The John Whitmore/Frank Gardner Ford GT40 Mk2 chases the GT40 crewed by Peter Sutcliffe/Brian Redman through the leafy Ardennes Forest on May 22, 1966.
Its not the leaves which trouble me, but rather the more substantial trees to which they are attached. The saplings (sic!) to the left are not too much of a worry but their big brothers to the right – like the big hombre at the corners exit point – look a tad more unyielding.
Still, the general idea is to stay on the tarmac, not go off-roading. The group of spectators have wisely chosen to locate themselves on the far side of the trees all the same. They must be Belgians, not young Italians.
(MotorSport)(AMR)
Alan Mann (with tie) and GT40P/1012 before the off, and under-the-Armco Eau Rouge shot below.
(AMR)
Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti won the ’66 Spa 1000 kms in four hours 43.24 seconds from the Whitmore/Gardner Alan Mann Ford, then the Essex Wire GT40 driven by Peter Revson and Skip Scott with Peter Sutcliffe’s car fourth.
The race was held on the same weekend as the Monaco Grand Prix, so GP pilots were rather thin on the ground at Spa. Ford and Ferrari sent one works car each; the Parkes/Scarfiotti P3 was comfortably on pole from Whitmore/Gardner.
Parkes jumped away at the start, 4-litres of V12 led the Revson and Whitmore V8s then Lucien Bianchi, in Ecurie Francorchamps’ Ferrari 365P2. After 12 laps Parkes had lapped the field up to fifth place, by the mid-point it was Parkes/Scarfiotti, Whitmore/Gardner and Revson/Scott, the final race order.
The winning Parkes/Scarfiotti Ferrari P3 (MotorSport)(AMR)
Down the field there was plenty of scrapping among the Porsche 906s who chased the very quick Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari Dino 206S crewed by Richard Attwood and Jean Guichet. The Dino finished sixth outright ahead of two 3.3-litre 250LM Ferraris and behind the fifth placed Chris Amon/Innes Ireland Ford GT40.
The Gijs and David Van Lennep Racing Team Holland Porsche 906 follows the similar works car of Hans Hermann and Dieter Glemser, 15th and DNF (MotorSport)
Etcetera…
Peter Sutcliffe’s GT40, chassis P/1009, was the same machine he raced with Frank Matich to second place in the 1966 Surfers Paradise 12-Hour, it was the last time he raced it before sale to Ed Nelson.
Credits…
MotorSport, AMR-Alan Mann Racing
Tailpiece…
(AMR)
Majestic is the word which springs to mind. The #48 Jaguar E-Type following ‘our GT40’ is crewed by Mike Merrick and John Harper, it finished 16th.
Jackie Stewart’s Carl Haas/works Lola T260 Chev all cocked up ahead of Denny Hulme’s McLaren M8F Chev at Laguna Seca on October 17, 1971…
Peter Revson won that day in the other works M8F from Stewart and Hulme, it was the second last Can-Am Cup round, the title won by Revson from Hulme and Stewart with five, three and two wins respectively.
I’ve given the Lola and the ’71 series a really good go here in a long epic; Jackie Stewart’s 1971 Can-Am Lola T260 Chev… | primotipo… but the discovery of some great MotorSport testing shots of the car at Silverstone in May and June that year were too good to ignore.
Lola’s 1971 challenger was developed off the back of its quick 1970 T220/T222 raced with great speed by Revvie. They upped the ante the following year with another new car, run by Haas, well funded by the L&M tobacco company and driven by no less an ace than John Young Stewart.
As you will see from the article above, the only things the Lola program lacked – both critical mind you – was sufficient testing and development prior to the championship’s commencement in mid June, and a tad more luck!
(MotorSport)(MotorSport)
Frank Gardner shaking T260 HU1 down at Silverstone in May, doesn’t it look small in comparison to other Can-Am contenders of the day?
Gardner was Lola’s F5000 and development driver/engineer. He had a busy year extracting a little more pace from the (F5000) T192, and then, together with Bob Marston developed the smash-hit Lola T300 F5000 machine. A mountain of profits flowed into Eric Broadley’s coffers over the ensuing decade as Lola shifted dozens of T300/T330/T332/T333 machines.
Eric Broadley, Bob Marston? and who else folks, Silverstone test June 1971 (MotorSport)
Marston designed the T260 to a brief developed by Broadley. While the car had the same wheelbase as the dominant M8F, the car was narrower in both its front and rear track, and notably shorter in overall length. The car was very twitchy and difficult to drive at the limit, JYS later listed it as his least favourite racing car, by a nose from the 1966/7 BRM P83 H16. The T260 also had an understeer problem the team chased all year with all manner of different aero-treatments, most notably the cow-catcher additional front wing fitted in the final rounds.
(MotorSport)
The inboard mounted coil spring/Bilstein shock units were designed to allow huge, inboard disc brakes but Stewart vetoed that design approach given the failure of a front brake driveshaft fitted to a Lotus 72 Ford caused the death of his best friend, Jochen Rindt, at Monza in 1970.
Jackie later used inboard discs to good effect on the 1973 World F1 Championship winning Tyrrell 005/006s designed by Derek Gardner, but for the moment they were verboten.
(MotorSport)
Two T260s were built, the car shown is chassis HU1, Stewart’s racer all season, while HU2 was an unused spare in 1971.
(MotorSport)
Stewart shelters from the rain at Silverstone in June 1971, I wonder if he managed any dry laps before the car was shipped to North America for the first race at Mosport over the June 13 weekend?
(MotorSport)
The George Folz built, Lucas injected, circa 700bhp 8.1-litre alumium block Chev comes in for a bit of attention at Watkins Glen in late July. Jackie retired with gearbox problems after starting from pole. Revson won from Hulme and Jo Siffert’s Porsche 917/10.
