm.
At the 1978 US GP Jabouille bagged the first points for Renault and turbo-engines. Critically, by this stage, Renault had their Le Mans Cup in the boardroom display case so all of Renault Sport’s resources were applied to F1. Jabouille took pole in South Africa in 1979 and that first fabulous home win at Dijon the same year.
Credits…
Motorsport, Gerard Gamand Collection, ‘History of The Grand Prix Car’ Doug Nye, Getty Images, LAT Photographic
Tailpiece…
(MotorSport)
JPJ on the way to that win at Dijon on July 1, 1979 aboard his Renault RE10. The first championship Grand Prix victory for a forced-induction engine since Juan Manuel Fangio’s Spanish GP win at Pedralbes on an Alfa Romeo 159 on October 28,1951.
During the final laps most eyes were focussed on the titanic wheel to wheel battle 15-seconds back between two-magnificent-maddies, Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux, Ferrari 312T4 and Renault RE10, a nail-biter resolved in the French-Canadian’s favour.
PT aboard the Ligier JS17 Matra at Dijon in 1981. Q16 and DNF wheel bearing in his first race for the team. Alain Prost won in a Renault RE30
Patrick Tambay, grand prix winner and Can-Am champion died on December 4, 2022 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease, aged 73.
Every girl’s idea of a racing driver, the dashing Frenchman developed his need-for-speed in the European Alps where he was a schoolboy ski champion, but cars then grabbed his attention.
Total, Motul and Elf invested vast petro-francs to develop French drivers from the 1960s. The first wave who made it to F1 included Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Henri Pescarolo, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Francois Cevert. Tambay was one of the mid 1970s talent-wave along with Jacques Laffitte, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Rene Arnoux, Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jarier.
PT at Villars, Rossignol ski type and year unknown! (unattributed)Aboard an Alpine A366 Formula Renault at Paul Ricard during1972 (Winfield School)Pau GP 1976, Martini Mk19 Renault V6. DNF accident, Rene Arnoux won in the sister car. Jabouille won the title in a Jabouille 2J Renault (MotorSport)
Tambay won the Winfield Racing School’s Volant Elf competition in 1971. After two years in Formula Renault he graduated to F2, finishing second in the European Championship to Jacques Laffitte’s Martini Mk14 BMW aboard a works March 752 BMW in 1975. He was third in 1976 aboard a Martini Mk19 Renault, behind fellow Equipe Elf pilots, Jabouille and Arnoux.
Patrick was picked up by Carl Haas to replace the injured Brian Redman in his works central-seat Lola T333 CS Chev Can-Am team in 1977. Tambay shone in the 525bhp Chev V8 missiles, taking the championship with six wins, and befriending Gilles Villeneuve who raced an unwieldy Wolf WD1 Chev for much of that season.
Press call for the Alpine A442 Renault at Paul Ricard in April 1977. Obscured J-P Jabouille, PT, Marie-Claude Beaumont, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Derek Bell. None of the cars finished Le Mans that year, with much more to come!Feel the earth move. Haas Lola T333CS Chev at Mosport in August ’77. PT won the Can-Am race from George Follmer and Peter Gethin, Lola T332C and T333CS respectively (unattributed)Ahead of Alan Jones during the 1978 French GP at Paul Ricard. McLaren M26 Ford and Williams FW06 Ford. Ninth and fifth in the race won by Mario Andretti’s Lotus 79 Ford
Both impressed during the ’77 British GP weekend at Silverstone, Patrick aboard a Theodore Racing Ensign N177 Ford, and Gilles a works McLaren M23 Ford. That silly-season McLaren signed Tambay and Ferrari got Villeneuve, Patrick topped the Scuderia’s list but Teddy Mayer beat them to the punch.
Tambay then endured two shocking years with McLaren, who were on one of their downers, then bounced back into F1 in 1981 with Theodore Racing, after winning another Can-Am title for Haas, racing a Lola T530 Chev in 1980.
In mid-1981 fortune again favoured Tambay when he replaced the injured Jabouille at Ligier, but he had shocking reliability, mechanical failures in every race. His GP career seemed on the rocks until Villeneuve’s fatal 1982 Zolder accident, he replaced his friend at Ferrari.
Tambay relished the competitive car, taking a tough win at Hockenheim the day after Pironi’s career-ending Ferrari crash. Third at Brands Hatch and second at Monza helped the team win the Constructors Championship with the Ferrari 126C2.
