Tag Archives: Corner

Torrential Drizzle – Odyssey Battery MSA Rally Cross Pembrey

May 1st dawned overcast as I headed down to Pembrey for the third round of the Odyssey Battery MSA Rally Cross Championship, by the time I got there the drizzle was approaching torrential helping to prepare the track for a full day’s entertainment that was scheduled to include no less than 52 starts.

Ford Fiesta, Kevin Procter, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Ford Fiesta driver Kevin Procter seen taking the inside line above, out fumbled his rivals to win the Supercar class.

Suzuki Swift, Tom Llewellin, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Rally Cross debutante Tom Llewellin is seen leading his rivals in the Junior class for Suzuki Swift 1300’s, after finishing second in his first heat Tom led the final from start to finish.

Peugeot 206, Guy  Corner, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Guy Corner is seen above making a splash, in his Peugeot 206 above, on his way to victory in the Super National Class.

Citroën C2, Phil Chicken, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

The Super 1600 class was won by Phil Chicken in his #62 Citroën C2 beating the #72 Suzuki Swift driven by Tristan Ovenden.

Citroën Saxo, Graham Rumsey, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Graham Rumsey saw off four Polish challengers to win the Hot Hatch class in his #45 Citroën Saxo beating 2nd place finisher Tomasz Wielgosz in his #1 Peugeot 106 and 3rd place finisher Robert Potyra in his #18 Saxo.

BMW Mini Cooper S, Keifer Hudson, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

After getting liberally caked in mud by his fellow competitors in the 1st qualifier for the BMW Mini class Kiefer Hudson seen above, jet washed his #53 Mini down and came back to win the final.

Swift Sport Championship, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

The Swift Sport Class final had not one, but four starts after first Aiden Hills rolled his car, then Jeff Hankin followed suit on the second attempt, on the third attempt Bradley Durdin backed into the barriers and finally Nathan Heathcote completed 3 laps in his #55 Swift ahead of Chris Woollett in the #7.

RX 150, Chrissy Palmer, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Chrissy Palmer held off two generations of Llewellin in the Honda Fireblade powered Rage RX150 final beating the younger Ben in the green #7 above and Dad double British Rally Champion David who put on a notably spectacular display in his white example.

Porsche 911, Barry Stewart, Odyssey Battery, MSA Rally Cross Championship, Pembrey

Regular readers might remember the last time I saw Barry Stewart’s spectacular Porsche 911 was at the Brighton Speed Trails a couple of years ago, above Barry is seen leading the field on his way to a win in the Retro class ahead of the Metro 6R4 driven by Rob Gibson and Rear Wheel Drive Ford Escort Mk III driven by Ray Morgan.

Thanks for joining me on this “Torrential Drizzle” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at another Packard. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Five Classic Racing Ferraris – Silverstone Classic

The Silverstone Classic meeting usually offers the Ferrari fanatic a bonanza of Maranello’s finest road and racing cars and I am sure this year’s Silver Jubilee edition of the event will be no different.

Ferrari 500 TRC, David and James Cottingham, Silverstone Classic

Among the myriad of Ferrari racers seen in recent years have been the Cottinghams Ferrari 500 TRC which finished 7th both at the 1957 Le Mans 24 hours and on the 1958 Targa Florio.

Ferrari 246 Dino, Tony Smith, Silverstone Classic,

Another regular competitor is Tony Smith’s 1958 Ferrari 246 Dino which counts among it’s former occupants Wolfgang von Trips, Oliver Gendebien, Dan Gurney and Phil Hill the latter drove the car to the last win for a front engined Grand Prix at Monza in 1960.

Ferrari 166/206, Harry Leventis,  Gregor Fisken, Silverstone Classic,

Ing. Forghieri, responsible for the design of Harry Leventis’s Ferrari 166/206, above, was never the cars biggest fan, once likening the design, in conversation with desginer Gordon Murray, as to sticky brown smelly stuff, however that did not prevent Ludovico Scarfiotti driving the car in an earlier form to claim the 1965 European Hillclimb Championship.

