Tag Archives: Rollinson

Multi Spec Open Wheel – Cooper T71/73 #F1-3-64

When Bob Gerard hung up his helmet and gloves to become an entrant he continued to buy Cooper cars and enter them in a variety of specifications as he had done with his 1953 Cooper Bristol #CB-4-53.

In 1964 Bob had today’s featured Cooper T71 to all intents and purposes a 1 litre Formula Two car built up to 1.5 litre Formula One spec fitted with a twin cam 1.5 litre Holbay motor, the similar works Cooper T73 Formula One cars differed only in that they were fitted with 1.5 litre 91.5 cui Coventry Climax motors that produced 50hp more than the Ford production block based Holbay.

Cooper T71/73, Alan Baillie, Silverstone Classic

Bob entered #F1/3/64 for John Taylor in Formula Libre and non championship Formula One events in 1964 before giving John his Championship Formula One debut at the 1964 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

John qualified 22nd and after gearbox repairs in the pits was running 14th, 24 laps down on winner Jim Clark when the flag fell in what turned out to be this cars only championship Formula One appearance.

Cooper T71/73, Alan Baillie, Silverstone Classic

Subsequently Bob continued to enter this car in Formula One spec for John and Alan Rollinson before running it with a 1 litre / 61 cui Formula Two motor for a couple of events in September 1964.

In 1965 John Rhodes drove the car with the Holbay motor and on other occasions Gerard Racings two mechanics were kept busy installing a Formula Two and a 1650 cc / 100 cui Formula Libre spec motor for John Taylor to drive.

1965 also saw Bob’s son Julian Gerard race this car with a stock 1 litre / 61 cui Formula Three spec Ford motor fitted.

In 1966 Bob entered the car in Formula Two spec in one event for Chris Lambert before turning it over to Formula Libre spec for his son Julian for the 1967 season.

At the end of 1967 Californian Bob Wenz bought #F1/3/64 and raced it for several seasons in SCCA Formula B events.

#F1/3/64 is seen in these photographs with current owner Alan Baillie at the wheel at last years Silvertone Classic.

Thanks for joining me on this “Multi Spec Open Wheel” 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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International Gold Cup Winner – Surtees Ford TS7 #01

After quitting Ferrari midway through 1966 John Surtees joined the Cooper Maserati team and finished the season second to Champion Jack Brabham who became the, first and so far only driver to win the Formula Championship in a car of his own design. At the end of the 1966 season John drove a Lola T70 in the inaugural Can Am championship run by his own team winning three races and beating Mark Donohue to the Championship.

Surtees TS7, Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold

For 1967 ‘Big John’ joined the Honda Grand Prix team which netted a win in the Italian Grand Prix while he returned to defend his Can Am championship but with only a single win he could not keep up with the Bruce and Denny show which was gathering steam taking 5 victories between them in their orange McLaren Chevrolet M6A’s.

Surtees TS7, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Two unreliable seasons in formula one followed first with Honda in 1968 and then BRM in 1969, but in 1969 John started building his first cars, designed by Len Terry the TS5’s were designed for the stock block Formula 5000 series, Team Elite ran one of these cars and with Trevor Taylor at the wheel it scored four straight victories.

Surtees TS7, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

After his poor run of results with the BRM P138 and P139 which netted a season best 3rd place finish John determined he would enter the 1970 season as a constructor designing the TS7 seen here with help from Sahab Ahmed and a plucky draughtsmen with not much Formula One experience but plenty designing consumer electrical goods namely Peter Connew.

Surtees TS7, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Seen here earlier this year in the Wings and Wheels paddock at Dunsfold Aerodrome, with an 8′ wheel base the Surtees TS7 was a typical period garagistes car with a monocoque held together by three bulkheads, a Ford Cosworth DFV motor acting as stressed member of the chassis with a Hewland DG300 five speed gearbox at the back.

Surtees TS7, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

John made his debut with his new car at the 1970 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch where Peter Connew’s cousin took the photo below. Peter can be seen at the extreme top right of the photo standing next to him is Sahab Ahmed.

Surtees TS7, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

John scored a season high 5th place finish with the TS7 at the Canadian Grand Prix and won the non championship Oulton Park Gold Cup with the same chassis which was restored to it’s present condition in 2010. In 1971 Brian Redman drove this chassis to a seventh place finish in South Africa, Allan Rollinson then drove it to a 9th place finish in the International Trophy at Silverstone and finally a week after wining the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours with Helmut Marko, Gijs van Lennep drove the car to an 8th place finish in his home Dutch Grand Prix run at Zandvoort.

My thanks to Barry Boor for sharing his photograph.

Thanks for joining me on this “International Gold Cup Winner” 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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