In the best of company. Ronnie Peterson, PT, Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Scheckter, Paul Ricard 1978PT, Ferrari 126C3, Italian GP 1983. Fourth, race won by Nelson Piquet’s Brabham BT52B BMW, Arnoux was second in the other Ferrari It looked the goods at least. PT aboard the Lola THL2 Ford at Spa during the 1986 Belgian GP weekend. DNF after first lap prang, Jones was 11th and out of fuel. Mansell’s Williams FW11 Honda won
Patrick won again at San Marino in 1983, finishing a career best of fourth in the driver’s title. Ferrari won the ‘constructors again, but teammate Rene Arnoux’ three wins eclipsed him.
Two years with Renault followed in 1984-85, he was well placed occasionally, but a second and a couple of third placings was his best. Tambay was reunited with Teddy Mayer and Carl Haas at Beatrice Racing in 1986, his final F1 season. Good as the Lola chassis was, its Hart, and later Ford Cosworth GBA V6 lacked grunt and reliability, Patrick and Alan Jones had a grim season.
After a year aboard a Jaguar XJR-9 V12 in 1989 and two thirds in the Paris-Dakar, an event he loved, Patrick returned to F1 as a TV commentator and involvement in Cannes politics.
Two GP wins isn’t reflective of Patrick Tambay’s place in the pantheon of drivers, but his grit, valour and composure in the face of Parkinson’s reminded pit pundits just what an outstanding man he was.
PT’s Lada ‘Poch’ Samara T3 Porsche 3.6 during the 1991 Paris-Dakar, sharing the car with Lemoyne. The pair were seventh, the event won by the Ari Vatanen/Berglund Citroen ZX
Credits…
MotorSport Images, Getty Images, Roger Hermsen, Winfield School Facebook page
Tailpiece…
Hans Stuck and Patrick during the GP Masters round at Silverstone in August 2006. Stuck was fourth and PT 11th in the race won by Eddie Cheever.
The cars, based on Reynard’s 2000 model 2KI Indycar, were built by Delta MotorSport. The engines were Ford XB derived 3.5-litre Nicholson-McLaren 80-degree, fuel injected V8s producing about 650bhp @ 10400rpm.
Jack Brabham put the cat amongst the Indy pigeons in 1961 together with John Cooper. Their Cooper T54 Climax FPF 2.7 blew the minds of the establishment. They were stunned by the speed of the itty-bitty, mid-engined roller-skate despite giving away 1.5-litres to the bulky Offy engined roadsters – which hung onto The Milk until 1965 of course.
Brabham returned in 1964 with Ron Tauranac’s BT11 derived, spaceframe BT12 powered this time by an injected 4.2-litre Offenhauser twin-cam, two-valve four. The pacey package also featured a robust Colotti Francis T37 transaxle.
BT12-1 in build at Motor Racing Developments, Weybridge, Surrey circa April 1964. Long-stroke, 4128cc, 420bhp @ 6600rpm Offy sits tall in the frame, Colotti-Francis GSD transaxle and inverted lower wishbone, single top link, two radius rods and coil spring/shocks, rear discs, knock on hubs and beefy driveshafts all clear (MotorSport)Spaceframe chassis, upper and lower wishbone/coil spring-shock and roll bar suspension. Note the bungee’d in place oil tank and top-of-chassis little fuel tank. Note too the main tanks offset to keep the bulk to the inside. About 59 gallons of fuel when full (MotorSport)Indy 1964 (MotorSport)
Jack didn’t qualify well with a multitude of problems, not least spring/shocks which were way too soft (as specified by car owner John Zinc), and time, pulled as he was by his GP commitments to straddle both sides of the Atlantic.
Famously wary at the start of that race – having been warned about how dangerous the Mickey Thompson built Thompson Ford was by Masten Gregory, who didn’t qualify his – Brabham picked up a small fracture in one of those ginormous aluminium fuel tanks in the horrific lap two accident caused by Dave MacDonald losing control of his Thompson Ford in the middle of the field. MacDonald, very much a man of the future, and the much-loved Eddie Sachs, Halibrand Ford, perished in the horrific conflagration. Brabham was out after 77 laps, the race was won by AJ Foyt’s Watson Offy from the similar front-engined roadsters of Rodger Ward and Lloyd Ruby.
Jim McElreath on the way to victory in the Trenton 500 during 1965, Brabham BT12 Offy. Note in the other Trenton shot below the symmetrical fuel tank setup compared with Jack’s at Indy the year before (DJ Teece)
When Jack returned to Europe, the John Zinc owned car was raced with plenty of speed by Jim McElreath, and a few decent hits too. The final shunt at Indy was a biggie, it wasn’t worth repairing the mild steel tube frame, in part because it would not have been legal under USAC’s 1965 rules.
Clint Brawner therefore built two chrome-moly steel tube copies of the BT12 late in 1964, one for Zinc/McElreath, and one for his – Al Dean sponsored – outfit to be driven by a talented young rookie named Mario Andretti.
