Tag Archives: Tullis

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If one foreigner deserves a knighthood for trying to keep the British Motor industry alive while it was in self destruct mode twixt the early 1960’s and late 1980’s my nomination without question would go to Bob Tullis who prepared and raced a succession of British sports cars from Triumph and Jaguar to numerous victories over the 30 years in question.

Perhaps most remarkably of all having been a successful driver for 20 years, which included driving a few non British vehicles like the Dodge Dart, AMC Javelin,Bruce Jennings Porsche 911 and a one off drive in a works Oldsmobile Cutlass, Bob and Group 44 Inc business partner Brian Feurstenau managed to persuade Mike Dale of Jaguar Cars Inc, New Jersey, to fund an IMSA GT Prototype project which would see Jaguar return to Le Mans nearly 30 years after their last official appearance at the circuit in 1955.

Tullis who’s diverse endurance experience included driving the Triumph Spitfire Coupé and Howmett gas turbine car at Le Mans employed Lee Dykstra to design the new Jaguar XJR5 IMSA GTP challenger.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

The XJR5 was to be powered by a variant of the 2 valve per cylinder 5.34 litre / 326 cui Jaguar V12 which Bob had successfully campaigned in his Trans Am Quaker State Group 44 Inc Jaguar E-Type and later XJS models since the mid 1970’s.

In August 1982 Bob and long time co driver Canadian Bill Adam drove the XJR5 to a debut 3rd place finish behind two of the outgoing Porsche 935’s at Road America to score a debut class victory.

Bob and Bill scored the teams first overall victory at Road Atlanta in April 1983, two more followed at Lime Rock and Mosport, Doc Bundy then shared the final XJR5 victory in 1983 at Pocono with Bob.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Today’s featured chassis #006 first appeared at the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours where Bill Adam, Pat Bedard and Brian Redman qualified 6th and were classified a disappointing 24th, the sister car driven by Doc Bundy, David Hobbs and Bob Tullius qualified and finished 3rd.

Next time out at Miami with Brian and Doc at the wheel chassis #006 qualified 4th but more importantly crossed the line first when the chequered flag fell. Despite the team increasing the capacity of it’s V12 motors to a full 6 litres / 366 cui a couple of months later this would prove be their only overall victory in 1984.

After Porsche’s top driver Derek Bell had been suitably impressed with the XJR5 after testing it in 1983 Jaguar gave the green light to Bob and Group 44 to take the cars, one of which would be #006 driven by Tony Adamowicz, John Watson and Claude Ballot-Léna to Le Mans in 1984.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Tony, John and Claude qualified 19th and retired after an accident on lap 212 while the sister car driven by Brian, Doc and Bob qualified 14th and made it to lap 291 before the gearbox gave up.

Chassis #006 returned to the States and finished the season with a 2nd place finish in the Daytona 3 Hours with Brian and Hurley Haywood at the wheel.

For 1985, by which time Lee Dykstra reckoned he had redesigned 99% of the XJR5, #006 was prepared for the Le Mans 24 hours.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Jim Adams joined Brian and Hurley in chassis #006 where the car was qualified 17th and retired after only 151 laps with a constant velocity joint failure.

The sister car driven by Bob, Chip Robinson and Claude qualified 16th and finished 13th overall and first in the GTP class.

The cars final two races were back in the States where Chip Robinson joined Hurley to score a best 2nd place finish at Pocono in September 1985 on it’s final in period race appearance.

At Daytona in December 1985 the XJR5 model appeared for the last time, before it was replaced by the all new XJR7 in 1986, Brian and Hurley sent the model into retirement with a fine second place less than 8.5 seconds behind the winning Hobert Racing Porsche 962 driven by Al’s Holbert and Unser.

Today #006 is owned by Don Miles who can be seen driving the car at Silverstone Classic events in these photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hot In Miami” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

911’s 50th Anniversary – Niello Serrano Concours d’Elegance

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I’d like to welcome a new contributor to Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres thanks to Geoffrey Horton who kindly asked Karl Krause to take the photo’s at Niello Serrano Concours d’Elegance which appear in today’s blog.