(via Bonhams unattributed)
Credits…
MotorSport, Getty Images, Bonhams
Tailpiece…
Another angle on that radical, extended cow-catcher front wing in an attempt to get better grip at the front. LA Times Grand Prix, Riverside, the final Can-Am round on October 10, 1971. Hulme won from Revson and Howden Ganley, BRM P167 Chev, JYS DNF engine failure.
Ford were in diabolical financial trouble almost from the day the Australian subsidiary commenced building the Falcon in Australia…
A late call was made by local management to build the US Falcon rather than the UK Mark 3 Zephyr. It was the right decision, but as a consequence, and blind optimism on the part of the blue-oval-boys, the Falcon was the first and only car built in Australia which was not designed for our rather harsh range of conditions.
Shortly after the launch of the XK Falcon the queue of customers with their sexy new Falcons into service departments with front ball joint, suspension and gearbox dramas began. Warranty claims soared as demand for the cars tanked.
The Falcon soon became the Foulcan. Despite running production line changes, and the XL and XM updates introducing a raft of minor and major changes, private and fleet buyers stayed away in droves. Ford Australia was at risk of being chopped off at the knees by HQ in Dearborn.
Ford Canada’s US born marketing guru, Bill Bourke (later appointed CEO of Ford Australia) was sent to the Australian outpost to assist in ‘saving the company’. His plan, without any regard for the difficulties of the idea was a 70,000 mile endurance test to be completed over nine days of Ford’s You Yangs Proving Ground to demonstrate the toughness and longevity of the cars.
(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)
(FoMoCo)
It is hard to imagine a more unsuitable course for such an adventure, in full glare of the media despite its country location, and so it was that Ford’s CEO flagged off the five cars (and one spare which was regularly pressed into service) which achieved the feat despite a totally unsuitable track, totally unsuitable Dunlop SP41 tyres and totally terrible organisation…
I could rehash what others have published in recent times but when a Wheels article written by one of Australia’s greatest motoring journalists/authors in Bill Tuckey is out there why not just go with that, an article written in the day in the context of the time and the pickle Ford were in. The piece was originally published in the July 1965 issue, it is still arguably Australia’s best road car magazine.
I have exercised editorial and creative direction when it comes to the photographs however. I’ve used none of their shots as there is now a much better range of snaps whizzing around the internet inclusive of the opening shot which inspired my interest in the whole amazing exercise of corporate balls, and success despite some pretty skinny organisation other than in the build/preparation of the cars themselves by Harry Firth’s Emporium of Speed in Queens Avenue, Auburn…
‘1965 Ford XP: 70,000 Mile Marathon’
‘In which the equivalent of 140 Armstrong (Bathurst) 500s goes a very long way to demonstrating that there’s a Falcon in Ford’s future.’
‘Ford took a giant step forward in its Australian future when five battered and travel-stained Falcons smashed through a banner at 1.42 am on a rocky Victorian hillside after covering 70,000 miles in nine days. It may be too soon in history to judge the effect of this considerable feat, but it is plain that it had the effect of making just about everybody in the country conscious of Falcons, if only for nine days. Poorly organised and managed as it was, the endurance run came to mean a lot more than normal “record bids” simply because the company stood up beforehand and announced its intention of doing it. This one simply could not be swept under a rug.’
‘The industry and motor sport authorities saw Ford’s announced intention as a little amusing, particularly its intention of averaging 72 mph on a circuit which makes Lakeside look like a roller skating rink. But the equivalent of 140 Armstrong 500s, or nearly four times around the world, or 60 return trips from Melbourne to Sydney later, they had to eat their words. The cars had more endurance than the drivers; extra pilots were hauled unsuspecting from their warm beds at midnight to be rocketed out to the bleak and chill proving ground in the You Yangs to sit over a fire and wonder how they had come to be there, anyway.’
‘The bid, as the “Financial Review” commented acidly, succeeded in spite of the organisation, not because of it. The selection of drivers was very much on the old buddy system, and did not represent the best available in the country, oil company jealousies notwithstanding. One driver had never raced before, let alone held a CAMS Licence and there were some strange faces in the cars that the old motor sport hands could not recognise. Then both Ford and Dunlop grossly underestimated the tyre wear factor for the new SP41, the Ford mechanics initially had too few tools, the tyres were originally fitted without tubes, spectator control was non-existent, and there were not enough crash and fire units around the circuit.’
‘But despite this, and despite the average being lowered in the first few days to ease the rate of tyre wear, the cars came through – with enormous prestige. The 2.25 mile circuit is dreadfully difficult, mainly because it was built to incorporate high vertical and side loadings on wheels and suspensions. New drivers going out for the first time came back in assorted stages of twitching, but after spending time learning it found that one could save half a second here and there by thinking ahead. Nevertheless, they still had to point the cars every foot of the way; for instance, if one came over the top of ·the 4 in 1 hill and started the downhill approach to the esses a foot or so off line, then you ended up 20 ft or so offline at the bottom amid low shrubs and immovable objects called boulders.’
‘The worst time of the day was just before dawn, when fog settled into the dips, windscreens frosted over, and heavy dew made corners quite greasy. The 32 drivers generally worked on the basis of two hours on and four off, but many “iron men”, like Tom Quill, insisted on doing double duty. There was a 24-hour meals service, and the drivers slept either in the 12 caravans available or went 15 miles back to hotels and motels in Geelong (Victoria). The mechanics worked 12-hour shifts and sometimes ate their meals sitting on straw bales lining the pit road. The drivers got quite intense about the car they were crewing, regarding it as “their” car and threatening each crew member with instant disgrace if he bent it. Car 3, the four-door sedan that eventually covered the most miles and was the only one not involved in a shunt, was team senior ”Wild Bill” McLachlan’s pride and joy. Somebody stuffed the red No 1 two-door hardtop, Harry Firth’s baby, into a boulder, and that caused strained relations. Victorian comingman Brian (“Brique”) Reed had a tyre slit on him and bounced into a gully, while various people rolled various cars.’
