Tag Archives: Cholmondeley

Can You Help Us Dad ? – Cooper 500 Prototype

In 1932 John Newton Cooper probably became the luckiest 9 year old in Surbiton when his Dad, Cooper Garage proprietor Charles Cooper, built him a car with a motor cycle engine and gearbox in the front and a chain drive to the rear axle.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

By the time John turned 14 in 1936 his dad had built him another car using Austin Seven components which many years later would be retrospectively given the name T1.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

At the same time as Charles was building cars for his son an informal group of motoring enthusiasts known as CAPA were formulating idea’s for an affordable motor sport category and Dick Caesar, the C in CAPA is credited with the idea of using 500 cc motorcycle engines to power specials that could be devised for the category.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Peter Harvey, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

A second group of enthusiasts competing at Shelsley Walsh were also turning to using motor cycle engines for their specials which included David Fry who built a vehicle known as the Freikaiserwagen.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

During the ’39 – ’45 war some members of CAPA and others found themselves working at the Bristol Aircraft Company where they formed a motor sports club to further think through their ideas, in 1946 this club was wound up in favour of a non works ‘500 Club’ aimed at organising events for their “500 Formula” which eventually became an internationally recognised category known as Formula 3.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

When 23 year old John Cooper and his friend Eric Brandon were looking for a way into motor sport they decided that the new 500 Formula was the way to go and turned to John’s Dad Charles for help.

Cooper 500 Prototype, Cholmondeley Pageant of Power

Charles helped John and Eric build two Cooper 500’s which featured FIAT Topolino 500 suspension front and rear connected by a simple frame and a JAP motor, prepared for speedway competition, behind the driver with a gearbox and chain drive to the rear wheels.

These two cars became the first two of an eventual 320 Formula 500 vehicles Cooper Cars are thought to have built between 1946 and 1959, by which time Jack Brabham was on his way to the first of two consecutive world championships driving Coopers latest mid engined Formula One cars.

Peter Harvey is seen at last years Cholmondeley Pageant of Power driving the second Cooper 500 Prototype built for Eric Brandon which was retrospectively given the T3 tag.

Thanks for joining me on this “Can You Help Us Dad ?” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be starting a short series of blogs on concept cars. Don’t forget to come back now !

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It Is Not A Green Audi – Bentley Speed 8 #004/1

Just over a week ago I visited Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power where I manged to catch up with today’s featured Bentley Speed 8 of the type which ten years ago were entered in the 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

The origins of the Speed 8 lay in two Audi projects that raced at Le Mans in 1999 one of which was designed by Peter Elleray who would go on to design the Bentley’s which competed at Le Mans from 2001 and 2003.

Audi R8R, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Audi entered four cars in the 1999 endurance classic two open cockpit LMP class Audi R8R’s like the one above that was built by Dallara and entered by Audi Sport Team Joest which Frank Biela, Didier Theys and Emanuele Pirro drove third place one spot ahead of the sister R8R driven by Michele Alboreto, Rinaldo Capello and Laurant Laurent Aïello.

Audi R8C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The two remaining Audi’s were closed cockpit LMGTP Audi R8C’s designed by Peter Elleray and built by Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN) using the same twin turbo V8 motors and gearboxes as the R8R. Veteran Porsche Group C entrant Richard Lloyd ran the R8C’s in the ’99 Le Mans Race under the Audi Sport UK banner with James Weaver, Andy Wallace and Perry McCarthy in the #10, seen above which retired after 198 laps. The #9 R9C was driven by Stefan Johansson, Stéphane Ortelli and Christian Abt retired after 55 laps both cars experiencing gearbox issues that were shared with the R8R’s but which the Joest mechanics were better able to cope with.

Audi R8, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The R8R’s were quicker than the R8C’s which suffered from being the second project to get the go ahead and Audi decided to go with the open cockpit concept and developed the R8 of the type seen above which won five Le Mans 24 hour races in ’00, ’01, ’02, ’04 and ’05.

Bentley EXP Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

In 1998 the Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, acquired Bentley and Rolls Royce, for reasons that are not clear they did not acquire the rights to use the Rolls Royce name which went to BMW and an agreement was reached that saw Rolls Royce production separate from Bentley at Crewe, where the two marques had been manufactured alongside each other since 1946, with Rolls Royce becoming a BMW owned company located in a new production facility at Goodwood.

