Tag Archives: Matra

À Vendre – Shadow Matra DN7 #DN7/1A

Like the story À Vendre by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885 the story of the Shadow DN7 is short.

Shadow DN7, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

While looking for an advantage over his fellow Cosworth DFV powered Formula One powered competitors Shadow owner Don Nichols came to an agreement with Matra to run a new 500hp development of their V12 which had won Le Mans three years running from 1972 – ’74.

Shadow DN7, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Matra had unsuccessfully run variants of the same V12 in 1968 and from 1970 to ’71 scoring a best 2nd place finish in the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix when Jean Pierre Beltoise finished second behind the Ford DFV powered Matra chassis driven by Jackie Stewart.

Shadow DN7, Grant Beath, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Shadow DN7 is similar to the 1975 Cosworth DFV powered Shadow DN5 designed by Tony Southgate, but has a larger fuel capacity and a different arrangement for the larger side mounted radiators.

Shadow DN7, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Shadow DN7 was entered for former Matra sports car driver Jean Pierre Jarier alongside the regular marginally less powerful but lighter DFV powered Shadow DN5 driven by Tom Pryce in the 1975 Austrian and Italian Grand Prix, both circuits for which put a premium on out right power over handling.

Shadow DN7, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

On both occasions “Jumper” Jarier out qualified Tom, but on both occasions he also retired with fuel system issues, while Tom went on to finish a team season high third in Austria and 6th in Italy.

Shadow DN7, Grant Beath, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Having proved the potential of the V12, but also failing to really impress, the DN7 was never to race again, Matra deciding to supply the fledgling Ligier team with it’s V12 for the 1976 season.

Don was sent one of the three Matra MS 73 engines built for the 1975 season so that he could display the car as complete, but it had a whole in it so that it could not run.

Current owner Grant Beath bought the DN7 from Don at the beginning of the decade and after failing to find one of the two complete MS 73 motors had his damaged one returned to running order in France.

Like the house that is the subject of the short story by Guy de Maupassant it turns out that the subject of this story is for sale, if you are in the market for a one off formula one car that makes the sweetest of V12 sounds then you can leave a message below or you can get in touch with Bill Harding or Rick Hall at Hall & Hall whose contact details can be found on this link.

Usual disclaimers apply.

Thanks for joining me on this “À Vendre” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 2+2 Marcos. Don’t forget to come back now !

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American Highlights – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Today I am looking at some of the American highlights at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Chevrolet SS, Bobby Labonte, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

2000 NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte was demonstrating Austin Dillons 2015 # Dow Chevrolet SS that is run by Austin’s Grandfather’s Richard Childress Racing team.

Chevrolet Custom, BJ Baldwin, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Twice Baja 1000 Winner and seven time US National Off Road Champ “Balistic” BJ Baldwin appeared to be having a lot of fun demonstrating the capabilities of his 850hp 2012 Chevrolet Custom.

Shadow Matra DN7, Grant Beath, Goodwood Festival Of Speed,

The Matra V12 powered 1975 Shadow DN7 was only raced twice by Jean Pierre Jarrier before Matra decided to supply Ligier for the 1976 season and it retired on both occasions in Austria and Italy qualifying a best 13th at Monza, this great sounding one off is seen above being demonstrated by Grant Beath.

Plymouth Superbird, Kenny Brack, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Unfirtunately I missed Richard Petty’s morning demonstration of the 1970 #43 Plymouth Superbird, but I did catch Kenny Brack driving the iconic car in the afternoon.

Lola Ford T153, Richard Hamlin, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The unique two wheel drive turbocharged Ford powered Sunoco Special Lola T153 was driven to a second place finish in the 1970 Indy 500 by Mark Donohue, it is seen above with Richard Hamlin at the wheel.

Swamp Rat 1, Don Garlits, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Finally drag legend Don Garlits demonstrated his 1957 Swamp Rat 1 with which he reached a world record 180mph over the 1/4 mile in 1958 and which badly burned the driver the following year when the supercharger exploded.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the Ferrari’s taking part in the Goodwood Concours d’Elegance. Don’t forget to come back now !

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RIP JP B – Peugeot 309 Gti Turbo Cup

Born on April 26th 1937 Jean Pierre Beltoise was part of a cohort of French drivers that emerged in the 1960’s that included Johnny Servous Gavin, Gerrard Larrousse, Henri Pescarolo and brother in law Francois Cevert.

JP B’s started racing motor cycles winning 11 national titles in three years, he raced Motor Morini, Kreider and Bultaco machines in a handful of world championship events from 1962 to 1964 finishing a best 3rd on a 50 cc Kreider in the 1964 French Grand Prix.

In 1963 Jean Pierre started racing Djet sports cars for René Bonnet. After Bonnet sold out to Matra he raced a succession of Formula 3 and Formula 2 Matra open wheelers with sufficient success that led to his Grand Prix debut in the 1966 German Grand Prix with a Formula 2 Matra in which he finished 8th overall and first in the Formula 2 class.

