Tag Archives: Firenza

Baby Bertha – Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza

After disposing of “Old Nail” at the end of 1974 Bill Blydenstein received funding from Dealer Team Vauxhall to create a new Super Saloon based on a 4 door Vauxhall Ventora saloon shell and fitted with a 476 hp 5 litre / 302 cui Repco tuned Holden V8, Borg Warner T10 gearbox, Salisbury Power Lock differential, AP racing disc drakes, double wishbone suspension on the front with 12″ x 15″ slicks and de Dion rear suspension with 15″ x 15″ slicks.

Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Driver Gerry Marshall soon dubbed the car Big Bertha and won three of the six races he started in the beast before it shed some brake pads and ended up in the Silverstone crash barriers, it’s meticulously built shell beyond repair.

Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza, Race Retro, Stoneleigh

Vauxhall had second thoughts about offering a V8 Ventora to the public in light of the fuel crises, so Bill and DTV decided to build today’s featured Droop Snoot Firenza out of all the bits salvaged from the wrecked shell of Big Bertha.

Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

It was not long before the car became known as Baby Bertha and over the next three years Gerry raced the car in 40 events and won 37 of them, retired from 2 and was beaten only once by a cheeky little 270 hp Hillman Imp driven by Jonathon Buncombe that was built on a 1971 Chevron B19 sports car chassis and known as The Chimp, soon after it’s win The Chimp was effectively banned from Super Saloon events because of protests regarding it’s wheel base which was longer than the mandated standard Imp length.

Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza, Piers Ward, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Paul Haywood-Halfpenny bought Baby Bertha in 1978 and had a disastrous season with it that he reckoned cost him £1,000 per lap, at a time when the average wage was only £5000.

Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In the 1980’s current owner Joe Ward bought Baby Bertha after Gerry Marshall, among others, had owned it and raced it one more time to a second place finish at Thruxton. Joe’s son Piers is seen at the wheel in the photo above at Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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

Old Nail – Vauxhall Firenza

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In May 1971 Vauxhall launched a two door coupé version of it’s Viva sedan known as the Firenza and the shell of today’s car started life as one of the prototype Firenza’s on which Vauxhall put through it’s paces to ensure the model met it’s performance and quality criteria.

Vauxhall Firenza, Donington Grand Prix Collection

After Vauxhall had finished with the car they rewarded Bill Blydenstein of Blydenstein Developments who with driver Gerry Marshall had campaigned a success Vauxhall Viva GT with the car and a funding deal which became known as Dealer Team Vauxhall.

01 Vauxhall Firenza_6158sc

Bill Blydenstein and Gerry Johnston prepared the car, which included lowering the front suspension and widening the wheel arches to incorporate wide slick racing tyres, for Gerry Marshall to drive in the 1972 BARC Forward Trust Championship which he promptly won outright.

Vauxhall Firenza, Race Retro,

In 1973 Vauxhall introduced the Firenza HP with its distinctive “droopsnoot” for which Bill Blydenstein claimed some of the credit.

Vauxhall Firenza, Gregor Marshall, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

“Old Nail” as Gerry Marshall dubbed her, was similarly modified and raced to two further Class Championship wins in the BARC Forward Trust Championships in 1973 and 1974 by which time Gerry had clocked up 62 race victories in the car.

Vauxhall Firenza, , Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Bill Dryden acquired Old Nail in 1975 and he drove the car to a further three race victories and a Championship Class win in the 1975 Scottish Saloon Car Championship.

The 250hp 2.3 litre motor fitted with Lotus twin cam heads seen in these photographs, has been in the car since 1973, Gerry’s son Gregor is seen driving the car at Goodwood Festival of Speed a couple of years ago.

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

Talent Class Of ’13 – Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8

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After 15 years of under achievement, in which the team bearing his name best season was marked by two fourth place finishes, Giancarlo Minardi sold out to Australian Airline Magnate Paul Stodart in 2000.

Kvyat, Toro Rosso STR8, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Over the ensuing 5 seasons the perennial back markers remained just that scoring just 4 points scoring finishes, to his credit Paul Stodart determined that he would sell the team on only if those buying could add and commit to significantly improving the teams performance. He kept his word selling at the end of 2005 to a pair of Austrians Gerhard Berger, a former driver and Dieter Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull who had bought the Jaguar Grand Prix team only 12 months earlier and rebranded it Red Bull Racing.

Ricciardo, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P1, Silverstone

For 2006 the Minardi team became Suderia Toro Rosso in deference to it’s home town in Firenza, Italy, and was operated as a talent feed for Red Bull Racing. The team took over the contract for the supply of Cosworth motors from Red Bull Racing while Red Bull switched to a supply of Ferrari motors. Additionally Toro Rosso used an updated 2005 Red Bull chassis for it’s 2006 programme.

Vergne, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

2006 and 2007 saw no significant improvement in results with just three points paying finishes despite the team taking over Red Bull Racings contract for the supply of Ferrari motors in 2007 when Red Bull Racing switched to Renault motors. 2008 however saw Sebastian Vettel join the team and there was a dramatic up turn in results with Vettel scoring 5 consecutive points paying finishes topped by a 100/1 win in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P1, Silverstone

With the team finishing sixth in the championship Berger shrewdly sold his share of Toro Rosso to Mateschitz who equally shrewdly moved Vettel over to his main show at Red Bull Racing which now had top designer Adrian Newey on it’s books. For 2009 Toro Rosso managed six points paying finishes and slipped back to a familiar 10th place in the Championship standings.

Vergne, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

For 2010 new regulations meant the team could no longer rely on cast off chassis from Red Bull and so came up with it’s first unique chassis and since then points finishes have become a little less sporadic, but the team has not finished any season higher than 8th in the championship. Going into 2013 Jean Eric Vergne, above, and Daniel Ricciardo, below, were retained to drive the Ferrari powered STR8 designed under the leadership of Technical Director James Key.

Ricciardo, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

Having scored only 26 points between them in 2012 Vergne and Ricciardo managed an improvement to score 33 points in 2013. The main difference being the improvement in form of Ricciardo who scored seven more points more than his team mate, having scored six less the year before.

Vergne, Toro Rosso STR8, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

This was particularly noticable having kicked in after the announcement of the retirement from Red Bull from Ricciardo’s Australian compatriot Mark Webber. Ricciardo now looks forward to replacing Webber and driving alongside four time champion Sebastian Vettel.

Vergne, Toro Rosso STR8, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Having scored the teams best finish of 2013 a sixth place in the Canadian Grand Prix Jean Eric secured a third season at Toro Rosso where he will be joined by the teams Russian 2013 test driver Daniil Kvyat (seen testing at Silverstone in the first photo). For 2013 Toro Rosso will be powered by the same Renault power trains as Red Bull Racing and it will be interesting to see if the team can pick up it’s game in a season where reliability is expected to be a key issue with the introduction of new hybrid power trains.

You can follow the fortunes of Toro Rosso on their website linked here and twitter feed linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Talent Class Of ’13” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an LA PD Interceptor. Don’t forget to come back now !

Luton’s Finest – Vauxhall HP Firenza 9F37REX111999

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Like the recently featured South African Chevrolet Firenza Can Am the High Performance (HP) Firenza was a top of the range Viva HC Coupé model but built for the UK market and though intended to be produced in far larger numbers, 30,000 projected units, only 204 HP Firenza’s were built along with a further 197 estate / station wagon variants.

The distinctive ‘Droopsnoot’ grp nose was restyled styled by Wayne Cherry and based on the nose of a well known Dealer Team Vauxhall Firenza raced by Gerry Marshall called ‘Old Nail’ that will it’s self be the subject of a future GALPOT blog. The twined headlights are interchangeable with the Renault Alpine A310.

Under the unusual for the period aerodynamic nose was a 131 HP 2297 cc / 140 cui slanted 4 cylinder engine enough to power the HP Firenza with a drag co efficient of cd 0.4 from rest to 60 mph in 8 secs and to a top speed of 120 mph.

Though the paint work of this particular car built in 1975 is not the original ‘Starlight Silver’ this car carries similar decals to those carried by a small series of vehicles for a one off publicity race organised at Thruxton to launch the model, a race won by Barry ‘Whizzo’ Williams.

The HP Firenza was undoubtedly a styling triumph for Vauxhall yet the car was also an unmitigated marketing disaster thanks to the after effects of the ’70’s fuel crisis, though design elements of the nose did find their way into future Vauxhall products notably the Chevette and Cavalier which were in essence badge engineered Opel models.

Thanks for joining me on today’s Droopsnoot edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at another performance saloon carrying a blue oval badge. Don’t forget to come back now !

Viva Firenza ! – Chevrolet Firenza Can Am

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The Vauxhall Viva range of small family cars were designed in Luton and built primarily at Ellesmere Port with some also built in Luton, England to compete originally against the likes of the Morris Minor and Ford Anglia.

Introduced in 1963 the HA Viva went through 2 stylistic upgrades HB in 1966 and HC in 1970. Production of the Viva ceased in 1979.

For 1971 a coupe bodied HC VIva was introduced known as the Firenza to compete against the Ford Capri and it is this body shell that features on today’s featured car.

There was also a South African Firenza production line which sold the model under the Chevrolet brand with three engine options 1.3 litre / 76 cui Vauxhall, 1.9 litre / 115 cui Opel and a limited homologation edition of 100 with Chevrolet small block 4948 cc / 302 cui engines. These motors were originally conceived for the first generation Camaro Z28 with which Roger Penske and Mark Donohue dominated the 1968 and 1969 ‘Trans Am’ series.

The ‘302’ also had a successful career in the Formula A/5000 series sanctioned by the SCCA.

The Can Am connection suggested by the sticker above most likely refers to the 2nd generation 305 cui Can Am which ran from 1977 to 1986, rather than the unlimited original Can Am which ran from ’66 – ’74 where larger variations of the Chevrolet ‘small block’ were used exclusively in Chevrolet powered Can Am challengers until Penske and Chaparral introduced Chevrolet ‘big blocks’ in 1967.

Back in it’s heyday the South African only spec Chevrolet Firenza would also compete in rally’s with a high wing (see 15 secs) of the type that today would most probably only be seen on a vehicle competing on Pikes Peak.

Running an HPI check on this vehicle revealed that the registration is associated with a Vauxhall Viva 1256 SL fitted with the larger 1800cc / 109 cui 4 cylinder motor which was often used with the automatic transmission option.

I am not sure if this indicates the vehicle in the photos started life as a Viva and was converted to Chevrolet Firenza spec or if the car in these photos is one of the original 100 Chevrolet Firenza’s that has had an old number plate that was once registered to a Viva, if anyone knows which of these possibilities is definitively the case please chime in below or send me an e-mail, e-mail address can be accessed from my Blogger Profile page.

Jan Hettema, who’s Chevrolet Firenza the paintwork on this vehicle represents, won the South African Rally Championship 5 times, the last of which was in 1976. Basil van Rooyen was amongst several drivers to use a Chevrolet Firenza in South African endurance races and is known to have finished 4rd at Cape Town behind 3 2 seat, 2 litre racing cars in November 1973.

My thanks to the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club who kindly gave me a lift to Race Retro back in February, and to E1 pix, buckaluck, 2F-001, Lee Nicole, Tom, Bob, Frank and Rob of The Nostalgia Forum for filling me in on the history of the competition history Chevrolet ‘302’ small block.

Thanks for joining me on this South African spec edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again for tomorrow for a look at a one off V8 conversion. Don’t forget to come back now !

16 06 11 Update, I found out last night that the Chevy Firenza fitted with the 302 cui was marketed as the Chevy Firenza Can Am. More info here.

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Firenza

Baby Bertha – Vauxhall Holden Repco Firenza

Old Nail – Vauxhall Firenza

Talent Class Of ’13 – Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8

Luton’s Finest – Vauxhall HP Firenza 9F37REX111999

Viva Firenza ! – Chevrolet Firenza Can Am