(FoMoCo)
‘Each time this happened the reserve car – unprepared for the event – was called in and the mechanics jumped in to repair the badly damaged bodies with whatever tools were handy. And they did a remarkable job. Red No 1 set four new records as soon as it got back on the track after being rolled. And the only serious mechanical failures were those caused by the cars going off the road.’
‘But the drivers, by Wednesday, the fifth day, were starting to enjoy the wearying project immensely. Jon Leighton, head of the Birchwood School of Motor Racing, spent his time on the track in experimenting with various lines and techniques, discovering the circuit all over again every few laps. Bruce McPhee concentrated on being as neat and tidy as possible, yet still managed to go extraordinarily quickly. The drivers were signalled every few laps with the lap time which pit managers Les Powell and Max Ward wanted them to maintain, and this was generally around 1:51 or 1:52. Some of the top men were allowed to lap around 1:48 and 1:49.’
‘One or two ran out of fuel on the circuit, but orders were that when the fuel gauge needle covered the “E” sign the driver was to do five more laps, giving the pits progressively five, four, three, two and one toots on his horn as he came past each time. Changing drivers, wheels, fuelling, cleaning windscreens and checking oil levels took around the two minutes, although the pit stops speeded up toward the end. They were refuelling the cars from drums for two days before some bright lad discovered that there were two 1000-gallon drums of Mobil not 100 ft away.’
‘Dunlop’s radial-ply SP41 tyres came in for as much – if not more – torture as the quintet of Ford Falcons. Estimates of wear were way off the mark and on the first day of the nine-day event about 100 covers were used. There was a twofold cause for this, first the surface of the track was highly abrasive, second, the lap speed of well above 70 mph was chewing out tyres quicker than expected.’
‘The nature of the track layout and the ‘green’ top dressing shredded tyres to such an extent that drivers were signalled to ease up. When this was done tyre life was appreciably greater, although 70-plus mph lapping was still being put in. The Dunlops were worked hard all the time, and on occasions grossly overworked. But throughout all the tyre incidents, not once did a cover part company with the rim, even when one driver returned at 60 mph to the pits with its deflated cover on fire. On the third day of the run, at the drivers’ request, tubes were fitted to the SP41s. As the twisting 21-mile circuit became bedded-in, the tyre wear factor improved and a set lasted roughly six hours. By the second last night only one of the five cars needed a tyre change. And this was to the front offside which had suffered punishment for hours.’
‘It also must be pointed out that the Falcons were being driven at racing speeds on tyres never designed for track work. After the run ended layers of shredded rubber could be found on most corners. This had been chewed off by the scrubbing motion of the wheels under 90 mph cornering. An inspection of the track afterwards showed that the bitumen topping had been worn away ‘by the pounding of the cars leaving a hard, quartz surface. About 600 tyres were used in the event. The tyre bill was roughly £6000.’
(unattributed)
(FoMoCo)
Etcetera…
(unattributed)
The driver roll call includes Bob Jane, Allan Moffat, Ern Abbott, Fred Sutherland, Alan Caelli, Barry Arentz, Barry Seton, Harry Firth, Jon Leighton, Bruce Corstorphan, Tom Quill, John Raeburn, bill Mc Lachlan, Brique Reed, Gil Davis, Kevin Bartlett, Bruce McPhee, Geoff Russell and Max Stahl – and more. Do let me know others in order to complete this list.
Credits…
Wheels magazine, practicalmotoring.com.au, Ford Australia
Tailpiece…
The Australian Wheels magazine ‘Car of The Year’ was and still is a highly prestigious award and no doubt was mightily appreciated by the boys in Broady and Norlane when the gong was announced.
The cockpits of fifties and sixties sportscars are about as good as it gets, the D-Type Jaguar is hard to toss in looks, feel and functionality.
Its XKD520 by the way. Bib Stillwell, Frank Gardner and David Finch were it’s owners in an illustrious Australian race history from early 1956 to 1961.
(G Molloy)
The prototype Jaguar D-Type, chassis XKC401, at Browns Lane in May 1954 before heading off for the Le Mans test weekend. There, in Tony Rolt’s hands, it broke the lap record by five seconds.
Credits…
Fisken, Sotheby’s, G Molloy in Australian Motor Sports
Jules Goux and Emil Begin aboard their Peugeot at Indy, 1913 (IMS)
One of my recent obsessions is Ballot cars. These short fanatical phases lead one into all sorts of tangents, the most recent involves Jules Goux, a works Ballot driver, and his victory at Indianapolis in 1913 aboard an epochal twin-cam, four-valve, dry-sump Peugeot L76.
His 6 hour 35.05 minute race was meritorious as a drive of restraint, the Peugeot’s tyres were not up to the particular challenges of Indy’s brick surface. With alternatives which fitted the French car’s Rudge-Whitworth wire wheels unavailable, local driver Johnny Aitken suggested running at a pace to suit the equipment may still be quick enough to win.
(Jules Goux)
And so it was, Goux won with his mechanic Emil Begin by 13 minutes from Spencer Wishart’s Mercer 450, total time 6 hours 35.5 seconds. Ralph de Palma was third in another Mercer. The French duo won the Memorial Day classic in fine style, leading 138 of the 200 laps, with six pit stops at which the crew fortified themselves with swigs of champagne! See this Nostalgia Forum thread for discussion of that point; Jules Goux Indianapolis 500 1913 – The Nostalgia Forum – The Autosport Forums
The other Peugeot driven by Paolo Zuccarelli was out with bearing failure after 18 laps.
Goux quaffs some bubbles before the next stint (IMS)
Georges Boillot’s success in the ground breaking Peugeot in the June 1912 Grand Prix de l’ACF (French Grand Prix), and Peugeot’s May 1913 Indy 500 win made the path of future racing cars clear; smaller, lighter machines powered by smaller, lighter, more efficient, higher revving engines than the the Edwardian behemoths than had gone before.
Bob Atkin and the SV Ferrari 250LM in 1968, love those works Ferrari overalls (B Atkin)
Australian enthusiasts of a certain age will recall Bob Atkin as David McKay’s partner in Scuderia Veloce, the Sydney based race team and prestige car dealership established by McKay as he evolved from racing driver to entrant/entrepreneur/motor trader, in addition to racing/automotive journalism off to the side.
SVs soon became the team to watch, and Atkin had a front row seat. He took his camera with him to race meetings recording the activities of the team, and other competitors in living colour.
In recent times, his son, Greg Atkin has been uploading his dad’s photographs onto Bob Williamson’s Old Australian Motor Racing Photographs Facebook page. I’ll periodically upload ‘Bob Atkin Collection’ pieces rather than lose these amazing colour time capsules in the bowels of FB, many thanks to Greg for sharing them.
(B Atkin)
This 1968 photograph at Warwick Farm says everything about the fizz SVs created amongst Australian enthusiasts.
The line up is the Ferrari 250LM bought new by McKay first raced for him by Spencer Martin during some of the 1965 Australian Tasman Cup rounds, the ex-Jack Brabham ’67 Tasman mount – Brabham BT23A Repco, and ex-works Ferrari 350 Can Am machine raced throughout 1967 as a P4 enduro coupe before being converted – along with another of its siblings – for Can-Am use in the latter months of 1967 driven by Chris Amon and Jonathon Williams.
Bob was obviously a Leo Geoghegan fan, the earliest of his shots is of Leo doing a lap of honour in an official’s Austin Healey at Mount Druitt, Sydney, perhaps on the day be beat Frank Gardner’s Jaguar C-Type in a handicap race aboard his very quick Holden 48-215, the car is shown below in the Mount Panorama paddock in 1958.
(R Reid)(B Atkin)
Greg Cusack (at far left above) a successful car dealer himself was one of SV’s longest supported drivers.
These two fabulous shots were taken at Mallala circa 1964. It is the delivery session of Greg’s brand new Elfin Mallala Ford twin-cam by Garrie Cooper (in the natty red sox) and the Elfin boys into the care of the Cusacks. That Rice Trailer will shortly be off on the trip home to Canberra.
By the time I raced at Mallala that pit-counter was long gone, so too the aircraft hangar to the right in the shot below.
(B Atkin)
Credits…
Greg Atkin for sharing the Bob Atkin’s photographs, Ron Reid Collection, Alan Edward Giltrap
Tailpiece…
(A Giltrap)
Bob Atkin and David McKay at Warwick Farm, probably not long after the Ferrari 350 Can Am arrived in late 1967. To comply with Australian rules, the car was fitted with headlights – such P4 fitments not required under Group 7/Can-Am rules – and a spare wheel, which SV fitted to the rear of the car aft of the transaxle. It ain’t there when this shot was taken.
“That D-Series Ford truck could take two cars, the Brabham on top and P4 (350 Can Am) underneath, the truck came from Greg Cusack’s Ford dealership in Canberra,” wrote Dominic David.
I first became aware of Peter Monteverdi and his cars while reading Automobile Year 19. His self-styled and designed, Fissore built, mid-engined Monteverdi Hai 450SS was undoubtedly one of the horn-cars – powered as it was by a Chrysler 6.9-litre/426cid Hemi competition race engine – of 1971, capable of 175mph in great comfort.
The shot above is of Peter racing a Lotus 18 Ford FJ in the National Iceslalom, at Arosa alongside the Obersee, Switzerland in December 1961; third, DNF transmission (go figure).
Of Italian parentage (June 7, 1934-July 4, 1998), Monteverdi was born at Binningen in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft. He joined his father’s small garage and truck business as a teenager, building his first Monteverdi Special, a cycle-winged sports-roadster based on a crashed 1939 Fiat 1100 in 1951 at 17.
Monteverdi Hai 450SS. Heavy box section tubular frame, wishbone front and De Dion rear suspension, Koni shocks, ZF steering, 4-wheel ATE discs. Chrysler engine as per text, ZF 5-speed transaxle, weight 2838lbs unladen. Did not get into series production sadly, several were built (Automobile Year 19)Peter Monteverdi, date unknown (curbsideclassic.com)
Peter took over the garage in 1954 upon the death of his father. He worked hard to build a reputation as a tuning establishment and along the way acquired concessions for Ferrari, Lancia, Rolls Royce and Jensen. Much later, he relinquished these to focus on BMW.
Piero Monteverdi’s capabilities as a driver helped build the reputation of Monteverdi Binningen Motors – MBM.
Seeing the fun and commercial opportunities in nascent Formula Junior, Monteverdi built DKW and Ford engined MBMs from larger premises alongside the original garage in Binningen-Basel.
Monteverdi in the Solitude paddock, raid of the Porsche parts-bin clear. Pretty car albeit the packaging challenges of the Type 547 four-cylinder 1498cc boxer four and cooling fan apparent (MotorSport)Monteverdi’s MBM Porsche leads the similarly powered Carel de Beaufort Porsche 718, both DNF, Solitude July 23, 1961 (MotorSport)
Realising that it wouldn’t be too difficult to build a Grand Prix car based on his FJ design, he built a bigger, stronger spaceframe chassis fitted with a 1.5-litre Porsche RSK four-cylinder engine and gearbox.
The attractive looking car qualified last on the grid of the 1961 Solitude Grand Prix held on the dauntingly fast, swoops and dives of the 11.4km Schloss Solitude road circuit outside Stuttgart.
Unfortunately, he had engine trouble in the race, so only lasted two laps, the race was won by Innes Ireland’s works Lotus 21 Climax. The car was written off at Hockenheim shortly afterwards, Monteverdi was badly hurt in the accident and retired from racing. To avoid temptation, he buried the remains of the MBM Porsche in the foundations of a new showroom on his original garage site!
1974-75 Monteverdi range (curbsideclassic.com)
He wasn’t done with fast cars however, building one offs including an Osca powered roadster and the Ford Kent powered MBM Tourismo. The far more serious Chrysler V8 engined, Frua styled machines commenced with the 375S shown at the 1967 Frankfurt Show.
Monteverdi did good business for a couple of decades producing modified, luxurious versions of sedans and 4WDs, and later still had an abortive return to F1 in 1990 with the acquisition, and rapid demise of Onyx F1.
The ever restless racer, designer, engineer and businessman died of cancer in his apartment above his Binningen workshop, aged 64 in 1998.
Etcetera…
Rolf Schild’s sweet looking MBM Type D Formula Junior, 18 of which were built, on the Mitholz-Kandersteg hillclimb, Switzerland in May 1962.
Credits…
Philip Hasenbohler, Automobile Year 19, MotorSport, curbsideclassic.com, Getty Images,
Tailpieces…
(MotorSport)
Oopsie. Peter reassuring himself that he isn’t going to hit any of the ever present Solitude trees. What a track this place would have been to compete upon! See here for a piece on Solitude in 1960. and the perils of it; Surtees in Solitude… | primotipo…
(MotorSport)
Hmm, perhaps the most polite way to express it is that the MBM’s best angle is three-quarter front.
Graham Hill talks to the lads about his brand-spankers Lotus 49B, chassis R8 in the Pukekohe pitlane during the 1969 NZ GP weekend…
Maybe he is talking about his car, or perhaps the blistering pace of Jochen Rindt, his new teammate.
While it’s a brand new chassis, the car is fitted with a ZF gearbox rather than the Hewland DG300 which he had been using in his definitive spec F1 49B in late 1968. Both Hill’s R8 and Rindt’s R9 were concoctions of the original 49 and of the subsequent 49B. Type 49 features included the front-mounted oil tank, use of a combined oil/water radiator, original front rocker arms mounted at 90 degrees to the tub rather than swept forward, the ZF gearbox and old style rear suspension mounted to ‘fir-tree’ brackets bolted to the DFV.
The main 49B feature adopted was the use of cutouts in the lower rear part of the tub to locate the lower rear radius arms. The cars used high-wings mounted atop the uprights in the same style first used on Jackie Oliver’s R2, and used the wing-feathering mechanism pioneered in Mexico at the end of 1968.
There was enormous excitement in Australasia prior to the 1968 Tasman when the quickest cars of the 1967 F1 season, Lotus 49s powered by the 2.5-litre short stroke DFW variant of the F1 3-litre Ford Cosworth DFV were raced by Jim Clark and Graham Hill; chassis’ R2 and R1 respectively.
Jim Clark won the Tasman Cup, his last championship, and the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown, his last GP win before his untimely death at Hockenheim on April 7, 1968.
While there was huge enthusiasm for Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, the absence of Clark tugged at the hearts of enthusiasts, Jim was such a popular visitor to our part of the world, his first tour was in 1962.
Rindt finally had a car with the speed and occasional reliability – he was hard on it mind you – to post the results he deserved. His first GP win came at Watkins Glen late in 1969, but he perished less than twelve months later at the wheel of a Lotus 72 during practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
Graham Hill did a sensational job in picking up Team Lotus lock-stock-and-barrel after Clark’s death. He filled the leadership void until Colin Chapman clicked back into gear after mourning Clark’s loss. Graham would have a tough season in 1969, Rindt’s pace was apparent from his first laps at Pukekohe and at Watkins Glen Hill he had the bad accident which hospitalised him for months.
Team Lotus built two new cars for the ’69 Tasman assault; 49Bs R8 – a new chassis – for Hill, and R9 – the prototype R1 rebuilt – for Rindt which were identical in specifications.
NZ GP Pukekohe 1969, the off. From left Amon with Bell right behind then Leo Geoghegan’s white Lotus 39 Repco, Hill’s Lotus a row back, then Jochen up front alongside Chris and Piers at right in the Williams Brabham BT24 Ford Gardner, Mildren ‘Yellow Submarine’ Alfa, Hill, Rindt in the Wigram dummy grid in 1969 (CAN)
Chris Amon mounted a very successful 1969 Tasman campaign using the learnings of the prior year. He had Bruce Wilson as lead mechanic again, and an additional car to be raced by Derek Bell with a strict rev limit given the small float of engines available between two cars. Logistics were taken care of by David McKay’s (Sydney) Scuderia Veloce outfit.
Chris opened his account with intent, he won the first two races at Pukekohe on January 4 and at Levin the week later. Jochen was second in the NZ GP whereas Graham had two DNFs, a front suspension ball-joint failed after completing 13 laps in the first race, and driveshaft failure at Levin, this time on lap 12 when running in third place from grid five.
Jochen came to grief at Levin, he spun on lap four whilst leading, and then repeated the mistake two laps later but in more costly fashion, rolling the car atop a safety embankment. Jochen was ok but R9 was rooted, too badly damaged to be repaired away from home base. 49B R10 was despatched to the colonies, much to Hill’s chagrin. It was the first of many Lotus accidents and component failures for the Austrian during the next twenty months, not that the cause of this shunt was the fault of the car.
The ferry trip to the South Island brought better fortune. Hill and R8 finished second in the Lady Wigram Trophy race on the Royal New Zealand Airforce Base outside Christchurch on January 18, but Jochen made good use of his new car from pole setting fastest lap and race time. Jochen was 34 seconds in front of Graham, with Chris Amon another four seconds behind Graham, then Piers Courage another six seconds back in Frank Williams’ Brabham BT24 Ford DFW.
The following weekend Graham was second again at Teretonga near Invercargill, the world’s most southerly racetrack, the winner this time was Courage. This time it was Jochen’s turn for driveshaft failure, interesting given the DFW gave circa 50bhp less than the DFV, with Chris Amon third and looking good for the title as the circus crossed the Tasman Sea for three Australian rounds.
Graham blasting through the Teretonga scrub country. Note the long exhausts of the 2.5 DFW, look how flimsy the wing supports look, and were- Chapman at his worst. Note – look hard – the Lotus aero-screen (LAT) Early laps at Levin. Piers Courage in a Lotus sandwich, Hill in front with Jochen aboard the ill-fated R9 in third (LAT) The off at Wigram. Courage, Brabham BT24 Ford and then Graham with Jochen on pole in Lotus 49Bs. Amon behind Jochen, the light coloured car behind Chris is Gardner’s Mildren Alfa V8 (T Marshall)
First stop was on February 2, 1969, at Lakeside, Brisbane, for the Australian Grand Prix.
Graham finished fourth in R8, while Jochen’s R10 had engine failure. Both cars had wing mount failures- Chapman’s In-God-We-Trust engineering of these things was cavalier for so long it is a joke. Only Jochen’s celebrated Come-To-Jesus (whilst I am on religious metaphors) letter after the collisions inflicted upon Rindt and Hill at Montjuic Parc in early 1969 gave Our Col pause to consider his desire to attend another driver funeral.
GLTL then headed south to Sydney for the Warwick Farm 100, basing themselves at the Brothers Geoghegan emporium of fine sportscars in Haberfield, a stones-throw from the Farm at Liverpool.
While practice was dry, Rindt massacred the lap record, then drove away from the field during the race in a mesmeric display of wet weather feel, bravado, pace and dominance winning at a reduced canter by 45 seconds from Derek Bell’s Dino and Frank Gardner’s Alec Mildren Mildren Alfa Romeo 2.5 V8.
Poor Graham’s R8 snap-crackle-‘n-popped its way around the technically demanding course with his ignition very much rain affected. Chris and Piers tangled early in the race which gave the Kiwi sufficient points to win the Tasman Cup.
Hill aboard R8 with Rindt in R10 in the Sandown pitlane, February 1969. Note the open bonnets, spoiler atop the nose of Graham’s (I Smith)
The final round of the Championship took place at Melbourne’s Sandown Park on February 16.
There Chris drove a wonderful race to win by seven seconds from Jochen with Jack Brabham third in the Brabham BT31 Repco 830 2.5 V8, in Jack’s one off 1969 Tasman race, with Gardner fourth, Bell fifth and then Graham sixth, three laps adrift of Amon.
Jochen’s R10 was airfreighted home to the UK, it was required in F1, whereas R8 returned by ship. In the Spanish Grand Prix both high-winged Lotus 49Bs of Rindt and Hill were very badly damaged in separate accidents triggered by rear wing strut failure over the same high-speed brow on Barcelona’s Montjuic Park circuit- as mentioned earlier. See article here; ‘Wings Clipped’: Lotus 49: Monaco Grand Prix 1969… | primotipo…
While Graham wasn’t hurt, Jochen was severely concussed and was unable to drive at on May 18. Team Lotus lacked a car to replace Rindt’s R9, the chassis of which was consigned to a rubbish skip at Hethel. As a consequence, R8 was rushed off the ship from Australia, fitted with a 3-litre DFV, 1969 roll-over hoop, and fire extinguisher system before being taken to Monte Carlo for substitute driver, Richard Attwood to race.
He had shone in a BRM P126 the year before, setting fastest lap and finishing a strong second behind Graham Hill’s winning Lotus 49B R5.
At Monaco driving R8 with minimal preparation after seven hard races in the Tasman Cup, Attwood finished a fine fourth and set fastest lap in the race again won by Hill aboard 49B R10. With Jo Siffert third in Rob Walker’s Lotus 49B (R7) three of these wonderful cars were in the top four, the only interloper was Piers Courage splendid second place aboard Frank Williams’ Brabham BT26 Ford.
Richard Attwood in h-winged R8 during Friday practice at Monaco in 1969- after the wing ban the car raced denuded of same (R Schlegelmilch) Attwood, Monaco, race day, fourth place- wonderful result having not parked his arse in the car before practice (unattributed)
Back at Hethel R8 was altered to latest 49B specifications and raced by Hill, nursing a sick neck to seventh in the 1969 British Grand Prix, at Silverstone on July 19.
Meanwhile, Colin Chapman’s four wheel drive Type 63, the proposed Type 49 replacement, struggled to find pace and the support of its drivers, as did the other 4WDs fielded by Matra, McLaren and Cosworth.
Given the choice, World Champion Hill, and Fastest Guy On The Planet Rindt, preferred the conventional rear-drive 49B. To prevent them having the choice Chapman decided to sell Team’s 49s, R8 went to Swedish journeyman owner/driver Joakim Bonnier.
He raced it in the German Grand Prix in August, DNF fuel leak. Jo crashed it after front suspension failure during practice for the non-championship Oulton Park Gold Cup on August 16. Out of love with the car, the damage was repaired at Hethel prior to sale to Dave Charlton for South African national F1 racing in 1970.
Jo Bonnier returning to terra firma, R8, Nurburgring 1969 German GP. (unattributed) Dave Charlton with R8, now in 49C specifications, during the 1971 Highfeld 100 (N Kelderman)
Charlton used R8 to win the first two of his six consecutive South African national Formula 1 Championship titles between 1970-75.
The car won nine rounds in 1970; the Highveld 100 at Kyalami, the Coronation 100 at Roy Hesketh, followed by the Natal Winter Trophy there, the Coupe Gouvernador Generale at Lourenco Marques, Rand Winter Trophy at Kyalami, False Bay 100 at Killarney, Rhodesian GP at Bulawayo, Rand Spring Trophy at Kyalami and the Goldfields 100 at Welkom.
In 1971 the Charlton/R8 combination won four events of six he contested before switching to a Lotus 72; the Highveld 100 at Kyalami, Coronation 100 at Hesketh, Bulawayo 100, and the South African Republic Festival race back at Kyalami.
R8 was then campaigned to the end of 1972 by South African drivers Piet de Klerk and Mayer Botha. Botha damaged the left side of the tub badly at Killarney in August. Sydney’s The Hon. John Dawson-Damer bought the damaged, dismantled car in late 1975, painstakingly restoring it with the assistance of Alan Standfield.
It was completed in 1982 and was a regular in Australian historic racing, driven by John, Colin Bond and John Smith, until DD’s sad death aboard his Lotus 63 Ford during the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2000. Adrian Newey now owns it.
Dave Charlton in his Scuderia Scribante Lotus 49C Ford during the 1970 South African GP at Kyalami. DNF 73 laps, classified 12th (unattributed)
Credits…
Terry Marshall, LAT, MotorSport, Rainer Schlegelmilch, Nico Kelderman, Ian Smith, oldracingcars.com, ‘Lotus 49: The Story of a Legend’ Michael Oliver
Tailpiece…
(unattributed)
Graham Hill’s R8 butt at Warwick Farm on February 18.
The Brit contemplates a soggy, humid day in the office to be made worse by a misfiring engine and Rindt’s masterful brio behind the wheel of the other Lotus.
The car has the same pissant wing supports as it had at Pukekohe seven weeks before, but note the Hewland DG300 transaxle rather than the ZF unit used at the Tasman’s outset, a fitment which contradicts the history books…
Ray Parsons keeps popping up in recent Lotus and Allan Moffat research.
He is just about to climb aboard a Lotus Cortina in the Marlboro paddock, Maryland in August 1966. Parsons shared this car with Moffat – with helmet on behind the car – to 13th place in the 12-Hour enduro.
The little-known Australian mechanic and driver seems to have shone brightly for a short period of time then disappeared from the scene.
Let’s treat this piece as incomplete research. I’m interested to hear from any of you who can flesh this story out into something more comprehensive.
Ray Parsons with Peter Arundell’s shoes, Arundell and Team Lotus Lotus 20 Ford FJ at Goodwood, Easter 1961Parsons and Jim Clark at right, discuss their prospects at Sebring in 1964 (unattributed)
Parsons first popped up as Peter Arundell’s mechanic. He had left the Australian Army after nine years not long before, then jumped on a ship for the Old Dart to visit his sister. He was soon bored playing Tommy Tourist and responded to an ad for a race mechanic at Arundell’s garage in 1961.
When Peter was picked up by Lotus, Parsons tagged along. Apart from Arundell’s race program, Ray was kept busy working as Project Engineer on the Lotus 23. The prototype was unused so he did a deal with Colin Chapman, buying it for £20. He did well in club racing with the Ford 1150cc pushrod powered car, including a win at Goodwood in the Peter Collins Trophy.
Later, he was tasked with preparation of the Team Lotus’ Lotus 28, the Lotus Cortina. This segued into management of ‘Team Lotus Racing with English Ford Line’ (Ford Britain’s racing of Lotus Cortinas in the US) and involved lots of travel between the UK and the US, sometimes two trips across the Atlantic in Boeing 707s a week, preparing cars for many different guest drivers from 1964.
Ray doubled up as relief driver in the longer US races co-driving first with Jim Clark in the ’64 Sebring 12-Hour, steering for two of the twelve hours they were 21st overall and second in class.
Clark/Parsons Lotus Cortina at Sebring in 1964 (Sports Car Digest)
Parsons was of course ‘the visionary’ who aided and abetted Allan Moffat’s entreaties to assist the team at Watkins Glen that year. Moffat’s persistence and efforts as an unpaid gofer was rewarded with paid work, and ultimately works-Ford drives in the US, and tandem racing of Moffat’s ex-works Lotus Cortina in Australia commencing with the first Sandown 6-Hour in late 1964. See here for a piece on Moffat’s US years; Moffat’s Lotus Cortina, Shelby, K-K and Trans-Am phases… | primotipo…
In 1965 Parsons had a very busy year commencing with the Tasman Cup, looking after Jim Clark’s Lotus 32B Climax 2.5 FPF. In a great tour, Clark won four of the seven rounds and the non-championship Lakeside 99, he was nine points clear of Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T79 with Jack Brabham third, Brabham BT11A Climax.
In April he raced a Team Lotus, Lotus Elan 26R at Goodwood, again as a project engineer to drive and develop the Elan as a racer. He was seventh and first in the under 1.6-litre class. He raced again at Crystal Place in June, and in the Guards International at Brands Hatch in August where he was second overall and first in class.
Lotus announced an on-the-spot spares service van at British circuits, “to be manned by factory personnel, Ray Parsons (when his racing commitments permit) Works Driver and Liasion Engineer, and Rod Sawyer, Sales Executive of Lotus Components Ltd.” MotorSport reported.
Late in the year Parsons had several drives of John Willment’s Lotus 35 Ford F3 car. He crashed at Silverstone in July, was fifth at Oulton Park in August, Piers Courage was up front in a Brabham BT10 Ford that day. Parsons won a week later at Snetterton. He was third in the season ending Lombank Trophy at Brands Hatch on Boxing Day in a Team Lotus, Lotus 41 Ford – Lotus’ 1966 spaceframe F3 car – behind Piers Courage and Chris Irwin. Clearly the bloke had talent.
Parsons and Jim Clark confer in the Longford pitlane, Tasman Series, March 1966. Lotus 39 Climax 2.5 FPF (oldracephotos.com/David Keep)Parsons, Clark and Lotus 39 Climax in the Warwick Farm pitlane in February 1966 – only Tasman Cup round victory that summer (ABC)
Parsons again accompanied Clark to the Australasia for the Tasman series, but 1966 was the year of the V8s. The BRM and Repco-Brabham V8s were a good deal more powerful than the 2.5-litre Coventry Climax fours powering the likes of Clark’s Lotus 39.
Jackie Stewart’s BRM P261 1.9-litre V8 took the Tasman Cup with four wins, the Parson’s tended 39 won only at Warwick Farm. Sold to Leo Geoghegan, this Lotus 39 – fitted with Repco Brabham 2.5-litre V8s from early 1967 – became a much loved, and successful car in Australia all the way into the early months of 1970.
The Lotus Cortina program continued in the US, Ray drove solo in one of the cars at Kent, where he was eighth. He teamed with Moffat in the Marlboro 12-Hour at Maryland, Washington in August, to 13th place.
A month later, Ray shared a car with Melbourne’s Jon Leighton in the Green Valley 6-Hour in Dallas, Texas. The pair were seventh, two places in front of the Moffat/Harry Firth Lotus Cortina. A week later Moffat/Firth were seventh in the Riverside 4-Hour with Parsons 13th driving alone.
Toowoomba born engineer, John Joyce left Australia for the UK having rebuilt a Cooper and built the Koala Ford FJ. With these credentials he joined Lotus Components in 1963, rising to become Chief Development Engineer.
Joyce and Parsons worked together on the Elan and other projects, the death of Joyce’s brother, Frankie, and the illness of his mother were catalysts for him to return to Australia.
Ray was keen to come home too, a decision made easy as Joyce was concepting the first Bowin; the P3 was to be a monocoque European F2 car powered by a Ford FVA 1.6-litre engine.
Glyn Scott’s Bowin P3 Ford FVA at Symmons Plains in 1969 (I Peters Collection)
In September and October 1967 Joyce had patterns for the wheels, rear uprights, and steering rack made in the UK. Parsons joined Joyce in Sydney, where the P3 was completed by the two talented artisans in a Brookvale factory before being delivered to Queenslander, Glyn Scott. It was first tested at Warwick Farm in July 1968.
And there, it seems, the trail goes cold. Ray didn’t continue with Bowin, until 1975 a significant manufacturer of racing cars. What became of this talented mechanic, development driver, racer, and team manager until he broke cover in Far North Queensland circa 2014.
Credits…
Auslot.com, ‘Theme Lotus’ Doug Nye, Bill Dobbins, Sports Car Digest, oldracephotos.com, Ian Peters Collection
Tailpiece…
(B Dobbins)
Ray Parsons hustles the car he and Allan Moffat shared at Marlboro Park Speedway in 1966. The track first opened in 1952 as a dirt oval, as used in 1966 it was 2.734 miles long. Located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, it was used until 1969 when a better facility at Summit Point, West Virginia sealed its fate. Its mortal remains exist, very run down.
Babe and the Lamborghini Bravo concept car at Monza in 1974…
In much the same way that Pininfarina and Ferrari developed a symbiotic relationship, so too over the decade after its formation did Lamborghini with Bertone; the Espada, Jarama, and outrageous Countach the result by 1973.
I can still remember as a schoolboy, my jaw-dropping awe at seeing the Countach, with test driver Bob Wallace at the wheel at Monaco in an Australian Sports Car World feature and being completely blown away by its looks and specifications.
The Ferraris of the day (246 Dino, 365 Boxer, 365GTB4, 365GT4) were so safe in their styling in comparison if totally seductive most cases. Lamborghini were avant garde in their styling and engineering, it’s only in more recent times Ferrari have the edginess in their styling. Whether one likes that evolution or not is another matter entirely.
Together with its V12s, Lamborghini launched a little-brother V8, the Urraco in 1970. Initially fitted with a 2.5-litre engine which grew to 3-litres. Bertone based its third Lambo dream car – after the ‘67 Marzal and ‘71 Countach – on the Urraco chassis.
(unattributed)
Bertone hoped the Studio-114 coded Bravo would be adopted as a two-seater to sit alongside the 2+2 Urraco in Lamborghini’s range.
Bravo was 20 inches shorter than Urraco, its wheelbase reduced by nearly by 8 inches to 88.6inches. The engine was the 3-litre, circa 300bhp 2996cc DOHC, two valve V8 of the P300 Urraco. The lightweight, all alloy V8 was fed by four twin-choke Webers, had a five speed ‘box of course, and disc brakes all round. In a 1970s road test, Road & Track praised the car for its power delivery, precision steering and its handling, writing that “it is everything the Urraco could and should have been.”
Building Bravo was a brave commercial move by Bertone management in the context of the times. The economic shocks of the oil crisis and stagflation, a blend of inflation, slow growth and persistent unemployment were problems governments globally were ineffectively dealing with.
Those factors gutted the market for prestige performance cars, in the event, Bravo didn’t reach production. As late as April 1978 the car made the cover of British magazine Motor, with Lambo’s Sales Director, Ubaldo Sgarzi quoted as saying a production version was still three-four years away. Off the back of the oil crisis it simply didn’t happen.
(unattributed)
“The Bravo’s styling was certainly striking, in the vein of Marcello Gandini’s previous styling exercises for Bertone. The sharp wedge shape was cut off by flat, near-vertical surfaces front and rear. The base of the windscreen was set ahead of the front axle, and its very steep angle of rake almost matched that of the short front bonnet. Likewise, the surfaces at the top of both front and rear wings gently twisted to match the inclination of the side windows, a treatment Gandini had honed through the Stratos Zero and Countach.”
“The talented designer complemented this basic shape with some strong graphic features, such as the very geometric slats that pierced both front and rear bonnets or the slanted rear wheel-arch cut-outs that were becoming his trademark. The wheels themselves introduced the theme of the five round holes that remained a Lamborghini staple right up to the Murciélago.”
“Pop-up headlights were neatly concealed in the louvered front panel. While all other glass panels were meticulously mounted flush, the way the rear three-quarter window gently folded into the bodywork to create air intakes for the engine bay was another highlight of Gandini’s magic touch,” Sotheby wrote when selling the car Bertone’s behalf some years ago.
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