In 1968 JP B was contracted to drive for the French Matra Sports team but did not race a proper Formula One Spec car until the Spanish Grand Prix when he was drafted in to drive Jackie Stewart’s Cosworth powered Matra MS10 for Ken Tyrrell’s Matra International team.

At Monaco he raced the Matra V12 powered Matra MS 11 for the first time but retired with broken suspension, at the Dutch GP he finished a season high second behind Stewart.

Matra Sport withdrew form F1 at the end of 1968 to focus their efforts on getting Ken Tyrrells Matra International Team Matra MS80 cars for Jackie Stewart, JP-B was drafted in as Jackie’s team mate and again finished a season high second this time in France.

Ken Tyrrell and Matra parted way’s after winning the 1969 World Championships and Matra got it’s V12 programme back on track with JP B and Henri Pescarolo in the drivers seats JP B scored two season high thirds to Henri’s one. The following season JP B remained on the Matra team with Chris Amon but the results were disappointing.

For 1972 JP B signed to drive for BRM for which an over ambitious programme was being funded by Marlboro. At the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix Jean Pierre won his only Grand Prix generally reckoned to have been one of the more difficult races thanks to the atrocious conditions.

Note the scuff mark the BRM’s nose in the linked photo this came about after contact with Ronnie Peterson’s March which was baulking his while being lapped.

This race would be the last formula one championship win for a BRM and at the end of the season Jean Pierre won the non championship John Player victory race at Brands Hatch driving a BRM P180 which would be the last win for the BRM team.

Jean Pierre continued driving for BRM in 1973 during which he finished a season high 4th in Canada with the by now ancient BRM P160 and in 1974 during which he scored a great second place finish on the debut of the P201 in South Africa.

Out of a Formula One drive for 1975 Jean Pierre was in the running for a drive with the new Ligier team for 1976 and tested the Matra V12 powered JS5 before it was decided to hand the car over to 1975 Formula 2 champion Jacques Laffite.

Alongside his open wheel racing Jean Pierre continued racing sports cars winning races in 5 litre, 3 litre and 2 litre classes though most, seven, were wins with the 3 litre / 183 cui Matra’s which included the 1970 Tour de France sharing driving with Patrick Depailler and with FIA President Jean Todt doing the navigating.

After winning the sports car World Championship twice in 1973 and 1974 Matra withdrew from racing a Jean Pierre continued racing Ligier and Rondeau built sports cars at Le Mans, but he never improved on his career best 1969 4th place finish with Piers Courage in the endurance classic.

JP B won two French Saloon car championships driving BMW’s in 1976 and 1977 before proving his versatility, despite restricted arm movement that was the result of a sports car accident in the 1960’s, by winning the 1979 French Rallycross Championship driving an Alpine A310.

Peugeot Gti Turbo, JP Beltoise, Le Mans,

Into the 1980’s JP B continued racing Peugeot 505 Turbo’s, a V6 Talbot Tagora and in 1988 he was racing in the Peugeot 309 Gti Turbo Cup series, above Jean Pierre is seen driving the #88 309 to victory in the support race to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Jean Pierre passed away on the 5th of January aged 77.

Condolences to his family and friends RIP JP B.

Thanks for joining me on this “RIP JP B” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Autosport International. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Photographers Brush – GALPOT Automobilia

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a clear out whilst reorganising my library and the time has come to dispose of a number of items which may be of interest through my lightpress account on e-bay.

Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

From this weeks collection of advertisements appearing in Connaissance des arts Magazine that I posted this week is this October 1970 advertisement for Dunlop SP Sport Tyres featuring 4 images of cars in competition.

Beltoise, Matra MS11, Dutch GP, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The first “1. Grand Prix de Hollande 68. 1er : Jackie Stewart” is incorrectly labelled as Jean Pierre Beltoise is seen driving a V12 Matra MS11, identifiable by it bulky exhaust, at 1968 Dutch Grand Prix carrying the #16 appears which appears to be an altered number as Beltoise actually drove the #17, Stewart drove the #8 Ford DFV, less bulky exhausts, powered Matra MS10 that won the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix. As can be seen in this linked photo Beltoise helmet is dark not white and has also come under a photographers touching in brush.

Tour de France, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The second shows Gérard Larrouse / /Maurice Gélin #181 Porsche 911, Greder / Vigneron #143 Corvette C3, and Rouget / Depret #192 Ferrari 250 LM chassis #5981, at the start of a race at Reims which was part of the 1969 Tour de France won by Larrouse and Gélin.

Porsche, Tour de Corse, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des art

“3. Tour de Corse 69. 1er : Gérard Larrousse” is also incorrectly labelled as Gérard won driving a white Porsche 911 bearing the #70 competition number. The car in the third photo seems to be competing in the 1968 Tour de Course, won by Jean Claude Andruet with Maurice Gélin driving an Alpine A110 and is thought to have either Claude Ballot-Lena or Gerhard Schuler at the wheel, neither of whom was classified at the finish.