Karl sent around 200 images and since I’ve been celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911 through October I thought I’d give the model one more look in today’s blog.

Porsche 911S , Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

I can’t be sure of the age of the 911 above but given that the distinctive 5 spoke Fuchs alloy wheels first became an option on the 911S in 1966 I’ll hazard a guess the car above in a 1966 or later 911S.

Porsche 911T , Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

There is a good chance that any Porsche carrying the distinctive #77 was once driven by Bruce Jennings who clocked up at least 30 victories mostly in Porsche’s between 1952 and 1981. The 911T with the distinctive solid alloy wheels appears to be the car Bruce shared with Bob Tullis in the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours. The pair started 46th and failed to finish.

Porsche 911S, Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

The #77 Carrera RS bodied Porsche 911S above appears to be the car Bruce shared with Bob Beasley and Bill Bean in the 1979 Six Hour race at Watkins Glen, despite a spin the trio started 40th and finished 18th.

Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Above is a 1974 era Carrera RSR bodied Porsche 911, it appears in the colours of the Gelo Racing Team though if it is one of the Gelo team cars I have yet to workout which one. If you know please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Porsche 934, Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Bruce Canepa of Canepa Design raced several Porsche’s back early 80’s I believe the single turbo 934 bodied example above was one of them that was originally raced by George Dyer through 1977 prior to Bruce acquiring the car and fitting a 935 flat nose more usually seen on the twin turbo 935 models raced primarily in Europe. If this is the same car then Bruce Canepa, Rick Mears and Monte Sheldon appear to have driven it to a third place finish from 19th on the grid in the 1979 Daytona 24 hours.

Porsche 934/5, Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Bruce drove several other 935 bodied Porsche’s notably with Gianpiero Moretti in the Momo team, at the time of writing I am not at all sure what the history of the flat nosed 935 bodied Porsche is, again if you know please chime in below.

Canepa Porsche Speedster 962 Twin Turbo, Nielllo Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Finally filed under outrageous road car is this twin turbocharged Canepa Design built Porsche Speedster which confirms Bruce Canepa’s addiction to fast cars.

My thanks to Karl Krause for sharing today’s photographs and to Geoffrey Horton for his help in procuring them.

Thanks for joining me on this “911’s 50th Anniversary” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the final incarnation, to date, of the Ford Thunderbird this one driven by none other than Halle Berry. Don’t forget to come back now.

Rolling Into Records – Howmet TX #2

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In 1967 Philadelphian sports car racer Ray Heppenstall persuaded his friend Tom Fleming that a conventional sports car with an aircraft gas turbine engine might make a competitive racing car. Fleming, sales vice-president of Howmet a major suppliers of precision castings to the aircraft gas turbine industry, and Heppenstall in turn convinced the board of Howmet that such a program would be a great way to promote their business.

Two spaceframe chassis based on a Can Am design were built and fitted with Continental TS325-1 turboshaft motors that were donated from a batch of ten motors Continental had developed for a failed observation helicopter contract. The motors produced 330 hp and were given a 3 litre / 183 cui equivalency rating by the regulation governing FIA. In order to comply with the reverse gear regulations a separate electric motor drive was employed.

Howmet TX, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Today’s featured car chassis #2 is the second of the two Howmet’s built with a slightly longer wheel base. The week after Ray had recorded the teams first victory and the first ever for a gas turbine powered car at Huntsville, Dick Thompson repeated the feat driving #2 at Marlboro winning the SCCA Preliminary then sharing the car with Ray to win the 300 mile feature race.

In July ’68 Ray and Dick shared chassis #2 again to come home third overall and first in class at the Watkins Glen 6 hour race behind a pair of 4.7 litre / 286 cui Ford GT40’s.

Howmet TX, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Ray recorded a third place finish driving chassis #2 at Donnybrook in August ’68 before both Howmet’s were shipped to Europe for the Le Mans 24 Hours, which had been delayed until September from it’s usual June date by civil unrest and strikes involving 11,000,000 French workers.