Ferrari 512M, Nathan Kinch, Silverstone Classic

Ferrari 512’s are not an uncommon sight at Silverstone Classic weekends, #1030 seen above with Scotsman Nathan Kinch at the wheel, was raced in S form in 1970 and M form in 1971 under the Ecurie Francorchamps banner but found it’s greatest success under JC Bamford’s ownership for whom Peter Brown, Willie Green and Neil Corner all drove it on various occasions to seven straight wins in it’s last seven races during 1972 six victories were claimed in the Motoring News GT Championship and the other in the Interserie race held at Silverstone.

Ferrari F40 LM, Stefano Sebastiani, Silverstone Classic,

Finally the Silver Jubilee edition of the Silverstone Classic will see the first race for GT cars from the 1990’s, above Stefano Sebastiani is seen about to put his 1989 F40 LM, a converted road car, through it’s paces during last years popular GT demonstration run.

Tickets for this years advance ticket only Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic are available from this linked website.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five Classic Racing Ferraris” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the first of a series of Formula Junior open wheelers. Don’t for get to come back now !

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Unfinished Business – Lister Coupe #

After building a successful range of open top sports racing cars powered by MG, Bristol, Jaguar and Chevrolet motors between 1953 and 1958 Brian Lister turned to Frank Costin to build an all new spaceframe chassis with an open body to be powered by a 3 litre six cylinder Jaguar XK motor for a crack at Le Mans which he considered “unfinished business”.

01 Lister Coupé_7625sc

However after the death of his lead driver Archie Scott-Brown at Spa driving a Lister in 1958 and the fatal accident which killed his 1959 leading driver Ivor Bueb, driving a Cooper open wheeler in 1959, Brian Lister was prompted to retire from building racing cars bearing his name leaving the 3 litre spaceframe project which had never been given a chassis number unfinished.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Rhostyllen, North Wales, garage proprietor Syd Diggory finished the open bodied spaceframe car off fitting a 3.8 litre Jaguar motor in 1960. Syd entered the car in several events for Bruce Halford, who won one race at Brands Hatch with it.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

John Coundley acquired it in 1961 after his own Lister chassis #126 with the registration WTM446 had been damaged by Stephen Ouvaroff on the set of the film “The Green Helmet”.

Lister Coupé, Goodwood Revival

12 months later Le Mans racer Peter Sargent bought both the space frame Lister and the damaged, in former owner John Coundley’s eyes ‘written off’ tube framed #BHL126 registered WTM446. Peter commissioned the space framed car’s designer Frank Costin to design the double bubble closed coupé body fabricated from aluminium which is seen on the car today. Frank also made various chassis and suspension modifications to accommodate rising rate front suspension and 15″ Dunlop wheels.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Peter Sargent was joined by Peter Lumsden at the 1963 Le Mans test weekend to drive the barely finished unpainted rebodied car, bearing the registration number WTM446 from the older #BHL126 Lister and temporarily fitted with Webber carburetors.

Lister Coupé, Goodwood Revival

The Coupé proved to be quicker than the E-Type Jaguar the two Peters had shared at Le Mans in 1962 but was in need of further development which continued right up until the day before the race when it was found that a subframe was allowing the front wheels to toe out like a ‘barn door’.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

With a fix for the suspension the Lister went to the grid with a fuel injected motor rebuilt by Jaguar fitted with oval exhausts in place of the round ones to raise the ground clearance. The Lister reached 16th place by the third hour of the event when it’s retirement was brought about by clutch failure.

Lister Coupé, HGPCA Test Day, Silverstone

Peters Lumsden and Seargeant continued developing and racing the Lister Coupé with some success in club meetings through 1963.

In 1964 John Coundley and Jack Fairman shared the car in the 1000 kms race at the Nurburgring where they qualified a lowly 68th and retired with rear suspension failure on the Coupé’s final international appearance.

David Harvey, now Jaguar owners club chairman become the next owner of the unique Lister and had it fitted with a D-Type motor and gearbox. David and his wife drove it competitively in sprints and hillclimbs, earning a class record at Gurston Down, and when his usual road car was off the road the Coupé was also used as a daily driver since it was registered and taxed with it’s WTM 446 registration.

The known chain of ownership of the Coupé includes historic owner and collector Neil Corner before it was acquired by Hexagon of Highgate who had the roof chopped off to return the car to the open top specification as it was raced from 1960 to 1962. In 1972 Gerry Marshall won the last ever motor race run at Crystal Palace in the open top space frame Lister. Some years later Gerry drove the car again under new ownership to win the 1980 Lloyds and Scottish Championship historic series.

The Coupé GT bodywork was returned to the car by Maurice Gomm for Dr Philippe Renault a private museum owner from Le Mans in the mid 1980’s.

More recently the Lister Coupé has become a regular competitor at Goodwood Revival where it survived major damage in 2006 and 2010. In 2012 the Lister Coupé was shared by 1970 Le Mans winner Richard Attwood and 1992 British Touring Car Champion Tim Harvey.

The two entities that have born the registration WTM446 became the subject of a court battle after the Lister #BHL126, which former owner John Coundley had considered a “write off”, was brought back to life.

The new owner of the rebuilt #BH126 took the owner of the spaceframe Lister Coupé and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to court in a dispute over who owned the WTM446 registration. The Court appears to have found that no car should have that number and has not issued it to either vehicle since.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unfinished Business” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a Cunningham. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Up Prescott 2000 Times – Bugatti Type 57S Corsica Roadster #57375

Charles Henry Stammers, Joseph and Robert Lee, and Albert Wood founded the Corsica Coachworks in Corsica St, Kings Cross London soon after the 1914/18 war. They made bespoke coachwork to clients needs without the aid of a designer meaning that each body they made was unique.

Corsica were responsible for building bodies for eight Bugatti Type 57S chassis, two coupes, two 4-seater tourers and four open 2-seaters of which all but one of the Coupe’s have survived.

Bugatti Type 57S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Chassis #57375 was built in 1936 and delivered to Nicholas Embericos on September 1st. Mr Embericos drove the car in the 1936 Tourist Trophy at Ards and retired from the race and the sport after a collision with the Delahaye driven by Marcel Mongin.

The #57375 was sold to a Mr Ramponi and then Ronnie Symondson who kept the car for 40 years and is said to have taken the #57375 up Prescott hill climb nearly 2000 times.

Bugatti Type 57S, Goodwood Festival of Speed

When Mr Symmondson’s health began to fail he sold the car to one of Britain’s most respected restorers and racers Neil Corner.

The first of the two Type 57S Corsica Roadsters is seen here at Goodwood Festival of Speed several years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Up Prescott 2000 Times” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a rare Japanese car used for sprinting. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The White RHD One – Ferrari 250 GTO #3729GT

Blacksmiths, wheelwrights and coachbuilders Coombs of Guildford was founded in the 19th Century. Descendant of the founders John Coombs was taken to Brooklands before the 1939-45 was and on completion of his apprenticeship in 1949 began motor racing in open wheelers and sportscars with some success. He retired from race driving, after winning two races in a day at Mallory Park, because his business commitments no longer gave him the necessary time to compete, so he made the switch to becoming an entrant.

Teaming up with some of the best drivers of the day including his former Connaught team mate Roy Salvadori, BRM driver Ron Flockhart, John built up an excellent reputation with Coopers and Jaguar’s as Coombs of Guildford grew to become a major Jaguar dealership. When he was told Lotus founder Colin Chapman was interested in buying a Jaguar John had no hesitation in putting Colin, against whom he used to race, in one of his cars for a race at Silverstone which Colin promptly won and suitably impressed Colin duly placed his order.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

In July 1962 John took delivery of a white right hand drive Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #3729GT after it became clear that the Jaguar E-Type was too heavy to compete against Maranello’s finest. Despite being driven by the likes of Salvadori, Graham Hill and Mike Parkes, all of whom were or went on to compete in Formula One, the car did not record any victories in 1963 but it did record a string of second places.

