Tag Archives: C

Five Group C Classics – Silverstone Classic

Third in a series of five blogs celebrating Silverstone Classic’s Silver Jubilee today’s blog looks at five stunning Group C cars, which round out the meetings Super Saturday’s by racing into the evening, that have competed in the event over the years.

Jaguar XJR-11, Gary Pearson, Silverstone Classic,

Gary Pearson’s 1989 Jaguar XJR-11 above marks a significant ramping up of Jaguar’s efforts to remain at the top of the Group C tree by switching from a stock block derived 7 litre / 432 cui V12 to a MG Metro 6R4 derived twin turbo 3.5 litre / 216 cui V6 that produced around 750hp.

Nissan RC90, Steve Tandy, Silverstone Classic,

For the 1991 season Nissan sold one of there Lola built R90C chassis, #07, to Nova Engineering for use in the 1991 All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, Nova fitted a body developed in the Yatabe (Japan Automobile Research Institute—JARI) wind tunnel and called the car seen above with Steve Tandy at wheel, the R91CK.

Lancia LC2, Roger Wills, Silverstone, Classic,

Going back to 1985 is Roger Wills Ferrari powered Lancia LC2/85 with it’s distinctive wider body than the original LC2’s raced in 1983 and ’84.

Courage C26S, Georg Kjallgren, Silverstone Classic

I believe the Courage C26S, seen above with Georg Kjallgren at the wheel, started life as the second chassis built in Le Mans by Courage Competition in 1984 originally powered by a Cosworth DFL V8, in 1989 it was fitted with a Twin Turbo Porsche flat 6 and brought up to C26S specification for the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours where it failed to qualify on speed and was further disqualified for running under weight.

Mercedes Benz C11, Bob Berridge, Silverstone Classic,

Coolest of the Group C cars in my eyes is the Mercedes Benz C11 built for the 199O World Sports Car Championship which season during which it took seven wins from the eight races started securing the constructors championship for Mercedes Benz and Drivers Championship for Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi, I believe the car seen above with Bob Berridge at the wheel was the prototype which was never raced in period, but has a very successful career as a historic racer.

More, including tickets, on this years Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five Group C Classics” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a trip to the recent Sonoma Historic meeting. Don’t forget to come back now !

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One Shift Short Of A Hero – Talbot Lago T26 GS #11056

In 1947 Anthony F. Lago and Carlo Marchetti designed the Talbot T26C Grand Prix open wheeler which featured a 4.5 litre / 274 cui straight six cylinder motor with triple carburetors which made it’s racing debut at Monaco in 1948. Despite requiring less fuel and fewer tyres during the course of races than the more powerful supercharged cars built by Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari the T26C was considered out dated but they did win two Grand Prix races in 1949.

In 1950 3 Talbot Lago Grand Prix cars, fitted with crude 2 seat bodies, cycle wings over the wheels and the necessary lighting for night driving, were entered in the Le Mans 24 hour race. The #5 driven for 23 and a quarter hours by Louis Rosier and the remainder by his son Jean-Louis came home first one lap ahead of the similar #7 driven by Pierre Meyrat and Guy Mairesse.

Six Talbot Lago’s were privately entered, as they had been in 1950, at Le Mans for 1952 but this time the French cars were comprehensively beaten by the Peter Walker entered Jaguar XK 129 C, C-Type, driven by Walker and Peter Whitehead who finished 9 laps ahead of Pierre Meyrat and Guy Mairesse who’s Talbot Lago completed three laps more than the previous year with the same overall result.

Talbot Lago T26 GS, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

All six Talbot Lago’s were rebodied as a result of a change in body work regulations which effectively outlawed cycle winged cars at Le Mans in 1952. Pierre “Levegh” Eugène Alfred Bouillon took it upon himself to stay in his car chassis #11056 that he was supposed to be sharing with René Marchand for over 22 hours. While leading the pursuing Mercedes Benz cars by 4 laps “Levegh” missed a gear selecting 2nd instead of 4th with terminal consequences for his engine that caused his retirement, with just over an hour to go, handing an unpopular 1-2 victory to the Mercedes Benz team.

So far as I have been able to ascertain today’s featured car seen at Goodwood in 2009 is chassis #11056 raced in 1951 at Le Mans by the Argentinians Froilan Gonzales and Onofre Marimon who retired before half distance with a broken radiator.”Pierre Levegh” acquired the car in 1952 and body work by Charles Deutsch was fitted to comply with the new regulations effectively outlawing cycle wings over the wheels.

Talbot Lago T26 GS, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In 1953 “Levegh”, racing under the name of his uncle a racer who died at the wheel of a racing car in 1904, returned to Le Mans for a second time with #11056 now sharing the car with Charles Pozzi to finish a distant 8th 400 kms behind the winning C type Jaguar of Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton. Lino Fayen joined Levegh in 1954 but this time #11056 retired after just 33 laps.

Pierre Levegh raced this car in at least a dozen other events between 1952 and April 1955 winning two of them in 1952 and 1954 at Montlhéry. On the 11th of June 1955 Pierre Levegh was invited to join the returning works Mercedes Benz team at Le Mans, on lap 34 he was involved with a collision with a slower car that saw him and his blazing 300SLR fatally land on barriers while parts of his car were hurled into the crowd and killing 82 spectators and injuring 100 more.

During the 1970’s the Deutsch body work was abandoned and the car was refitted with cycle wing bodywork as used by Gonzalez and Marimon in 1951. In 2006 11056 appeared at Pebble Beach with a likeness of the Deutsch bodywork as used by Pierre Levegh but there are significant differences not least the wider radiator grill than seen in 1952 and the curious addition of a NACA submerged duct in the spare wheel cover on the right side of the vehicle. So far as I know such ducts did not appear on Talbot Lago’s until 1953 on chassis #11055 and certainly not on chassis #11056.

If this outline is at variance with your understanding of today’s featured car please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Thanks for joining me on this “One Shift Short Of A Hero” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

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Thirty Years Ago #2 – Group C

On May the 16th 1982 I awoke excitied to catch my first glimpse of a new endurance sports car series at Silverstone. The Group C series was born out of the GT Prototype class which had hitherto run only at Le Mans for closed cockpit 2 seat cars with just safety features, some overall limits on dimensions and a limited amount of fuel for rules. Here is a summary of a few Group C cars I saw that day.

Porsche 956, Silverstone

It took three years for the series to really take off with support from three manufacturers but for that first year in 1982 Porsche were prepared in particularly overkill fashion with the Porsche 956 which used a 650 hp twin turbo charged 2.65 litre / 156 cui flat 6 motor that had originally been conceived for the banned 1980 Interscope Porsche Indy Car.

The motor was successfully tested in preparation for Group C in the back of two Porsche 936’s at Le Mans in 1981, Ickx and Bell scoring an emphatic win by 14 laps. Featuring an aluminium monocoque the 956 was designed to take full advantage of ‘ground effect’ aerodynamic technology that had been developing in Formula One since 1976.

Uniquely among the first generation of Group C cars the 956 had been tested in exactly the same way as all Porsche road car designs meaning it alone among it’s competitors could negotiate potted and cobbled streets with out any noticeable detriment to the integrity of the chassis or performance of the motor. Like the Porsche 935 and 936 models it replaced the 956 was utterly dominant in the first 3 years of Group C, sweeping aside a puny effort from Lancia who competed with the Ferrari powered Lancia LC 2 from 1983 to 1985, not having any real competition until the arrival of Jaguar in 1985. Quite simply the 956 nearly killed the series as in 1983 the first of 28 customer 956’s started to fill out the grid.

However Porsche did not have it quite their own way, in 1982, as Lancia sort to wrest the World Sports Car Drivers Championship from Porsche drivers by entering a couple of cars built to the old open top regulations, which had one year left to run, these open Group 6 cars did not need to adhere to the fuel consumption regulations of Group C. Lancia won three races outright including the Porsche 956’s debut race at Silverstone. However Lancia driver Ricardo Patrese was eight points short of winning the title which went to Jacky Ickx who shared the #1 956 seen at Silverstone above with Derek Bell. At Le Mans in 1982 the works Porsche team led by Ickx and Bell took 1,2,3 victory.

Chassis #001 driven here by Icks and Bell easily qualified on pole but constrained by the fuel allowance in the race meant they finished 3 laps behind the race winning Group 6 Lancia LC1. #001 was used on two further occasions, as a test car at Le Mans and in the 200 mile Norisring German Racing Championship (DRM) race which it won with Jochen Mass at the wheel, before it was retired.

In 1983 Ickx retained his World Endurance Drivers title, before handing it over to team mate Stefan Bellof in in 1984. Ickx retired from racing in 1986 after a fatal accident involving Bellof now driving for the private Brun Team at Spa in 1986.

Derek Bell shared the World Endurance Drivers title in 1986 and 1987 driving Porsche 962’s with team mate Hans-Joachim Stuck on both occasions.

Porsche 936C, Silverstone

While Porsche customer teams like Joest and Kremer had to wait until 1983 before being able to purchase customer Porsche 956’s with which to compete in the new series, neither sat idle in 1982 both teams building Group C cars of their own devising using Porsche engines.

Of the two the Joest team car was the first to compete, built around a Joest built Porsche 936 chassis #JR005 with a smaller 2.1 litre / 128 cui twin turbo flat 6 motor. The 936C driven by Frenchman Bob Wollek, and the Belgian Martin brothers, Jean-Michell and Philippe, finished third on it’s debut at Silverstone and continued to be a top ten finisher in Group C events until the end of 1986 when it was effectively outlawed by new footwell regulations.

Joest would become the Porsche factories team of choice whenever the works team was not present at the track. Joest cars won Le Mans in the absence of the factory team in 1984 and 1985 with the same 956B chassis #117, one of the few chassis to win the 24 hour marathon twice. Joest repeated the feat in 1996/1997 winning with Le Mans with the same TWR/Porsche. Joest Racing then became with the über successful Audi and Bentley campaigns that have dominated Le Mans since the turn of the century.

Bob Wollek never won the Le Mans 24 hour race but he did win the Daytona 24 hour race four times. Three of them driving the 956 successor Porsche 962’s.

Ford C100, Silverstone

Fords involvement in the series proved a little half hearted despite the involvement of Len Terry in the design and a Cosworth V8 DFL motor based on the 3 litre / 183 cui DFV but now stretched to 4 litres / 244 cui. The larger motors sounded frankly awful and suffered from excessive vibrations that hindered reliability.

Manfred Winklehock and Klaus Ludwig, who is seen at the wheel here, qualified 4th but could only finish eighth in the race. The C100’s only wins were recorded by Klaus Ludwig in the German DRM championship and by the end of 1982 Ford called a halt to it’s Group C programme.

Peer Motorsport acquired the two time DRM winning C100 chassis #04 for 1983, it was mostly raced in the British Thundersport Series where it recorded one further victory in the hands of Irishman David Kennedy and Scotsman Jim Crawford at Donington Park.

Klaus Ludwig would go on to join the Joest Team and won the 1984 and 1985 Le Mans driving the 956B chassis 117 sharing the driving with Henri Pescarolo in 1984 and Paolo Barilla and ‘John Winter’ in 1985.

WM P82, Silverstone

WM was founded by two Peugeot design studio employees in 1969 Gerard Welter and Michel Meunier in 1969 who in their spare time built two cool coupe’s the first WM P69 was based on a Peugeot 204 Cabriolet platform and the second WM P70 was a mid engined design.

Their next effort the WM P76 was built to the Le Mans GTP regulations first announced in 1976 was powered by a Peugeot/Renault/Volvo (PRV) V6 stock block. Over the next 13 years they built 7 distinct models adding twin turbo’s the PRV motors in 1977. In 1980 they scored a best 4th place and first in GTP at Le Mans.

The WM P82 took part in 5 Group C races, Roger Dorchy, Jean Daniel Raulet and Michel Pignard driven car is seen above on the WM teams second ever outing abroad, it qualified 39th and finished 11th. The WM teams best 1982 result was on it’s first trip abroad to Monza where it qualified 11th and came in 6th. The teams natural reliance on the PRV block was probably it’s down fall for all though eventually tuned to give over 900 hp in 1988 it was actually designed to initially produce 150 to 200 hp.

Sensing that a win at Le Mans was not in their grasp by 1987 WM focused on becoming the first team to reach 400 km/h on the legendary 3.1 mile Mulsanne straight during the 24 hour race. With the engine producing 950 hp and all the cooling blanked off and special Michelin tyres the WM P88 of Roger Dorchy was timed at 405 km/h / 253 mph at 9pm in the evening of the 1988 race. This record will probably stand for all time given that in 1990 2 chicanes were added to the straight to slow the cars down. Rogers car unsurprisingly retired from the race with overheating issues.

WM made way for for an official Peugeot Works team in 1990, in 199O Gerard Welter took over the team completelu renaming it WR (Welter Racing), which scored a class win at Le Mans in 1993 and sensationally locked out the front row of the grid at Le Mans in 1995.

Lola T610, Silverstone

Lola’s involvement with Le Mans dates back to a contract with Ford to develop the fabled GT40, racing under it’s own name it has never won Le Mans. The T610 was powered by the same 4 litre / 244 cui Ford Cosworth DFL as the Ford C100, but proved even more unreliable, despite qualifying 8th at Silverstone, Guy Edwards and Rupert Keegan who is seen in the car here could manage only a 16th place finish.

The T610’s best result of the season was a 7th place finish at Brands Hatch. Lola would hook up with Nissan to produce several Group C Le Mans challengers at the end of the 1980’s including the outright qualifying lap record holding Nissan R90CK which held the record at 3m 27 secs from 1990 until 2008.

Guy Edwards would become a mover and shaker in Group C when he lent his considerable sponsorship finding talents towards the Jaguar Group C project run by Tom Walkinshaw Racing.

Sauber SHS C6, Silverstone

The Sauber SHS C6 was another Ford powered Group C contender and predictably unreliable Walter Brun and Seigfried Muller Jr qualified 12th and finished 13th after loosing the rear wing. The teams best result, a 4th place finish came during a DRM race at Hockenheim. The an SHS6 running in the privateer C2 class appeared in the Group series until 1986.

Peter Sauber hooked up with Mercedes Benz unofficially in 1986 and by 1987 started getting works support leading to a victory at Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship in 1989. Sauber went on to become a Mercedes Powered Formula One constructor returning the famous manufacturer to the top tier of the sport in 1993 after a 38 year break.

In 1983 Walter Brun ended up taking over the GS Sport Company that had been operating in partnership with Sauber in 1982. His operation eventually became a Porsche customer team running 956’s and then the replacement 962’s with which Brun Motorsport won the 1986 World Sports Prototype Championship. By 1992 the team folded after a dabbling in the disastrous EuroBrun Formula One project and attempting to build his own Judd powered Le Mans challenger.

Rondeau M382, Silverstone

Le Mans based Group C team Rondeau like WM started out competing at the 24 hour classic in the GTP class in 1976 winning the GTP class in both 1976 and 1977 under the Inaltera name.

In 1978 the team which always used 3 litre 183 cui Ford Cosworth V8 motors now raced under the founder, Jean, Rondeau’s own name. Jean Rondeau with Bernard Darniche and Jacky Haran scored his second Le Mans GTP class victory with an M378 and in 1979 the team won the unlimited sports prototype class at Le Mans going one better in 1980 with and overall Le Mans victory for Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.

Another Le Mans GTP class victory, 2nd overall, followed in 1981 for Haran, Phillipe Streif and Jean Louis Schlesser

Like Ford, Lola and Sauber, Rondeau plumped for the Cosworth DFL but somehow found some reliability where others had failed Pescarolo and Gorgio Francia indeed won the first ever Group C race, at Monza, with a Rondeau M382. Pescarolo and Gordon Spice seen above at Silverstone qualified 9th and finished 5th.

This same car won it’s class, 2nd overall, at the Nurburgring with Pescarolo and Rolf Stommelen at the wheel.

Rondeau M482, Silverstone

While the #23 M382 Rondeau was based on a design that could trace it’s origins back to the 1976 Inaltera the Rondeau team fielded a second design which should have taken advantage of the prevailing ground effect technology of the period unfortunately on it’s debut at Silverstone Jean Rondeau and Francois Migault could only qualify 27th and failded to finish after bodywork and suspension breakages. The car failed to appear at Le Mans and when it appeared in 1983 it was with heavily revised bodywork.

The Rondeau scored more points in Group C than any other team in 1982 but Porsche were allowed to have points accumulated by a car running in a lower GT class added to their points tally and were declared 1982 World Endurance Champions, Rondeau’s sponsor OTIS announced it’s immediate withdrawal from the team in disgust.

With no significant sponsorship Rondeau concentrated all of it’s efforts on Le Mans for 1983 all three DFL powered revised M482’s retired with motor related issues an only the Christian Bussi teams car recorded a finish, a lack luster 19th.

Rondeau’s team folded at the end of 1983 and Jean was killed by a train in a bizarre accident while following police car over a level crossing in 1985. Rondeau cars continued to appear in Group C races at Le Mans and elsewhere until 1987.

Nimrod NRA/C2, Silverstone

Finally while certainly not the last of the Group C cars that appeared at Silverstone in May 1982 the Nimrod NRA/C2 is notable because it featured an Aston Martin Tickford V8 motor, from the Vantage V8 model, which sounded fantastic in comparison with the Cosworth DFL V8 and the flat 6 Porsche. The private #32 Viscount Downe entry seen here driven by Ray Mallock and Mike Salamon qualified three places better than the works entry in 11th and finished 6th while the works car retired.

Through out 1982 the Viscount Downe entry out qualified the works entry usually by three places and manged a finish which the works entry never did. The Aston Martin Owners Club president Viscount Downe Team finishes secured a third place finish for Nimrod Aston Martin in the 1982 World Endurance Championship behind Porsche and Rondeau, with the more successful Lancia running in the old Group 6 class it was ineligible to score points in the manufacturers championship.

Both Nimrod teams continued into 1984 with the works team running AJ Foyt, Darrel Waltrip and Guillermo Maldonado in a Pepsi Challenger liveried example in the Daytona 24 Hours. However with ever more Porsche 956’s filling the grid and a distinct lack of reliability the works team folded in 1983 and the Viscount Downe team in 1984.

Ray Mallock would eventually run the Ecurie Ecosse team in the lower Group C2 class taking the class title in 1986 before overseeing the return, to Group C, of a fully works backed Aston Martin project in 1989. For 1990 Ray was involved with the Nissan R90CK project. His team has won numerous touring car titles with Vauxhall, Nissan and Chevrolet for whom he currently runs the successful works World Touring Car Championships cars.

Due to a concerted attempt to become an adult and various unavoidable associated commitments, weddings, graduation and such like it would be three years before I attended another Group C race, when I came back Group C was really taking off with Jaguar entering the fray and efforts from other teams like Toyota and Mercedes (Sauber) beginning to gather momentum. By the end of 1992 I had attended more than a dozen Group C races and seen some fantastic battles all of which will have to wait for future editions of GALPOT.

Thanks for joining me on this “Thirty Years Ago #2” edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the Simply Italian parade at the National Museum as originally promised yesterday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Pole Sister – Nissan R90CK

Like the Lancia LC2 seen in Monday’s post the Nissan R90CK seen here at Colin Bennett’s CGA Engineering Workshop is scheduled to appear at the Silverstone Classic for the Group C race next weekend.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

Three serious works teams gathered to contend the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1990, Jaguar with three cars were the eventual winners, Toyota with three cars did not really figure, but Nissan with 5 front line R90CK cars became the first Japanese manufacturer to sit on pole position at this endurance classic.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

The Nissan R90CK’s were built around Lola T90/10 chassis

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

and prepared for the World Endurance Championship by Nissan Motorsports Europe.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

This particular vehicle has a rear facing camera connected to the screen seen here to aid reversing. Mark Blundell’s pole winning 3m 27s Le Mans qualifying lap immortalised with cockpit cam can be seen on this mind boggling youtube clip.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

It is said that Mark had over 1000 hp available during his qualification lap from his 3.5 litre / 213 cui Nissan VRH35 V8 motor,

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

thanks to a ceased turbo waste gate.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

Mark recorded a top speed of 226.9 mph on the Mulsanne Straight speed strap between the two newly installed chicanes a record that apparently still stands.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

Six months after the unlikely Mazda victory at Le Mans in 1991, a NISMO version of the Lola T90/10 the Nissan R91CP won the 1992 Daytona 24 hour race in the hands of Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

At the end of the 1990 season Nissan withdrew from the World Prototype Sportscar Championship but continued to develop the RC90CK cars for the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship which the manufacturer won in 1990,’91 and ’92.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

This particular car is now owned by Katsu Kubota.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

While there is still a good supply of parts for these vehicles

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

the cost of running one is expensive.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

In 1990 the car driven by Kenny Acheson, Olivier Grouillard and Martin Donnelly

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

qualified in 5th place at Le Mans but was eliminated on the opening lap with a gearbox problem.

Nissan R90CK, CGA Engineering

I shall look forward to seeing this car in action, 21 years after I first saw one, at the Silverstone Classic next weekend.

That concludes a series of three Group C blogs, my thanks to Colin Bennett for his hospitality and Tony Gallagher for organising the trip to Colin’s workshop.

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

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Not Quite ‘The Right One’ – Lancia LC2/85

Today I am starting a series of three consecutive blogs on cars that competed in the Group C World Endurance Championship, during the 1980’s I had the good fortune to follow the Group C World Endurance Championship for sports cars from it’s inception through some high’s to it’s eventual death.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

The series was for closed 2 seater racing vehicles weighing a minimum 800 kgs / 1760 lbs with the only restriction on the engine being fuel consumption. The cars were expected to race for 1000 kms / 621 miles on 600 litres / 131.87 of fuel. It was soon realised by participants that they needed to run vehicles with around 600 hp to go the distance with the available fuel.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

This endurance fuel mileage racing series did not always produce the most riveting races though it was certainly had a few outstanding ones, but something about the endurance and fuel consumption formula appealed to me and the cars looked absolutely fabulous.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

History will recall the early years 1982 – 1987 were dominated by Porsche with only token resistance from today’s car the Martini Lancia LC2 which was first raced in 1983. Lancia had tried to steal the 1982 World Endurance Championship for Drivers by building the LC1 to older group 6 regulations that only had one year of eligibility.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

Not only did Lancia driver Riccardo Patrese come up short by 8 points to Porsches Jacky Ickx, but Lancia also in the process lost a whole years development on their Group C challenger to the all conquering Porsche 956 that Jacky Ickx had been driving.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

The first problem the Lancia LC2 faced in 1983 was inferior Pirelli radial tyres which could not take the strain of the ground effect downforce generated by the aerodynamic venturi at the back of the car. The cars proved quick in qualifying but to add to the problems at Lancia the twin turbo Ferrari V8 motors could not back the speed up with reliability.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

To cure the tyre issues the LC2’s ran with Dunlop cross ply tyres in 1984, this necessitated a change in suspension geometry. The cars were fast in qualifying as they had been in 1983 but the Speedline wheels were now not up to the job. Again the cars were fast in qualifying but rarely reliable over a race distance.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

For 1985 Lancia switched back to radial construction tyres now supplied by Michelin, the Dallara built aluminium chassis were widened with a pronounced step in the side bodywork.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

Again the cars were quick in qualifying but the Ferrari engines were unreliable. Though the team did score it’s one and only victory over the works Porsche team at Spa in a race that was called early out of respect foe Stefan Bellof who had been killed in the event. At the following race at Brands Hatch it looked like the Lancia team might score another victory over the works Porsche team when the two leading Lancia’s inexplicably hit it each other causing sufficient delays for the works Porsche to win again.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

The Martini Lancia LC2’s only appeared in a couple of races in 1986 before they withdrew from road racing completely. With just one win against the main opposition and a couple of win’s when the works Porsche team were not present the works Martini Lancia effort was justly reflected in three 2nd place finishes from 1983 – 1985 in the World Endurance Championship behind the mighty Porsche team.

Lancia LC2 - Silverstone Classic PD

This 1985 car features a slippery nose that was only ever seen at Le Mans.

Next weekend there will be a race for Group C cars at the Silverstone Classic in which this Lancia is scheduled to take part, I hope to be there it should be a magnificent event.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Martini edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be taking a look at a Group C challenger from Germany. Don’t forget to come back now !

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