Tag Archives: Phil Hill

Arise Sir John ? Pt 1 – Ferrari 158 # 006

After the success of winning the 1961 World Drivers and Manufacturers Championships with Phil Hill driving the shark nose V6 powered Ferrari 156 model, the team experienced one of it periodic slumps.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

The ensuing 12 months saw Enzo Ferrari fallout with a patential saviour Ford, a couple of customers Ferruccio Lamborghini and Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata his engineers Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini and star driver Phil Hill.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

Despite these difficulties Enzo set Mauro ‘Fury’ Forghieri to work on a new V8 powered formula one challenger which was ready at the begining of 1964 for seven time world Motor Cycle Champion John Surtees to drive in his second season with the team.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John’s first season with Ferrari driving the old V6 powered shark nose had seen him finish four races in 4th, 3rd, 2nd and culminating with a win in the 1963 German Grand Prix which saw him finish 4th overall in the World Drivers Championship and Ferrari 4th overall in the constructors championship.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

Unlike the 1963 championship wining monocoque chassis Lotus 25, the Ferrari 158 features a semi monocoque chassis which has aluminium sheets riveted to a steel structure.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

The 8 cylinder 1,489 cc / 90.9 cui type 205/B motor like the contemporaneous Coventry Climax V8 that powered the Lotus and BRM V8 has two banks of cylinders inclined at 90 degrees and produces around 210hp.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

The motor mounted behind the driver was attached to a Ferrari 6 speed gear box and the whole car weighed in at 468 kg / 1,032 lb with water and oil.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

There were 10 races counting toward the 1964 World Championship and John qualified 4th for the first round at Monaco but retired after 15 laps with a broken gearbox in a race won by Graham Hill from team mate Richie Ginther driving for BRM.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John qualified 4th again for the Dutch Grand Prix and this time finished second to Jim Clark’s Lotus. At the Belgian and French Grand Prix John qualified 5th and 3rd respectively but retired from both with engine problems with less than half a dozen laps completed.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

At the 1964 British Grand Prix John qualified fifth but managed to go the whole distance to finish third behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill, Clark who had won the Belgian Grand Prix was leading Hill by four points in the championship with Surtees outside the top five 20 points behind Clark.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John qualified, chassis #006 featured in these photographs, on pole for the German Grand Prix and went on to win the race from Graham Hill while Clark began a series of three consecutive retirements thanks to two engine and one half shaft failure.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

All three emergent championship contenders retired from the Austrian Grand Prix which was won by John’s team mate Lorenzo Bandini.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

Going into the Italian Grand Prix John was 13 points behind championship leader Graham Hill but a second win from pole, again in chassis #006, closed the gap to just four points as both Graham and Jim Clark failed to finish.

I’ll conclude the story of John’s championship Formula One season next week, but meantime there is a petition to get John Surtees the knighthood he so richly deserves for being the only man to win World Championships on two wheels and four, if you would like to sign FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Thanks for joining me on this “Arise Sir John ? Pt 1” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Jaguar Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Jim’s Favourite – Chaparral Chevrolet 2E

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of my introduction to the wonders of The Canadian American Challenge Cup in something approximating real time mediated through the pages of ‘Motor Sport’ magazine, for the remainder of the month I’ll be featuring a selection of Group 7 race cars; on Saturday’s, Sunday’s, Mondays and the last two Thursdays of the types used in the Can Am Championships run from 1966 to 1973 or European “Intersiere” races run from 1970.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The inaugural 1966 “Can Am” Challenge race was run at St.Jovite on 11th September 1966 and won by 1965 World Drivers Champion John Surtees driving a Team Surtees Lola T 70 Spyder.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Texas Oilman and innovative engineer Jim Hall and his Chaparral team made their debut in the Series at Bridgehampton the following week where Hall was to drive the #66 Chaparral 2E chassis #2E001 with 1961 World Champion Phil Hill in the identical sister #65 chassis #2E002.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Come the start of the event it was Phil Hill who found himself at the seat of chassis #2E001 starting fourth, after Hill’s intended car developed chassis problems during practice and Jim handed the world champion Phil his own car.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Phil finished the race in 4th place behind the Lola Ford T70 of Dan Gurney, the McLaren Elva Mark II Chevrolet driven by Chris Amon and the Mark IIb McLaren Elva Chevrolet driven by Bruce McLaren.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Like most vehicles of the time the Chaparral 2E featured three pedals, unlike most, the pedals operated the accelerator and brakes while the third operated a front spoiler beneath the nose and rear wing to adjust the amount of drag created to maximise the vehicles performance around the corners and along the straights of a circuit.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Two unusual features of the drive train were, first the 450 hp aluminium alloy block 5.4 litre / 327 cui Chevrolet V8 chosen in favour of the more powerful and heavier 5.9 litre iron block Chevrolet Motor used by John Surtees in the Lola, and second the Chaparrals were uniquely equipped automatic transmissions.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Although similar aerodynamic devices had been attached to competition vehicles before, notably by Mercedes Benz who attached a wing to the roof of their 300 SL during practice for Le Mans in 1952 and by Fritz von Opel who attached wings to the sides of his 1928 solid rocket fueled Opel RAK 2, when activated to give down force at the expense of increased drag and decreased forward speed the Chaparral 2E’s aerofoil shaped wing transmitted down force directly through the rear suspension, while a spoiler under the nose acted similarly to increase down force on the front suspension, which together improved the handling in the corners.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The Challenge returned to Canada one week later again on September 24th 1966 for the ‘6th Canadian Grand Prix for the Pepsi-Cola Trophy’ run Mosport Park. Hall qualified 9th and Hill 11th with Hill finishing second to Mark Donohue in a Penske run Lola Chevrolet T70. Jim retired at 1/3 rd distance with an engine problem.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Nearly a month later on October 16th 1968 Jim Hall started the Monterey Grand Prix run at Laguna Seca from pole position in his #66 2E and alongside him on the grid was Phil Hill in the #65. After 2 hours at the wheel during which he covered 106 laps Phil Hill crossed the line first ahead of team owner Jim Hall to score a remakable team 1-2 finish.

Chaparral 2E, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Jim qualified 3rd behind, John Surtees in the Lola, at Riverside in California. John and Jim both moved up a place after pole sitter Bruce McLaren retired with an ignition problem. Phil Hill could only qualify 8th and retired after seven laps with fuel pressure issues.

Going into the final round of the Challenge Phil Hill was tied on points with John Surtees with 5 other drivers including Jim Hall capable of winning the championship depending on a variety of finishing scenarios. Jim qualified on pole for the final round at Las Vegas but after a few laps his wing started flapping uncontrollably due to fatigue failure in the control mechanism causing his retirement from second after Surtees took a dominant lead from the start. Hill damaged his car and ran much of the race scraping over 4th place until his wing also failed. Surtees easily won the race and the Inaugural Can Am title ahead of Mark Donohue with Hill finishing out of the points his championnship chances were shot.

A Chaparral 2E chassis 2E002 was entered in three events at the 13th Bahamas National Speed Weeks for Jim Halls Chaparral Cars Inc partner Hap Sharp. Hap won the Governor’s Trophy & Nassau Tourist Trophy from pole, finished 5th in the Nassau Classic Race and a non running 4th, again from pole in the Nassau Trophy Race in which Hap had an accident.

In 2005 Jim Hall teamed up with Jim Musser, who had contributed to the design of the 2E, known to be Hall’s favourite, to build a ‘limited number’ of continuation Chaparral 2E’s for use by classic racers. More on the continuation cars can be seen on this link to the Chaparral Official Website.

My thanks to Kayemod Rob, Tony 2F-001 Pashley, Supersox and Allen Brown Duc-man and mariner at The Nostalgia Forum for helping me to conclude that the car featured today maybe the surviving original 2E but is most likely one of two continuation models.

Thanks for joining me on this Jim’s Favourite edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Can Am Lola T70 Spyder. Don’t forget to come back now !

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