John also sent the car to Coventry where Jaguar made a close inspection of it before building John the first of 11 lightweight E-types with aluminium mononcoques and engine blocks.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

In 1964 Viscount Eddie Portman took over ownership of #3729GT who added another second place result before it was entered for Ritchie Ginther to drive in the Tourist Trophy run at Goodwood where he finished 9th.

JA Pearce of JA Pearce Engineering then used #3729 in a couple of sprints run at Brighton and Blackbushe airport in late 1964 and early 1965.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

John also known as Jack Pearce spotted the opportunity for building a formula one car for the new 3 litre / 183 cui regulations which became effective from the beginning of 1966 using a 250 GTO motor. For many years it was believed that the motor from #3729 found it’s way into the back of the JA Pearce 1964 Cooper T73 built originally for the older 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui formula.

In fact Chris Lawrence, who drove and co owned the Cooper Ferrari, many years later discovered that instead of having a Ferrari 250 GTO motor the Cooper was actually fitted with a on older less powerful motor that came out of Rob Walkers 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB #2735GT which had been driven by Stirling Moss to a string of five race victories. Unfortunately the unique Cooper Ferrari T73 was destroyed in a transporter fire at Silverstone in 1967, although the charred remains of both the motor and car are known to still exist.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

After #3729 had been sold on to noted historic racer Neil Corner in 1966 it was painted red and from 1970 to 1999 it belonged to 1958 and ’63 British Saloon Car Champion Jack Sears, who had raced the #3729 for John Coombs at Brands Hatch and Snetterton in 1963.

1n 1999 current owner Jon Shirley bought the car and had a new engine block installed by Ferrari Classiche nine years later.

Thanks for joining me on this “The White RHD One” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Kiwi Adventures – Ferrari 246 #0007

A couple of weeks ago at Race Retro I caught up with the last front engined car to win a Grand Prix again. This car was originally given the chassis number #0007 and driven by Wolfgang von Trips, Oliver Gendebien, and Phil Hill in 1958 recording just one 5th place finish in Portugal with ‘Taffy’ von Trips at the wheel.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

The following season it driven by Dan Gurney in 4 Grand Prix recording a best finish of 2nd on aggregate at Avus in the 1959 German Grand Prix.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

In 1960 #0007 was wheeled out for Phil Hill again for five more Grand Prix appearing for the last time at the Italian Grand Prix which Phil Hill won, in a clean sweep of the podium for the Italian marque, ahead of Richie Ginther and the Belgian Willy Marisse who was a lap down.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

The significance of the win the last ever in a championship Grand Prix recorded by a car with the engine in the front was a matter of complete indifference to Ferrari as evidenced by the fact that before the year was out the trusty 2.5 litre Dino V6 motor had been swapped for V12 250 TR motor by the factory. The whole car, renumbered at Maranello as chassis #0788, had been entrusted to New Zealander Pat Hoare who won in 1961 at Waimate and the 1962 New Zealand Gold Star Championship with it.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

After the car proved no longer competitive and Pat Hoare had retired from racing Pat converted the single seater into a closed two seat GTO coupé replica which can be seen in this link.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

The car was acquired by respected historic racer Neil Corner in 1978 and restored to it’s V12 open wheel chassis spec.

Ferrari 246, Race Retro

Today the car is owned and rock manager Tony Smith, who had a had a replica Dino V6 motor installed, raced #0007 at Goodwood Revival last year when I first saw it.

14/05/12 Ammended to read ‘and restored to it’s V12 open wheel chassis spec’ and ‘, who had a replica V6 motor installed, in the light of Charles Hollands comments below.

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