Author Archives: psychoontyres

Broken Promises – DB Panhard HBR

Somehow almost overlooked this photo by Ed Arnaudin of John B Mull in his DB Panhard competing in Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958, although John did not finish this race, we shall see this is a significant model in the world of national and international class H up to 750 cc 45.7 cui racing.

The manufacture of DB cars commenced after a promised drive failed to materialise at the 1936 French Sports Car Grand Prix for Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet. The following year they entered a special of their own devising using the remnants of of a Citroen Traction Avant 11 CV.

Their specials placed in the very first post war race in Paris in 1945 and with the construction of the open wheel DB7 Automobiles Deutsch & Bonnet became a business entity in 1947.

Unhappy with the supply of Citroen parts they switched primarily to using flat twin Panhard motors of 744 cc / 45.4 cui. DB Panhards took class victories at the Mille Miglia, four times, Le Mans, three times, Sebring, twice and SCCA class H, the latter in 1958 with Howard Hanna at the wheel and in 1959 with Ray Heppenstall at the wheel.

Despite their on track success after building nearly 1000 vehicles, a disagreement over the architecture of their next model led to Deutsch and Bonnet going their separate ways forming CD and Automobiles René Bonnet respectively, the latter using Renault power became part of Matra Automobiles in 1965.

Panhard which as Panhard et Levassor had been in business since 1897 was absorbed in to Citroen in 1965 with the last vehicle produced in 1967 the name is still to be found in use as a brand of French built military vehicle.

The HBR model seen here was built from 1954 to 1961 on the most common DB chassis shared with Mille Miles and Coach models of which a combined total of 660 were made.

John B Mull appears to have had a collection of vehicles to race with Evelyn Mull between them they are known to have raced a Jaguar XK120, AC Ace Bristol, Austin Healey 100 S and this DB Panhard, JB is also known to have raced an OSCA S750.

Hope you have enjoyed the Race 1 Thompson CT 20th July 1958 series, my thanks to Ed and Steve Arnaudin for the photograph and to Terry O’Neil for the race results. Join me tomorrow for Ferrari Friday when we will be looking at a vehicle driven by a reigning 3 time World Grand Prix Champion on it’s victorious debut and a month later was driven to a class victory by the USA’s first future world champion. Don’t forget to come back now!

Colin’s Eleven – Lotus XI

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Today’s photographs by Ed Arnaudin conclude our coverage of Race 1 at Thompson, CT on July 20th 1958 with a look at the winning Lotus XI of Floyd Aaskov.

Approximately 270 Lotus XI’s were produced from 1956 to 1958 including the Series 2, often unofficially referred to as the XIII. the Lotus Eleven Register believes around 200 have survived.

The XI could be built to accept a variety of engines most like Floyd Aaskov’s seen here were fitted with a 4 cylinder 1098 cc /67 cui Coventry Climax engine. Like the Lotus IX we looked at yesterday the bodywork was penned by Frank Costain and crafted by Lotus neighbours in Hornsey, Williams & Pritchard.

It is believed the Lotus XI model was driven to over 148 victories in 1956, additionally Stirling Moss set a class G closed circuit lap record at Monza of over 143 mph in a 67 cui XI with a special cockpit fairing and Peter Jopp and Reg Bicknell took class G honours and 7th overall at Le Mans although the boss, Colin Chapman, driving the larger engine Class E XI having survived a miserably wet night was disappointed to retire while running second in the 1500 cc 91.5 cui class to a Porsche with engine failure.

Legend has it that the XI was so close to Colin Chapman’s affections that early Lotus road models were given names evocative of the number Eleven,hence the Elite, Elise, Elan.

Floyd Aaskov, in the #12 Lotus XI seen taking the starting flag in second place here is known to have raced from at least 1957 to 1968, records indicate he may have started racing in a ’57 Mercedes 300 SL which seems a tad fanciful though no doubt stranger things have happened. Running competitively in the GM class Lotus XI until 1962 he then moved on to the pre Can Am USRRC series with larger sports cars. Records indicate Floyds last season was 1968 when he drove a Camaro in the Trans Am series, this may not be the complete picture on his career, if you know different please chime in below !

The cars I and others have been able to discern on the grid thus far are :-

Row 1 #15 R Nerney, Abarth 207A Spider, #12 Floyd Aaskov, Lotus X1
Row 2 #92 Nick Fallone Jomar MK 2 #28 Ray Saidel, Jomar
Row 3 #113 Paul Bleustein, Cooper, #26 Len Bastrup, Lotus IX
Row 4 # ????? #27 P Sagan, Fiat Abarth 750 GT Zagato
Row 5 #95 J Iglehart, Nardi MD4 Spyder #46 J Mull D B Panhard # ?????? #?????

Interestingly one source has a #150 Lotus XI anchoring the entry list for this meeting scheduled to be driven by one and only ‘Walter Cronkite‘.

Thanks as always to Ed and Steve Arnaudin for the fascinating photographs, to Terry O’Neil for the results to everyone on the Fuzzy Longshot Identity thread at TNF including Vitesse2 and raceanouncer2003 for their contributions. I believe that is the way it was.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s eleventh hour edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at a seriously old timer at Bridgehampton in 1957. Don’t forget to come back now !

You can’t reverse that thing here mate ! – Lotus IX

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Moving up the field at Thompson CT on 20th July 1958 today Ed Arnaudin’s photo’s feature a Lotus IX driven by Len Bastrup a respected Lotus driver who finished 2nd in Race 1 for class G, HP & HM cars.

Around thirty Lotus IX models were manufactured from 1954 to 1955 with a variety of engines available from MG, Connaught and Bristol, this particular model had the most common 4 cylinder 1098 cc / 65.4 cui Coventry Climax Class G spec motor .

The body was penned by Frank Costin, brother of Mike who gave the Cos to Cosworth, and manufactured by Williams & Pritchard, who GALPOT regulars might remember were responsible for an all time favourite of mine the special body on a BMW 315/1.

Colin Chapman the dynamo behind Lotus Cars and accomplished racing driver entered a IX for the Le Mans 24 hours in 1955.

During the race he crashed his car into a sand bank. Thinking nothing of the incident he reversed out and was promptly disqualified for unauthorised reversing.

Len Bastrup was racing from at least 1953 to 1960 starting in MG’s and then moving to Lotus cars in 1955. He shared a Lotus XI at the Sebring 12 hours in 1956 with Lotus founder Colin Chapman which burst into flames after an accident in practice which caused terminal damage and withdrawal from the race before it had started.

My thanks to Ed Arnaudin for the photographs, his son Steve for sending them on and Terry O’Neil for the race results.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s 45.5cui edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Double Bubble – FIAT Abarth 750 GT Zagato Coupé

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Continuing the series of posts relating to Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958 captured on camera by Ed Arnaudin, today we are looking at the fascinating FIAT Abarth 750 Zagato driven by Paul Sagan to 6th place overall the only class H finisher.

After the 22 hp FIAT 600 was launched in 1955 Carlo Abarth set about maximising the potential of tuning the engine by increasing the size from 633 / 38.6 cui to 747 / 45.6 cui fitting a Nardi inlet manifold and increasing the compression ratio to produce 47 hp.

Meanwhile while Zagato set about building a Coupé based on the same car the 30 hp 600 TS, when Abarth saw the coupe he suggested to Zagato they work together to produce a vehicle for racing in the popular 750 cc 45.6 cui sports car class prevalent in national and international racing at the time.

Over 600 of these successful racing vehicles which won the SCCA class H in ’59 ’60 and ’61, are thought to have been built between 1956 and 1960 when the maximum permitted engine sizes for the various national racing classes were changed. The ‘double bubble’ name which is derived from the two humps in the roof stuck in America where a chewing gum brand bearing the same name was popular.

Paul Sagan is known to have been successful driving Porsche 550’s in 1956 and 1957 before he moved over to running the #27 FIAT Abarth 750 during and after which his record is sketchy though he seems to have returned to racing Porsches by 1961.

My thanks to Terry O’Neil for the race results and Steve Arnaudin for his Dad Ed’s pictures, wishing Ed all the best on his return home from hospital.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s double bubble edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at the cool 2nd place Lotus IX of Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20 July 1958. Don’t forget to come back know !

HM Racer – Nardi MD4 Spyder

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Todays post comes courtesy of photographer Ed Arnaudin who’s photo’s were kindly forwarded to me courtesy of his son Steve.

Featured today is a Nardi ND 4 Spyder, seen here at the New York Championship Race meeting, Thompson CT July 20th 1958 where it came in 11th driven by John Igleheart in Race 1, a race which I will be returning to tomorrow.

Enrico Nardi was an Italian racing driver, engineer and designer who worked for Lancia and the works Alfa Romeo Scuderia Ferrari Team. Enrico is credited with being one of the first two drivers to race the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, considered to be the very first Ferrari model in all but name, in the 1940 Mille Miglia.

In 1951 Nardi established his own workshops on Via Lancia, Torino to build prototypes and one of the strangest vehicles out side of Can Am 2 the twin boom Nardi Bisiluro for the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The mid 1950’s ND4 Spyder is one of many of Nardi’s 750 cc vehicles which came in a variety of shapes powered by a variety motors including JAP, Crosley, Panhard and in the case of this particular vehicle a 4 cylinder 43 hp 747 cc / 45.5 cui FIAT unit sourced from the FIAT 600 parts bin.