A very young and happy Mario Andretti at Indianapolis in 1965 aboard the Brabham BT12 Ford aka Hawk 1 65 Ford. Apart from the Ford V8 installation note the changes to the bodywork which were thought later to provide some ground effect. This car was a rocket in 1965-66 despite the presence of plenty of Lotus 34 and 38 machines (unattributed)The Dean Van Lines/Brawner outfit called their Brabham BT12 Ford a Brabham for a while, as proved above. They then named it a Hawk, and later a Brawner Hawk, not unreasonable given the evolution of the body and modifications to fit the Ford Indy V8Andretti during practice at Indy in 1966. Still aboard his favourite BT12/ Hawk 1 65 Ford. He raced with #1, popped the car on pole, choosing to race it rather than the Lotus 38 he also had at his disposal (Dave Friedman/MotorSport)
Andretti loved the ‘Hawk Ford’ (chassis Hawk 1 65), winning the USAC Championship in it in 1965-66. In ‘65, McElreath was one of his closest competitors in the Zinc Brabham Offy, finishing third. The following year he went one better and placed second to the future 1978 F1 World Champ, this time Ford Indy V8 powered.
Another two BT12 copies were built for Jim Hayhoe’s outfit, with drawings provided, perhaps, via Jack Brabham in 1968.
One of these Offy powered BT12s, with suitably updated body by Jud Phillips, finished fifth in the 1971 Indy 500 as the catchily named Sugaripe Prune Spl with Billy Vukovich at the wheel. In a strong year for the seven year old design, and three year old chassis, Vukovich was third in the USAC points table. His haul included two third placings at Milwaukee and Phoenix, and a staggering second to Mark Donohue’s state-of-the-art Penske McLaren M16A Offy at Michigan.
Bill Vukovich, Brabham BT12 Offy t/c at Indy in 1971, looking slightly different! to Jack’s BT12 Offy seven years before. I dare say the suspension geometry copped a tickle to accommodate the advance of tyre technology over that period (IMS)(unattributed)Rick Muther in the ex-Andretti BT12/Hawk 1 65 chassis, now fitted with an Offy turbo at Indy in 1970. Q15 and eighth, race won by Al Unser, Colt 70 FordShit shot of a Fugly Cup contender. Rick Muther in the ex-Andretti Hawk 1 65 Offy t/c before the 1971 Indy 500 (unattributed)Muther, hanging onto his helmet while travelling sideways along Indy’s front chute at well over 120mph – no he didn’t go over. Chassis a tad second hand after this lot, Indy 1971
Equally amazing was that Andretti’s old nail – the Hawk 1 65 – that he raced so successfully in 1965-66, by then owned by Jack Adams, also started the 1970 and that ’71 500 with Rick Muther the driver.
The Offy powered, Arkansas Aviation entered car was involved in a spectacular accident with David Hobbs’ Penske Lola after completing 85 laps of the race won by Al Unser’s Colt 71 Ford. Hobbs engine blew, then Muther, immediately behind him swerved in avoidance, pegged the inside wall, then veered right into Hobbs’ path and the outside wall, taking both of them out in a lucky escape.
Who said that spaceframes were old hat by the end of 1962!?
Spaceframe BT12 out front of MRD. Note the Halibrand wheels (MotorSport)
Credits…
The MotorSport Images shots at MRD were taken by David Phipps, DJ Teece, Indy Motor Speedway, Bill Daniels Collectibles
As always, thanks to Allen Brown’s mind-blowing OldRacingCars.com – racing car history results and database website. I simply cannot get the level of historic accuracy – facts – into some of these articles without his one-of-a-kind website. Click on this link to Allen’s main Indy page Indy 500 and USAC racing 1971-1978 « OldRacingCars.com then you can scroll for yourself through far more details about the BT12 cars; Brabham, Hawk and Hayhoe
Tailpiece…
Brabham ready to boogie aboard the Zinc Trackburner Special on raceday at Indianapolis in 1964.
Such an influential car the BT12, an unsung, or at least an under-recognised Brabham in some ways.
The Herbie Muller/Claude Haldi/Nick McGranger Porsche 935 during practice at Le Mans in June 1978…
It’s such a wonderful image evocative of a fun weekend in rural France. They failed to finish with a broken gearbox casing after 140 laps, during the 14th hour.
The Group 5 class was won by the Kremer Porsche 935 crewed by Jim Busby/Chris Cord/Rick Knoop, while the outright winner was the Alpine Renault A442B of Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. The 2-litre turbo-charged V6 prototype prevailed over the 2.1-litre flat-six turbo-charged Porsche 936/78 of Bob Wollek, Jurgen Barth and Jacky Ickx by five laps in an historic win for the French team.
primotipo... 