#2 was the faster of the two Howmets in qualifying for the 24 hour endurance classic Dick and Ray qualifying 20th two seconds faster and four spots ahead of the sister machine driven by Hugh Dibley and Bob Tullis. In the race the cars were hampered on the corners because the single gear was designed to optimise performance on the 4 mile Mulsanne straight.

Dibley / Tullis were disqualified after a three hour pit stop to change a rear hub bearing for covering insufficient distance after seven hours, while #GTP2 had a faulty fuel control which restricted the cars top speed to just 100 mph. During the evening Dick lost control and rolled the car at the slightly banked Indianapolis corner.

Howmet TX, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Note the rear lights sourced from the original iteration of the Ford Cortina, according to Bob Mckee other proprietary parts used to finish the Howmet included front indicators from a Ferrari, Porsche wipers, modified Triumph steering and Mustang door latches.

Howmet withdrew their support for the project after Le Mans having determined the disadvantages of throttle lag, running the car with a single gear, absence of engine braking and high fuel consumption were insurmountable issues for competitive entries in the long run.

Ray Heppenstall rebuilt #GTP2 with open spyder bodywork and in 1970 timed by IMSA officials recorded six World Records for standing starts over 1/4 mile, 1/2 km and 1 km distances in two weight divisions for vehicles upto and over 1000 kgs. Ray’s fastest speed of 167.97 mph was recorded in the lighter division over 1 km all set on a stretch of open road adjacent to Talladega Super Speedway !

With the motors returned to Continental Ray bought the worlds only gas turbine powered race winning cars for a nominal dollar from Howmet in 1971. Chuck Haynes had Bob McKee restore #2 back into Coupé form in 1996, it is now fitted with an Allison 250C18 turboshaft helicopter motor which is lighter but with a similar power output to the original.

My thanks to Pete Stowe for additional in formation on the Hownet’s regarding the records chassis numbers and a quote from Bob Mckee on the proprietary parts used.

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

PS Push to Pass Latest Formula One news and opinion today at Motorsports Unplugged

Coming up Short – Triumph TR8 Twin Turbo

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All of motor sport is littered with heroic failure and there is possibly none less understandable than the Janspeed Engineering Triumph TR8 twin turbo, when one considers John Buffum’s success with the TR8 on the US Rally Stages in North America and Bob Tuliis equally outstanding success with his TR8 on the race tracks, so much in fact Bob was forced into a successful switch from SCCA to IMSA series.

Like the Buffum and Tullis programmes Janspeed’s Le Mans programme had absolutely zero factory backing but unlike Buffum and Tullis, Janspeed did not even have a budget to run the car let alone test it.

Legend has it that this vehicle started life as a left hand drive test hack used by Janspeed on behalf of British Leyand, when the tests had been completed Jan Odour acquired the vehicle with the intention of preparing it for a British modified series, however a change of rules in that series, around 1977, led Jan Odour to attempt something far more ambitious namely to take on the onslaught of Group 5 Porsche 935‘s in the World Sports Car series.

The Janspeed TR8 ran with a dry sumped twin turbo version of the all alloy Olds/Buick V8 design purchased by Rover and was said to produce over 500 hp, but it failed to set a qualifying time on it’s debut at Silverstone in 1980, where the car was loaned out to ADA Engineering in a vane effort to get the car onto the track.

Later at Le Mans despite being recorded travelling in excess of 200 mph on the Mulsanne the car failed to qualify.

I remember looking forward to seeing what the TR8 could do when I returned to Silverstone in 1981, despite arriving in time to catch qualifying I was already too late, the car had been crashed and withdrawn from the race much to my disappointment.

Later in 1981 the car ran again at Brands Hatch where it qualified but failed to finish after a spin and a stall, unfortunately I was in Germany at the time so I never did get to see possibly my all time favourite Triumph run.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s twin turbo edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at a truly unique vehicle that was perhaps just an on board sick bag short of reaching production. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Tullis

Monterey Brits – Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Michelotti Zest – Triumph TR4

911’s 50th Anniversary – Niello Serrano Concours d’Elegance

Rolling Into Records – Howmet TX #2

Coming up Short – Triumph TR8 Twin Turbo