Following the acquisition of Bentley in 1999 a 220 mph concept car was announced. The Bentley Hunaudieres powered by a normally aspirated W16, a version of the motor that would be used to power another super car from the Volkswagen Group namely the Bugatti Veyron.

In 2000 Bentley announced that it was to return to Le Mans, for the first time in 71 years, in 2001 with two closed cockpit LMPGTP entires and that a prototype was being worked on by Peter Elleray at Racing Technology Norfolk.

By the time the design for the EXP Speed 8 was finalised it had been decided to use the same twin turbo V8 as was being used in the Audi R8 programme but fitted with an X-trac transmission. During the 2001 Le Mans race chassis #002/4 seen above was driven by Martin Brundle, Guy Smith and Ortelli, qualifying 7th but retiring with transmission failure. Chassis #002/3 driven by Andy Wallace, Eric van de Poele and Butch Leitzinger qualified 9th and finished 3rd overall behind two Audi R8’s 15 laps adrift of the overall winner, but winning the GTP class.

Bentley EXP Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

For 2002 only one Bentley entry was prepared for the Le Mans 24 Hours, it’s upgrades included a new 4 litre / 244 cui version of the Audi based twin turbo V8 up from 3.6 litres / 219 cui, the 4 litre motors were unique to Bentley.

Driving a new chassis, #002/6 seen above, Wallace, van de Poele and Leitzinger qualified over two seconds faster than they had in 2001 but wound up only 11th on the grid. In the race they covered 62 laps more than in 2001 but finished 4th behind three Audi R8’s now only 13 laps behind the overall winner and again winning the LMGTP class.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

For the third and final planned onslaught at Le Mans Peter Elleray designed a completely new car based on a completely new safer carbon fiber tub.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

After Johnny Herbert crashed one of the new #004 cars, chassis #004/2, at 100 mph into a concrete wall without injury during testing, Peter persuaded the management that two even stronger tubs should be built. However one of these #004/4 “blew up” while being cured in the autoclave and the other #004/5 was prepared for the 2003 Le Mans 24 hours.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

Today’s featured chassis #004/1 along with #004/3 was sent to Sebring to compete in the Sebring 12 Hours as a warm up preparation for Le Mans. However two privately entered Audi’s did not read the script and ended up beating the Bentley’s by 4 laps. #004/1 driven by Capello, Tom Kristensen and Smith qualified and finished 4th 5 laps down on the overall winner and behind the Johnny Herbert, David Brabham and Mark Blundell entry.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

Both of the Sebring cars were then sent to Le Mans in May 2003 for the Le Mans test weekend where Capello, Kristensen and Smith driving #004/1 set the fastest time ahead of the Audi Sport Japan Team Goh R8 driven by Seiji Ara, Marco Werner and Jan Magnussen. Third fastest time went to Herbert, Brabham and Blundell in chassis #004/3.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

Like the 2002 EXP Speed 8 the 2003 Speed 8 retained exclusive use of the 4 litre twin turbo V8 which produces around 600 hp. When designing the prototype Bentley Le Mans challenger, 001 in 2000, Peter Elleray was expecting to use an unspecified normally aspirated motor apparently several options were discussed including the W16 and the prototype was tested with a Cosworth DFR Formula One motor before the twin turbo Audi V8 and later larger Bentley V8 derivative were selected.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

The Speed 8 Bentley’s were perfectly prepared for the 2003 Le Mans 24 hours and in the absence of works Audi R8 entries they called on Joest Racing to support their efforts in the pit lane. Capello, Kristensen and Smith were entered in the new chassis #004/5 which qualified on pole 2 seconds faster than older sister car #004/3 driven by Herbert, Brabham and Blundell that completed a Bentley sweep of the front row.

Bentley Speed 8, Cholmondeley Pageant Of Power

The Bentley’s then ran a text book race finishing in the order they qualified with the lead car two laps ahead completing 377 laps in total seven more that the third placed Champion Racing Audi R8 driven by JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro and Johansson. The last time a Bentley had won the Le Mans 24 hour race was when Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston led the similar Bentley Speed Six of Frank Clement and Richard Watney in 1930 having completed ‘just’ 179 laps.

Bentley Speed 8, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Designer Peter Elleray believes that Bentley possibly choose to enter the LMGTP class because of the ‘visual presence’ of the closed cockpit cars and it must have been satisfying to him that his final Speed 8 design was the first non Formula One car in 14 years to win be awarded the 2003 Autosport Racing Car Of The Year Award.

There have been many uniformed opinions that the Bentley Le Mans project that ran from 2001 to 2003 was simply a badge engineered Audi R8 with a roof, however this was most certainly not the case.

The Bentley Speed 8 had more British content than the successful Italian Dallara Audi R8’s had German content even though the British car was powered by a unique to Bentley version of the Audi V8.

Peter patiently answered some of the misinformed opinion about the cars he designed at The Nostalgia Forum recently.

I’ll leave the final word on this project to Peter “i(t) will be on my tombstone – “it wasn’t a green audi…”

My thanks to Peter Elleray for an engaging discussion on his involvement with today’s featured car at The Nostalgia Forum.

Thanks for joining me on this “It Is Not A Green Audi” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a car that was developed with a very different approach to winning the Le Mans 24 hours. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Cubic Inches – Bentley Speed Six #HM2689

At the weekend I popped up to the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power where several Bentley’s were present that have taken part in Le Mans 24 hour races including today’s featured example chassis #HM2869 which was driven by Sammy Davis and Clive Dunfee in the 1930 race.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

The Bentley Speed Six was the high performance version of the Bentley 6 1/2 litre first seen in 1926. The 6 1/2 litre was conceived to challenge the Rolls Royce Phantom as a preeminent limousine.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

Launched in 1928 the Speed Six used the same 24 valve twin cam, twin spark 6,597 cc / 402.6 cui six cylinder motor as the Bentley 6 1/2 litre but tuned to give 160 – 180 hp, up from the standard 147 hp. This motor was considered the jewel in the crown of W.O. Bentley’s portfolio.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

The Speed Six of Woolf Barnato “Old Number One” is one of a handful of cars to have won the Le Mans 24 hour race twice. In 1929 Barnato shared the driving with “Tim” Birkin leading home three Bentley 4 1/2 litre cars. The following year Baranto and Glen Kidston led home a Speed Six one-two finish with Frank Clement and Richard Watney at the wheel of the second placed car.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

Driving a Mulliner Saloon bodied Speed Six Barnato also won a bet with his pals that he could arrive at his club in London faster than Le Train Bleu could cover the distance between Cannes on the French Riviera and the cross channel port of Calais in Northern France. With his secretary Dale Burn as relief driver he won the bet of £100 by four mins, but was heavily fined by French authorities for racing on public roads.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

The Mulliner Saloon Speed Six with which Barnato won the bet is often incorrectly depicted and confused with a Gurney Nutting Sportsman Coupé Speed Six which Barnato named the Blue Train Special to commemorate his feat. The Mulliner Saloon body on the car Barnato and Burn drove the 570 miles from Cannes to London has recently been restored to the original chassis by it’s current owners Bruce and Jolene McCaw, who also own the Barnato’s Gurney Nutting Coupé.

Bentley Speed Six, Cholomondeley Pageant Of Power

Despite proving W.O’s maxim “that there is no substitute for cubic inches” over the 4 1/2 litre super charged Blower Bentley it is the faster but less reliable latter car that is the better known instantly recognisable “icon” of it’s day.

Clive Dunfee crashed #HM2689 out of the 1930 Le Mans 24 hours on laps 22, the month before Le Mans race Clive and Sammy drove the car car to a 2nd place finish in the Brooklands Double Twelve. “Tim” Birkin and Jack Barclay shared #HM2689 at the Brooklands Double Twelve in 1931 but retired with engine failure.

#HM2689 has been owned by Peter Neumark for the last twenty years and he assured me “it is not going anywhere” in the future when I spoke to him on Saturday.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cubic Inches” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the 1978 Le Mans winner. Don’t forget to come back now !

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