Tag Archives: GALPOT

Company Car – Ferrari 360 Spider

GALPOT regulars may remember me posting a blog on the Ferrari 360 Spider last year, I have revisited this model, built in 2000, in honour of the original owner of this car, Ross Brawn team principle of Mercedes AMG Formula One team who’s driver Nico Rosberg won his and the teams first victory in China last weekend.

Ross, from Manchester England, became interested in engineering at the Belle Vue Stadium, Britain’s first oval track dating back to 1926, where he attended a variety of short track events.

After a spell with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell Oxfordshire where he studied instrumentation, Ross joined the race car manufacturer March Engineering where he worked as a milling machine operator and later as a race mechanic.

In 1978 Ross joined Williams as a machinist progressing through the Williams R&D and aerodynamics departments.
After spells with the Haas Lola and Arrow’s Grand Prix teams Ross moved to the Jaguar Sports Car team and was credited as the lead designer of the Jaguar XJR 14 which won the 1991 World Sports Car Championship.

Later in 1991 Ross became technical director at Benetton where he was joined by rising star Micheal Schumacher with whom he designed strategies to win the 1994 & 1995 World Drivers Championship and 1995 World Constructors Championships.

Towards the end of 1996 Ross joined Micheal at Ferrari, along with Benetton’s designer Rory Bryne to form a ‘Dream Team’ that won World Constructors Championships from 1999 to 2005 and the World Drivers Championships for Micheal Schumacher from 2000 – 2004.

After taking a sabbatical in 2007 Ross Brawn joined the under performing Honda team and spent the 2008 season developing the teams 2009 challenger only for Honda to withdraw from Grand Prix racing at the end of 2008 amidst global economic chaos.

Incredibly Ross managed to put together a deal to save the Honda team with a management buyout and secured a deal to use Mercedes engines for his newly rebranded Brawn GP team. The new car was a cracker right out of the box winning no less than six of it’s first seven races in the hands of Jenson Button who won the 2009 World Drivers title and with two additional wins from Rubens Barrichello Brawn secured the 2009 constructors title.

The following year Daimler Benz bought into Brawn GP and the team was rebranded again to Mercedes GP. The team, with Ross Brawn remaining as team principle, managed to tempt Micheal Schumacher out of a three years of retirement to join Nico Rosberg. After two years of relative under performance Mercedes finally won it’s first race the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend.

The victory was the first for a Mercedes vehicle since the 1955 Italian GP won by Juan Manuel Fangio.
Ross Brawn’s Ferrari 360 Spider can be seen at the Haynes International Motor Museum.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Company Car’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Fireball Dyna Flow – Buick Roadmaster Coupé

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From 1936 to 1996 Buick manufactured eight generations of Roadmaster, with an interruption from 1959 to 1990, Roadmasters were Buicks flagship model from 1946 to 1957 sharing underpinnings with contemporary entry level Cadillacs and senior Oldsmobiles.

The car seen in Geoffrey Horton’s photo’s seen here at the 2012 Ranchero Mirage Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance feature a 1949 Roadmaster from the first year of production of the fifth 1949 -1953 generation which were the first to feature a two part curved ‘observation car’ windscreen. Note the bombsite mascot is a feature of all post 1946 Roadmasters.

The three Ventiports on front wing / fender of this Roadmaster indicates that is probably powered by a 5.2 litre / 320 cui ‘Fireball’ straight eight motor originally good for 165 hp, which following a change in carburation dropped to 144 hp in 1946 but was raised again in 1949 to 150 hp by increasing the compression ratio.

New for 1948 was a two speed Dyna Flow transmission developed from Buicks tank manufacturing program during the Second World War, making this the first model ever to be sold with a torque converter. For 1949 Dyna Flow became the mandatory transmission on all Roadmasters.

When the Roadmaster was first launched in 1942 the Coupé featured the same fastback Sedanette styling that had been a sensational feature of the 1941 Buick Century and Special models.

During 1949 the Roadmaster accounted for 27% of Buicks production with around 88,130 units sold.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sending me his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Fireball Dyna Flow’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Errata this vehicle was originally incorrectly identified as forth generation 1948 model, however since then it has become apparent that 1948 Roadmasters had a flat windscreen and did not feature the VentiPorts in the wings / fenders. This text has been updated to reflect details of the ’49 Roadmaster. Apologies for any confusion caused.

Henry’s Hot Hatch – Ford Fiesta XR2 Mk I, II & III

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The Hot Hatch was a term for class of hatchback that gained currency with the introduction of the performance orientated Volkswagen Golf GTi in 1976, although I would venture to suggest the first real performance hatch back was the rear wheel drive Austin A40 Countryman which won the 1960 British Saloon Car Championship with Doc Shepherd at the wheel, though pedants may quibble about the fact that only the lower boot / tailgate of the Mk 1 A40, that one the championship, opened where as a hatch back is generally considered to have a rear opening that includes the the rear window and most commonly front wheel drive.

Fords entry vehicle into the front wheel drive hatchback market, ‘Project Bobcat’, was first seen at Le Mans in June 1976. The Fiesta range topping performance XR2 was launched in 1981 with an 84hp 1597cc / 97.5 cui over head valve 4 cylinder motor fitted with a carburetor good for a 0 – 60 mph time of 9.3 seconds and a top speed of 105 mph.

The much modified XR2 above with extended wheel arches is seen in the car park of the Südring shopping mall in Paderborn, Germany. The number plate style indicates it belonged to a member of the British Army On The Rhine (BAOR), and is seen competing in an Autotest a sport in which precision driving is the key skill. If you happen to recognise the car or know it’s drivers please chime in below.

The Mk II Fiesta was launched in 1983 was essentially a reskin of the Mk I with the XR2 version being fitted with a 95hp motor as used in the Ford Escort Mk 3 XR3.

Thanks to Roger Lund, Alan Raine and Tim Wilkinson at The Nostalgia Forum we have a consensus that the #23 Goodliff car seen at Brands Hatch above was driven by Norman Grimshaw, and that the car was shared with Barrie (Whizzo) Williams during a two driver race in the Ford Credit Fiesta Championship at Oulton Park.

In 1989 the third generation Fiesta was launched with a revised chassis pan recognisably similar to the original version and completely new body. Upgraded with a fuel injected 104 hp motor the XR2 became the XR2i, however increased competition in market led Ford to introduce an RS 1800 and RS Turbo versions of the Fiesta which topped and replaced the XR2i name in 1992.

Joining Norman Grimshaw at Goodliff racing in 1989 were ‘one make’ racing specialist James Kaye and Jim Smith in the #1 and #11 respectively seen above heading for a Goodliff 1-2 finish in the Ford Credit Fiesta Championship race at Donington Park on the 16th of May 1989.

Various Fiesta floor pans were used to build Quantum Coupé and Quantum 2+2 convertible kit cars.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Henry’s Hot Hatch’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Bump Start Only – Kayne Special

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Following yesterdays blog about Colin Cooper here is the first of 4 blogs on MG powered specials that Colin has built, raced and or owned.

The Kayne name is derived from Kay, and Neil his children. Colin’s first special was built in the ’72 – ’73 off season on an MG J2 chassis thought to be chassis number J4326. The Colin is seen driving the car above on it’s first outing at Loton Park in 1973.

For 1973 Colin ran the Kayne Speacial 1 with a 939 cc / 57 cui 4 cylinder MG PB motor. To save weight car built the car without a starter motor, so it always had to be bump started ! The Kayne Special is seen above at RAF Topcliffe alongside the #28 MG L Type of Maurice Gleeson and the #30 an ex Nigel Musselwhite MG PB belonging to Colin’s friend Trevor Goodwin.

For the 1974 season Colin fitted a Shorrock S/C directly driven off the nose of the crank, the car is seen Curborough Sprint driven by current owner Mike Painter in the early 1980’s with the super charger fitted, you can tell by the single carburetor popping out of the bodywork ahead of the front wheels.

Colin secured many class victories with the Kayne Special before selling it on 1976.

Mike Painter bought the Kayne Special, seen more recently at Loton Park above, soon after Colin sold it.

I’ll be looking at Colin’s second special the Kayne Special II next Tuesday.

My thanks to JMH for the chassis number and Allan Lupton for his comments on The Nostalgia Forum.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Bump Start Only’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

24/04/12 Added chassis number.

Specials & Restorations – Colin Cooper

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A couple of months ago I set out to find who built an MG that will feature in tomorrow’s blog called the ‘Kayne Special’, see below. Thanks to some help from my friends paulg at the MG Car Club Forum, The Nostalgia Forum, Bob Allan and his friend Peter Croft in New Zealand I have learned that the Kayne Special was built by Colin Cooper and a couple of weeks ago Colin invited me to visit him and discuss his pursuit of speed.

Colin Cooper hails from Bolton at 15 he and a school friend purchased an Austin Seven for £2 10s (£2.50) at auction. They drove the car home sans driving licence and between them they built up a special but could not afford to run it and sold it on.

Colin started driving legally when his Dad bought a 1955 Ford Popular in 1958 which was sold the following year. For his 20th Birthday Colins Mum bought him a £75 MG VA 4 seat tourer seen above around 1960 which seeded his affinity for MG’s.

Colin’s interest in cars was primarily a hobby, with a few deals to ease the financial pain, in 1972 he started racing a 1934 MG PA shared with his friend Trevor which is seen above at Kinmel Park near Rhyll in Wales.

Having squirrelled various bits pieces away including an MG J2 chassis and MG PB motor Colin set about building the first, see to top photo, of what would be come three Kayne Specials built between 1973 and 1982. The name is derived from Kay, and Neil his children. Above on the left is the Kayne Special 3 in the middle the Kayne Special 2 and the Killeen K1 built by Tom Killeen in 1953 all 3 of these cars will be looked at in greater detail in the coming weeks Tuesday MG blogs.

In between building and racing his three specials and racing the Kileen K1 Colin acquired, restored, raced and sold numerous fascinating vehicles including a bevy of Lotus 18’s of which the one above, seen at Curborough in 1977 featured some radical bodywork a standard Ford 1500 cc motor with a 4 speed Renault Dauphine gearbox.

Some where around 1978 Colin acquired an Ex Targa Florio Daren Mk 2B one of only 8 Mk 2’s built, seen here at Longridge in Lancashire.

Photo Copyright Frank Hall 1985.

Frank Halls photo above taken in 1985 shows Colin competition career drawing to a close at Blackpool, where he drove a Mallock Mk III, one of many early Mallocks that Colin owned over the years.

Above are some of the trophies Colin won over a span of 15 years in competitive driving, Colin is also a snooker champion, he still uses the same Joe Davis cue he was given on his 13th birthday.

When Colin retired from his professional career he started a Frogeye restoration business called Central England Sports Cars in 1993, soon after setting up a Mr Ogawa seen on the left signed the first of several deals for batches of six restored Frogeye’s to be exported to Japan paying 50% upfront and the balance when the cars were ready for dispatch to the docks. The business declined with the stagnation of the Japanese economy in 1998 and became the Frogeye Spares Company which was sold in 2000 and is still going strong.

Before I left, Colin he asked if I could help track down the black Midget seen in the corner of the CESC workshop above. The car registered WHP 94S is still thought to be on the road, it is a MG Midget identifiable by a Sprite grill 1500 cc motor, rear anti tramp bars Frogeye Windscreen and hood with 9 lift of fasteners. Colin sold the car to a policeman for approximately £2000 and he believes the PC bought it for his sister. Colin would like to get in touch with the current owner if you can help please leave a message below, on my fb page or e-mail me direct infoATpsychoontyres.co.uk please type MIDGET in the subject box.

My thanks to Colin for generously giving me the time to discuss his fascinating story and cars, to paulg at the MGCC Forum, to everyone at The Nostalgia Forum, Bob Allan and Peter Croft who helped me find Colin. Thanks also to Tony Gallagher for putting me in touch with Chris Winstanley who kindly granted permission to use Frank Halls photograph.

Thanks for joining me on this Specials & Restorations edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be taking a look at Colin’s first Kayne Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

24/04/12 Photo of Colin driving the Mallock at Blackpool added.

Slovakian Rampage – K-1 Attack

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My star car of the day at The Avenue Drivers Club meeting last Sunday was without doubt the K-1 Attack a vehicle I had never even heard of before much less actually seen.

K-1 is a Slovakian manufacturer who started out making replica kit cars of some predictable exotica from Ferrari and Lambourghini in Bratislava in 1990. This business was frowned upon by Ferrari in particular.

Dick Kvetnansky K-1 then branched out into building it’s own roadster kit car the Attack with the design accredited to Juraj Mitro who lists time spent at VW’s design studio in Wolfsburg on his CV.

Apparently the first drawings for the design were made on a napkin in a sushi restaurant in 1997, turns out this is not the first head turner to originate from a Slovakian designer the Bugatti Veyron lines are credited to Juraj’s fellow countryman Jozef Kaban.

The K-1 can be made to use any number of front wheel drive power and front wheel drive transmissions, sitting in the back of Oliver Ashley’s example seen here is a 250 hp Honda Type R motor.

Oliver who lives in Bristol spent three and a half years and around £70,000 pounds putting together the worlds first right hand drive K-1 attack, apparently there are three others known to be in the UK.

Performance of the Attack is dependent on the power unit, if your into head turning exotica you could start by looking into building a vehicle like this at the Attack Forum.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Slovakian Rampage’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Son of Silent Sam – Lotus 56

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The 1968 Lotus 56 picked up on the technology used by the STP-Paxton Turbocar “Silent Sam designed by Ken Wallis for the 1967 Indy 500 with which Parnelli Jones came within 8 miles of winning before a transmission bearing failure intervened.

Like the STP Paxton Turbocar the Lotus 56, was also bankrolled by STP’s Andy Granatelli, used four wheel drive transmission.

The Lotus 56

However the Lotus 56 rather than mounting the engine alongside the driver on a backbone chassis as had been the case with the STP Paxton Turbocar, Maurice Phillipe’s design had the motor conventionally mounted behind the driver in what was to become an influential wedge shaped vehicle.

Jim Clark was originally penciled in to drive the Lotus 56 but his death during a race in Germany in April ’68 meant British driver Mike Spence was called in to do the early testing of the Lotus 56, unfortunately Mike was killed during practice three weeks before the start of the Indy 500 after hitting the wall in turn one.

After an accident with in older STP Paxton Turbo car Joe Leonard joined Graham Hill and Art Pollard in the remaining Lotus 56’s.

Despite running with an air restrictor plate mandated for 1968 Joe managed to qualify on pole for the ‘500’ thanks in part to the efficient aerodynamics and superior 4wd handling.

The big advantage of using a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turbo shaft motor, more familiarly seen in a variety of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, was reliability these motors are known to have a mean time between outages (MTBO) of 9000 hours !

The disadvantage of turbo shaft motor was eye watering fuel consumption which means turbine powered cars carry more weight and have to re fuel more often than cars powered by conventional piston motor’s.

In the 1968 500 Graham Hill had an accident Art Pollard broke down while Joe Leonard was leading with a few laps to go when a fuel pump shaft failed meaning Granatelli came close but failed to win a cigar for the second year running.

Turbo shaft motors and four wheel drive were outlawed from the Champ Car circuit from 1969. The Lotus 56 design, in 56B specification, was subsequently sporadically used in Grand Prix races during 1971, but apart from phenomenal performance in the wet no overall advantage was found by using the combination of four wheel drive and turbine shaft propelled vehicles.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Son of Silent Sam’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring