Tag Archives: Bennet

Smaller, Lighter, RHD – Cunningham C6R

After experiencing less than outright success at Le Mans with the Cadillac Le Monstre Cunningham in 1950, Chrysler powered Cunningham C2R in 1951, similarly powered C4R in 1952 and C5R in 1953 Briggs Cunningham decided that three short comings of the previous designs had to be addressed.

His next new project the C6R, had to be smaller, lighter and right hand drive to optimise weight distribution on a circuit with predominantly right hand corners.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The C6R was also originally intended to be powered by a race bred 340 hp 4.5 litre / 274 cui Ferrari V12 motor of the type more commonly found in a Ferrari 375MM of the type he had run at Le Mans in 1954 for Phil Walters and John Fitch.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Responsibility of the design for the body of the C6R was handed over Herbert “Bud” Unger who had worked on the bodies of the Cunningham C4R and C5R Cunningham’s as a metal worker.

In correspondence with me, about the design, Mr Unger said; “The engineers wanted maximum air flow to the brakes front and rear…” These were 13 inch air cooled drum brakes, prone to fading when hot. “I made the front air intake as large as possible and also extra air intakes on both sides beside the main grille air intake.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Next, I tapered the side of the body in from the front fenders all the way back to the rear fenders and by large air scoops to get maximum ram air into both rear brakes.”

By the time the car appeared at Sebring in 1956 with it’s unpainted aluminium body, crafted by “a man form Europe that was an expert with the (English) wheel.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Briggs, for reasons unknown, compromised the original design criteria by fitting a modified 3 litre Indy 500 engine running on petrol instead of the usual alcohol brew.

Le Patron shared the driving at Sebring with John Gordon Bennett and they retired from the race on the 54th lap after the clutch disintegrated.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

When the C6R appeared at Le Mans the body had some alterations including a single smaller front intake and a D-Type Jaguar like headrest and rear fin and the car ran over the weekend with the rear brake cooling intakes in open and blanked off configurations.

During the course of it’s second race Briggs and Sherwood Johnson found the C6R started loosing gears and it retired from 13th place after 18 hours after the engine had enough of pushing the car round in forth, top, gear only.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Briggs Cunningham raced the car one more time in 1955 at Road America where the Offy motor again expired for good.

The car did not run again until 1957 by which time a 3.8 litre 6 cylinder Jaguar six cylinder motor had been fitted.

Cunningham C6R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Briggs raced the car on four occasions with a best known result of 9th at Lime Rock in June 1957.

The car was permanently retired to Briggs Cunningham’s collection thereafter which has since become part of the Collier Collection. It is seen here at recent Goodwood Festival of Speed meetings.

My thanks to Mr Unger, Cunningham Motorsport Historian Lawrence W. Berman, Paul Kierstein from the photo archive and Sondre Kvipt in Norway who facilitated my correspondence with Mr Unger. Thanks also to Herbert at The Nostalgia Forum who brought up the subject of the C6R’s blanked off rear air intakes.

Thanks for joining me on this “Smaller, Lighter, RHD” edition of “Gettin’ A L’il Psycho On Tyres” I hope you will join me for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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FI = 1 H.P. per CU. IN. x 283 – Chevrolet Corvette C1

With the arrival of the enthusiastic Zora Arkus-Duntov in GM’s engineering department, the famous Chevrolet small block in the engine bay and some competition in the form of the Ford Thunderbird, Chevrolet ramped up it’s commitment to building and American sports car in 1956 by replacing the first iteration of the Corvette which was considered low on performance, high on water leaks into the cockpit and less than a true sports car.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

Banished for ever in 1956 was the 155 hp triple carburetor Blue Flame six cylinder engine, the Corvette from 1956 on was strictly a V8 powered vehicle.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

For ’56 there was all new bodywork, replacing the first generations body that was close to the original concept Corvette first seen in 1953.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

The bold sculpted sides behind the front wheels really helped the second iteration two tone Corvette stand out from the crowd.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

As did the faux air scoops on the front wing/fender.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

There was a hard top hood option and the much improved soft top had a power assisted option as did the roll up glass window’s.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

The three speed manual transmission became standard but the, inferior performance wise, Powerglide automatic remained an option. The cockpit controls fittings and instrumentation of the ’56 and ’57 ‘vettes remained similar to the original Corvette cockpit.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

Following in the footsteps of 1953 Gutbrod and the 1954 Mercedes Benz 300SL in 1957 the GM Rochester constant flow fuel injection was an option for the Corvettes small block V8. This innovation while not widely taken up, 1040 FI units were sold, took the power up to 290 hp, however for marketing purposes the car was said to have 1 hp for every one of of the small block V8’s 283 cubic inches.

Chevrolet Corvette, Avenue Drivers Club, Bristol

Thanks to Zora Arkus-Duntov ’57 Corvettes could be ordered with ready to race options including the fuel injection, heavy duty suspension and if the advertising is to be believed even the power windows were said to be lighter than the manual window mechanisms.

Among the race outright Corvette winners in 1956 were Bob Stonedale, Mansfield, Bark Henry, Road America, Bill Pollack, Buchanan Field, Robert Bennet, Mansfield and most successful of all in ’56 was Dick Thompson who won at Beverly, Seafair, Thompson CT, and Palm Springs.

In 1957 Corvette drivers winning outright are known to have included Ruben Ciriacks and Peter Talbot at Hawaii, Ned Yarter at Willow Springs and Bakersfield, Jerry Parsons at Smartt Field, Bob Drake, Santa Barbra, Dick Thompson, Cumberland, Eagle Mountain, Marlboro, Viginia, Road America, Bob Byrd, John Masterson and Lloyd Gray at Cotati, Jim Jeffords, Milwaukee, Lloyd Porter at Bakersfield, Bark Henry, Lime Rock and Montgomery, Dean McCarthy, Watkins Glen, Jerry Austin, Pomona, Santa Barbra, Riverside, Palm Springs and Paramount Ranch, Bob Bent Cotati and Arcata, Leonard Butscher, Thompson CT, Fred Windridge, Watkins Glen and Bridgehampton, Dan Gurney at Riverside, John Wood, Willow Springs, H. C. Hoppe (Ladies Races) Bakersfield, Willow Springs and Orange County, Hugh Woods and Cal Bailey at Hourglass Field, Jack Bates and Frank Cairns at Pomona, John Voevodsky and Bill Moore at Phoenix and finally Elgin Holmes who won at Willow Springs and Orange County.

With Duntov’s vision the American sports car had finally arrived.

Thanks for joining me on this “FI = 1 H.P. per CU. IN. x 283” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tribute to Ronnie – March 71B – 08

Resting in the entrance to Colin Bennett’s CGA Engineering in Warrington a couple of Saturdays ago was this March 71B belonging to Katsu Kubota a ‘gentleman driver’ who admires one of my heroes Ronnie Peterson.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The car is painted in the colours used by Ronnie Peterson when he drove a similar car in 1971 to win the European Formula 2 Championship, a second tier open wheel series for cars powered by engines up to 1600 cc / 109.9 cui.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

Ronnie from Almby in the vicinity of Örebro, Sweden, secured the championship with four wins at Rouen, Mantrop Park, Flugplatz Tulln-Langenlebarn, Vallelunga and took five pole positions. Ronnie also secured second place in the World Drivers Championship in 1971.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The ambitious March team took it’s name from founders Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd, in 1969 they built a Formula 3 third tier open wheeler and the following year decided to take the racing world by storm by manufacturing vehicles to compete in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford and Can-Am for customers to race, while also running factory teams in the Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3 open wheel series. Jochen Rindt originally agreed to race the works Formula 1 car but backed out when he realised the scale of the March undertaking outside Formula 1.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

This 71B was originally built to take part in Formula Atlantic races in 1971, Formula Atlantic also known as Formula B in the USA was a halfway house between Formula 3 and Formula 2 powered by 1600 cc / 109.9 cui motors that were not in such a high state of tune as either Formula 3 or Formula 2 and therefore much cheaper to run. The 71B chassis has many components that are interchangeable with the March 713 and 712 chassis built for Formula 3 and Formula 2 respectively.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

At present I know nothing about the history of chassis 71B – 08 prior to Mr Kubota’s ownership if you did please chime in below or send me an e-mail, my e-mail address can be found in my ‘Blogger’ profile.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

I understand wooden gear stick knobs are popular in the racing community because they save weight, the Porsche 917 famously used a gear stick knob made of balsa wood.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The motor fitted to Mr Kubota’s March is an out of period 1,975 cubic centimetres /120.5 cui Ford Cosworth BDG 4 cylinder unit with an aluminium cylinder block of a type that was sanctioned in Formula 2 from 1972.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

Last year Mr Kubota became the first driver from Japan to win an FIA sanctioned Formula One race in the Historic Formula One series, this year he will also race the genuine March 761/06 as raced by Ronnie Peterson to victory in the 1976 Italian GP, a car that will appear in a future blog once I have seen it run later in the summer.

My thanks to Colin Bennett for having me and several members of The Nostalgia Forum visit his fascinating workshop and to Tony Gallagher for organising the trip.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Tribute to Ronnie Peterson edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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