Tag Archives: Goodwood

Spirit Of ’76 – Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood #007

John and Burt Greenwood were the children of a WW2 fighter pilot who worked at the GM Tech Center. As a teenager John was working paper rounds so that he could build a Briggs Stratton powered kart. From there the Greenwood’s moved into street racing, preparing a car, racing it and then selling it to so that they could build up another.

Around 1968 the Greenwoods set up Auto Research Engineering to build engines and tune suspension and the following year started racing. John won back to back SCCA championships in 1970 and 1971. Over the following two years the Greenwood Corvettes had made trips to the Le Mans 24 hours where they had failed to finish having a best 16th place on the grid in ’72 to show for their efforts.

Chevrolet Corvette, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1976 John Greenwood was invited to return to Le Mans and this time he brought a wide bodied car to share with Bernard Darniche. Featuring a body that was developed the the aid of ‘Farther of the Corvette’ Zora Arkus-Duntov and aerodynamicist Randy Wittine that covered a 700 hp fuel injected 7 litre / 427 cui motor.

Chassis #007 had been built up for Rick Mancuso a racer from Illinois who entered the car in the ’76 Sebring 12 hours but crashed it in practice so that it did not start, #007 is not to be confused with John Greenwoods “Spirit of Sebring ’76” which started from pole in the same race, but retired after 36 laps with clutch failure.

Chevrolet Corvette, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At his third attempt John’s Corvette, which was timed at over 215 mph on Mulsanne straight, qualified 9th behind a the turbocharged BMW CSl driven by Brian Redman and Peter Gregg and was one of just 12 cars to get below 4 mins in qualifying beating his own previous best time by a clear 20 seconds.

Unfortunately it was not third time lucky in the race as the car was retired with a split fuel cell during the early hours bringing to an end John’s hugely popular presence at the La Sarthe circuit.

Thanks for joining me on this “Spirit of ’76” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for “Ferrari Friday”. Don’t forget to come back now !

Le Point – Rondeau M379 B/C #003

Endurance Survivor – Porsche 911 GT1-98 #003

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The Porsche 911 GT1-98 was the second evolution GT1 racer that Porsche contested the 1998 FIA GT1 championship with.

Porsche 911 GT1-98, Goodwood Festival of Speed

While the front of the new car bears a passing resemblance to the Generation 2 996 version of the Porsche 911 the rest of the car was essentially a prototype fitted with a 600hp twin turbo Group C type 24 valve twin cam water cooled flat 6 of the same type as used by the Porsche 962C with the addition of a sequential gearbox.

Porsche 911 GT1-98, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 911 GT-98 was built around a tube frame and with carbon fibre bodywork. One road going example of the GT1-98 was built to meet the GT1 regulations.

Porsche 911 GT1-98, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Going into the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours race two normally aspirated 6 litre / 370 cui V8 Mercedes Benz CLK LM’s prepared especially for the endurance classic qualified 1st and 3rd. The fastest of three turbocharged Toyota GT-One qualified second with the Porsche 911 GT1’s 4th and 5th, the later car being chassis #003 driven by Allan McNish, Stéphane Ortelli and Laurent Aiello.

Porsche 911 GT1-98, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During the race the specially prepared Mercedes Benz CLK LM’s both retired by lap 31 with engine failures while the fastest of the Toyota GT-One’s retired after half distance after an accident which left the two works Porsches at the head of the field.

Porsche 911 GT1-98, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The #26 shared by NcNish, Ortelli and Aiello crossed the line a lap ahead of the sister car driven by Jörg Müller, Uwe Alzen and Brilliant Bob Wollek.

As had occured many times in the past the Le Mans winners did not win the championship which was dominated by Mercedes Benz who clocked up six 1-2 finishes, but it is Porsche who is best remembered from the GT1 championship for surviving to win an unlikely 1-2 at Le Mans.

Thanks for joining me on this “Endurance Survivor” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a car that is ‘not a green Audi’. Don’t forget to come back now !

Do Not Lean On This Car – Ferrari 275 GTB/C #9079

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

Fiberglass Body – Ferrari 250 LM #8165

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This November sees the 50th anniversary of the unveiling of the Ferrari 250 LM which to date was the last Ferrari to cross the finishing line first at Le Mans in 1965.

Today’s featured car chassis #8165, the last 250 LM to be built, was sold new to Scuderia Filipentti and entered by them in the 1966 1000kms race at the Nurburgring for Willy Mairesse and Herbert Mueller who finished 9th.

Ferrari 250LM, Goodwood Revival

The car was then sold to David Piper and in June 1966 David fitted fiber glass body panels front and rear and painted #8165 BP Green. Subsequently David is known to have driven the car to victories at Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and the 1000kms Paris at Monthlery in 1966 sharing the car with Mike Parkes in the latter.

In 1967 David won at Silverstone and entered the #8165 for Hugh Dibley and Roy Pierpoint for the 1000kms at Brands Hatch where they finished 10th overall and first in class. At Monthlery Richard Attwood and Brian Redman came 6th overall and first in class.

Ferrari 250LM, Goodwood Revival

In 1968 Pedro Rodriguez joined Roy Pierpoint in #8165 for the 1000 kms at Brands Hatch where they finished 5th but only 3rd in class. #8165’s last ‘in period’ appearance was in the 1968 Le Mans 24 hours where Piper and Attwood qualified 28th and came through to a seventh place finish.

David Piper is seen driving #8165 in these photo’s in practice for the Whitsun Trophy at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago. David finished the race in 27th place.

My thanks to Athanase and Miurasv for clarifying the early ownership of this car over at FerrariChat.com.

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

Shimmying Past Scrutineers – Ford Mark IV #J5

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The Ford Mark IV was the culmination of Ford’s determination to crush Ferrari on it’s own turf, after Enzo had bailed out of selling his eponymous company to the men from Dearborn at the last minute in 1963.