Tag Archives: Le Mans

Three Wheels On My Wagon – Ford GT Prototype Roadster #GT/111

In 1965 Ford’s open check book approach to winning the Le Mans 24 hours was in full swing when today’s car, first appeared in public at the Le Mans Test weekend where it was driven by John Whitmore and Richard Attwood to a 6th fastest time.

In all four steel chassis Ford GT Prototype Roadsters were built, #GT/108 and #GT/109 were sent straight from Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England to Carrol Shelby for testing #GT/108 never raced and #GT/109 made a single race appearance, entered by Ford France at Le Mans in 1965 where Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier retired with gearbox problems. Additionally a fifth roadster was built with an aluminium chassis #GT110 this car was developed by Bruce McLaren and Howden Ganely and is known as the GT X1 which was further differentiated from it’s siblings by the use of a Ford Galaxie derived 7 litre / 427 cui motor and a Hewland gearbox all of which resulted in a car 1000 lbs lighter than the original Ford GT Prototypes.

#GT/111 and #GT112 were the last of 12 Ford GT prototypes to be built in Slough and the pair took part in just three races entered by Ford Advanced Vehicles run by John Wyer. Wyer had been team manager at Aston Martin when Roy Salvadori and Carrol Shelby drove the Aston Martin DBR1 to victory in Le Mans in 1959.

Carrol Shelby now running his own race shop and contracted to enter some of Ford’s GT cars persuaded Ford to run the heavier more powerful iron block 4.7 litre 289 cui V8 from the Cobra racing programme in place of the original GT Spec 4.2 litre / 256 cui Windsor derived motor, apart from X1 all the GT Roadsters appear to have been fitted with Shelby’s Cobra 289 cui V8’s.

Newall, Ford GT Roadster, Goodwood Revival

#GT/111 was painted white and fitted with wire wheels for it’s first public appearance was at Le Mans, a month later #GT/111 was painted a curious shade of Green, a gesture to the chassis and entrants British heritage, it was also fitted with Shelby magnesium wheels for the Targa Florio.

John, now Sir John, Whitmore and Bob Bondurant were chosen as Ford’s sole representatives in #GT111 which was to compete against three works Ferrari 275P/2’s fitted with the latest 3.3 litre / 201 cui 4 cam V12 motors.

A couple of months ago I went to a talk by Sir John organised by the Club Lotus Avon, in which he related how he was speeding along when the left front wheel came adrift forcing him to stop, Sir John replaced the wheel with the mandatory spare and secured it with the original hub nut which had been returned to him by a policeman and continued on his way, contemporary reports tell how the loose wheel took down some overhead railway power lines !

On lap 8 of the 10 lap race, each lap being run over a 44 mile 72 km closed (narrow) road circuit, Bob Bondurant crashed after sliding on gravel into a wall and then bouncing into a water trough which tore off a front wheel and it’s suspension. The 1965 Targa Florio was won in 7 hours and 1 min by local hero Nino Vacarrela and Lorenzo Bandini driving a Ferrari 275P/2.

The damage to #GT/111 was never repaired and a similarly painted #GT112 appeared in it’s only works entered appearance for the 1000 km race at the Nurburgring driven by Attwood and Whitmore who retired with an engine mounting failure having started from 6th on the grid.

Of all the GT Roadsters the aluminium light weight #GT110 X1 had the longest works supported career having been entered in 4 races by Bruce McLaren for Chris Amon in 1965 who scored a best 5th place finish in the 200 mile race at Riverside. The following season X1 appeared with original GT Roadster type bodywork in the Sebring 12 hours entered by Shelby American for Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby who won the race from 5th on the grid. X1 was subsequently ordered destroyed by customs officials.

At he end of 1965 Ford moved it’s entire GT racing developemnt programme out of Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough to Shelby and Kar Kraft in the United States, #GT/112 was sold to Peter Sutcliffe who raced the car in 1966 and scored a couple of season high second place finishes one in South Africa and the other in France during the 1967 season. For 1968 Bob Vincent acquired the car and appears to have won second time out in an open class race run at Aintree.

The damaged #GT/111 was scheduled to be scrapped, however the scrap yard saved the chassis which was acquired by the present owner, in 2006, after Ford GT expert Ronnie Spain verified #GT/111’s identity. The car seen in this photo driven by Andrew Newall at the Goodwood revival a couple of years ago, has been restored by Glescoe Motorsport and is to appear at RM auctions in May 2014.

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

Group B Race Car – Porsche 961#WP0ZZZ93ZFS010016

1 Reply

One afternoon soon after taking over as CEO of Porsche AG American Peter Schultz noticed a chart on the wall of the office of his Chief Engineer Dr Helmut Bott which outlined the developement schedules for Porsche’s three models the 924, 928 and 911, the first two extended far into the future while that for the 911 came to a stop in 1981.

Porsche 961, Le Mans 24 Hours

Schultz took a marker pen and walked over to the chart and drew a line extending the 911’s development clear off the chart, much to the relief of Dr Bott who set about initiating the design of a new concept car which would become a flagship for the future development of the 911 called the Porsche Gruppe B.

Porsche 961, Le Mans 24 Hours

The Gruppe B, which was first seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in October 1983 was designed with new GT regulations for race and rally cars in mind and made use of emergent all wheel drive technology and a version of the Bi Turbo 750 hp 3.2 litre 195 cui flat 6 with 4 valves per cylinder in water cooled cylinder heads that had been developed for the 1978 Porsche 935/78 known as Mody Dick.

Porsche 961, Le Mans 24 Hours

The Gruppe B was developed into a rally raid version called the 959 which won the Paris Dakar Rally at it’s second attempt with René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne in the cockpit in 1986. A US$ 225,000 road version of the 959 appeared in 1985 of which 300 examples were built up until 1987.

Porsche 961, Le Mans 24 Hours

Porsche also developed a single road racing version of the Gruppe B, today’s featured car, known as the 961. It had been anticipated that several manufacturers would build Group B race cars but in the end only the Ferrari 288 GTO saw the light of day and then only as a street car.

Porsche 961, Le Mans 24 Hours

The Porsche 961 made it’s competition debut at the 1986 Le Mans test weekend with twice Paris Dakar winner René Metge sharing the wheel with Claude Ballot-Léna, because there was only one 961 in existence instead of the mandated 20 required for Group B the 961 was entered in the even more relaxed IMSA GTX class. Metge set 10th fastest time in the official Le Mans Test Session but the car retired from the first of two sprints with transmission failure.

Porsche 961, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 961 still running in the GTX class, then appeared at the 1986 Le Mans 24 hours, as seen in the top two photographs, for which it qualified 26th and came home a respectable 7th. The only Group B runner in this race was a venerable BMW M1 a design dating back to the 1970’s which crossed the finish line with it’s hazard lights on to a huge cheers from the crowd but 60 laps behind the 961 and unclassified due to running it’s last lap too slow.

Porsche 961, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In October 1986 Günter Steckkönig and Canadian Kees Nierop drove the 961, now entered as a GTP Prtotype in the Daytona 3 Hour endurance race for which they qualified 29th and came home 24th after experiencing multiple tyre failures on the banked section of the track.

Porsche 961, Goodwood Festival of Speed

For 1987 the 961 carried the Rothmans livery like it’s sister Group C 962C’s and was driven at the Le Mans Test day by Steckkönig and Claude Haldi who set 16th fastest time with the car now entered in the rationalised IMSA class.

Porsche 961, Goodwood Festival of Speed

A month later Haldi was teamed with Metge for the Le Mans 24 hour race and after the Porsche team ran out of 962C’s Nierop was added to the 961’s driving strength in place of Steckkönig too.

The #203 961 qualified 31st on the grid and was running as high as 11th when around 2/3rds distance Nierop crashed at Indianapolis corner after experiencing a gearbox problem. While trying to return to the pits the 961 caught fire and eventually came to a stop and retirement.

With no sign of any Group B competition on the race track Porsche abandoned the 961 with just one example built and never having actually entered the car in the class it was designed to compete in. The 961 was subsequently rebuilt for the Porsche Museum and demonstrations, it is seen in the last four photo’s at Goodwood Festival of Speed running on out of period pattern BBS wheels.

Thanks for joining me on this “Group B Race Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me for a look at some Porsche Automobillia tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

White Mouse Mystery – Aston Martin Ulster #LM18

Leave a Reply

Aston Martin Motors Ltd was formed in 1926 by the Charnwood family from the remnants of Bamford & Martin who had originally created the Aston Martin marque. The new company moved to Feltham on the outskirts of London and under the direction of A C Bertelli a new 1.5 litre / 91 cui single overhead cam motor was developed that would be the foundation stone of a great deal of track success.