John Igleheart driver of the #95 seems to have been a specialist at racing cars with small motors he is known to have raced from at least 1953 to 1968, he seems to have been most successful driving a ‘Bobsy’.

My thanks again to Ed and Steve Arnaidin for todays valuable contribution and to Terry O’ Neil for the race results.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s 45.5cui edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Piccoli Ferrari – Siata 208S

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Today’s photograph by Carlyle Blackwell comes from Ed Arnaudin’s collection and I’d like to thank his son Steve for sending it to me.

Photo Carlyle Blackwell, Publised Courtesy Blackwell Archive, for sales enquiry’s please e-mail infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk and your contact details will be forwarded to the Blackwell Archive.

Just 35 Siata 208S’s were manufactured in Italy from 1953 to 1955. Of those 25 were imported into the USA by Ernie Mcafee.

The cars were fitted with a 105 hp FIAT 70 degree V8 2 litre / 122 cui ‘8V’ engine which allegedly was so named because FIAT erroneously believed Ford owned the V8 trade mark.

The 208S is known to have been driven to victories by among others Bob Kuhn, Dick Hayward and Douglas Diffenderfer who was winning races as late as 1960.

Probably the most famous owner of a 208S was Steve McQueen who apparently replaced the badges on his car with Ferrari badges and called it ‘Little Ferrari‘.

It should be noted that Ernie Mcafee and Jack McAfee, who appeared on this blog a couple of weeks ago, were not related, though the younger Jack did work for Ernie and on one occasion raced with Ernie sharing a Parravano Ferrari in the 1952 Panamericana.

They often raced against each other right up until Ernie’s last race at Pebble Beech on April 22nd 1956 in which he was killed when his car hit a tree. A crash incidentally that heralded the end of Pebble Beech as a venue for racing and led to the development of racing at Laguna Seca in 1957.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s ‘Piccoli Edition’ of getting a lil’ psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

28 07 12 PS My thanks to Pamela Blackwell who has kindly retrospectively given me permission to post the photo’s her father took.

Lennon’s on sale again, Lot No: 363 – Ferrari, 330 GT, #06781, 1964.

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I’d like to thank Steve Arnaudin for sending me a link to the subjects of today’s Ferrari Friday.

Lot No: 363 is billed as the greatest “collision of universes” on one website, and it’s not hard to disagree, it is well known that John Lennon had a couple of Rolls-Royce Phantom V Limousine‘s one of which was famously painted by J.P. Fallon Limited to become known as the ‘psychedelic Rolls‘ though the design is actually based on traditional designs of gypsy caravans one of which John had purchased for his garden.

John said of his Rolls that it was for ‘relaxing’.

Less well known was that John also had a Mini for ‘pottering about in’, and by all accounts had a crash involving his Austin Maxi.

News to me thirty years after his death is that John also bought this Ferrari, his biography ‘John Lennon – A Life’ by Philip Norman tells us “In February 1965, John passed his driving test, an event that made headline news across the nation. Within hours, every luxury car dealership in the Weybridge area, hoping for business, jammed the road outside Kenwood’s security gates with Maseratis, Aston Martins, and Jaguar XK-E’. John strolled out to inspect this gleaming smorgasbord, eventually selecting a £2,000 light blue Ferrari.’ “

This is the car sold on 20th April 1965 registered with these DUL 4 C plates to John who was officially recorded as living in central London at the time.

The 330 engine featured 12 cylinders of 330 cc / 20 cui each, from which the 330 name stems, giving the Colombo V12 a total capacity of 3,960 cc / 241 cui capable of producing 300 hp. This engine would form the basis of several racing motors including that used by the Ferrari P4.

John’s Right Hand Drive US bodied 330 GT was fitted with electric windows, a Webasto Sunroof and is one of 508 equipped with the original 4 speed gearbox with overdrive.

Unfortunately John’s car is no longer it’s original Azzuro Light Blue VM 3015 colour, the current darker colour was applied during a restoration in the 1990’s after the car had been found ten years earlier painted red.

The 330 GT came with shiny Borrani wheels adjustable Koni shock absorbers, rear leaf springs assisted by coils, unusually the dual circuit servo assisted braking had one servo operating exclusively on the front and the other exclusively on the rear brakes.

John said of his Ferrari he bought it ‘for zoom’ on 12th of November 1965 six months later DUL 4 C was advertised for sale with 3,000 miles on the clock.

The car is for up for auction at Bonhams Grand Palais event in Paris tomorrow it will be interesting to see if it fetches the maximum estimated € 170,000 in these times of economic uncertainty, my guess is that this is an extremely conservative estimate designed to draw the punters in.

Hope you have enjoyed todays Ferrari Friday ‘zoom’ edition of Gettin’ a little psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at a Piccoli Ferrari. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring