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.
While I covered broadly the donor engine that formed the bottom end of Repco-Brabham Engines’ 1966 F1 World Championship winning 620 V8 in this lengthy epic: https://primotipo.com/2014/08/07/rb620-v8-building-the-1966-world-championship-winning-engine-rodways-repco-recollections-episode-2/ I didn’t look at the engines parentage in any detail. This fantastic Macs Motor City article does just that: https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/featherweight-wonder-inside-buicks-1961-aluminum-v8/ and this Hagerty one: https://www.hagerty.com/media/magazine-features/hagerty-magazine/buicks-little-aluminum-v-8/
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.
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.
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.
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/
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.’
‘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.’
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.
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.
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.
Etcetera…
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.’
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.
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.’
Dan aboard John S Zink’s Moore 62 Boeing, the John Zink Trackburner, in the Indy pitlane during qualifying. See below for more detail, lots of it on Allen Browns Old Racing Cars website: https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/results/1962/indianapolis500/
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.
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.
You can’t go past Wiki’s entry for a great summary of Crosthwaite’s life of achievement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Crosthwaite
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
Finito…
primotipo... 