Stewart, Matra Ford MS80, French GP, Clermont Ferrand, Dunlop SP Sport, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

“4. Jackie Stewart, Champion du monde 69, en action.” shows Jackie Stewart in his Matra Ford MS80 on his way to victory in the 1969 French Grand Prix at Clermont Ferrand, which coincidentally is also well known as the home of Dunlop’s rival tyre manufacturer Michelin.

The strap line for the ad approximately translates as “Dunlop SP Sport Nouveau profile born of (the) competition. For you.”

My thanks to Paul ‘Macca’ M, Ray Bell, Tim Murray and Nanni Dietrich at The Nostalgia Forum for their help unpicking the mysteries of today’s ad.

Thanks for joining me on this “Photographers Brush” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Coffee and Croissants with the Avenue Drivers Club. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Swedish Daihatsu ? – GALPOT Automobilia

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a clear out whilst reorganising my library and the time has come to dispose of a number of items which may be of interest through my lightpress account on e-bay.

ALFA Romeo 1300 GT Z, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

Among the ads from the French Connaissance des arts I’ve posted this week is this Alitalia airlines ad featuring an ALFA Romeo 1300 GT Z and a Rolls Royce Conway Turbofan engine of the type used to power the Alitalia McDonnell Douglas DC8. While my folks were living in Africa I spent many hours traveling back and forth to school in England on Alitalia DC8’s. Confusingly the strap line for the ad reads “Team Alitalia: Alfa Romeo, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce” making reference to both jet engine manufacturers used to power Alitalia aircraft.

MATRA 530 LX, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The MATRA M530 was desined by Philippe Guédon 1965 to replace the René Bonnet designed MATRA Djet. Named after the MATRA 530R air to air missile and launched in 1967 with a Ford Taunus V4 the M530 was given a mild facelift by Michelotti in 1970 and called the MATRA 530 LX.

Saab 99, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

Looking for information about the SAAB 99 I was fascinated to discover that an early prototype of the model had a “daihatsu” badge on the bonnet/hood in an effort to disguise the true identity of the car from prying journalists. The strap line on this ad reads “Saab 99: You do not know this car, but you already know his name”

Rover 3500S, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

Finally in 1971 Rover introduced a four speed manual gearbox option for the hitherto automatic transmission only Rover 3500, all vehicles with this option are known as Rover 3500 S models, with the S denoting “Synchromesh”. The strap line for the ad reads “We would never have dared to say it ourselves” before going on to quote Jean Bernardet presumably from an article that appeared in L’Equipe on the model.

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

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In Law’s Instrumental Help – Ligier Matra JS17

At the end of 1978 Chrysler Europe was taken over by Peugeot and almost immediately rebranded the French Simca and British Hillman models as Talbot’s resurrecting a name that had last appeared in Formula One in 1951.

In 1972 MATRA, who were taken over by Simca, withdrew from Formula One to concentrate on a successful sports car program which was itself discontinued at the end of 1974 after MATRA had won three consecutive Le Mans 24 Hour races and two World sports Car Championships under the direction of Gerard Ducarouge.

Laffite, Ligier MATRA JS 17, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Ducarouge went to work for Ligier to design a Matra powered Formula One car in 1976, the JS5 was quite successful for a new comer and the following year Jaques Laffite won the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix driving a MATRA V12 powered Ligier JS7. MATRA stopped developing their V12 in 1978 and Ligier suffered a consequent dip in their fortunes.

For 1979 and 1980 Ligier opted for the popular Cosworth DFV V8’s and immediately returned to victory lane with two surprising wins for Laffite in Argentina and Brazil with the JS11 model, but the team lost it’s direction did not present the anticipated championship challenge. In 198O Laffite won just one race but the team scored enough points to finish second in the constructors championship.

Tambay, Ligier MATRA JS 17, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

By 1981 Peugeot returned the Talbot name to Formula One by teaming up with Ligier and an updated version of the MATRA V12 was used to power the JS17’s featured today. Laffite was to be teamed up with brother in law, ex Renault refugee, Jean Pierre Jabouille who was recovering from injuries sustained when he crashed his Renault Turbo in the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix.

Jean Pierre Jarrier stood in for Jabouille for the first two races but when Jabouille returned to the cockpit he failed to qualify for two races in five attempts so he was replaced by Patrick Tambay seen at the wheel of the #25 here for the second half of the season, but crucially Jabouille remained with the team acting as an engineer. Patrick qualified for all of the remaining races but did not finish any of them.

Ligier MATRA JS 17, Test Day, Donington Park

Laffite meantime scored a couple of 2nd place finishes in Spain and Sweden along with 3 third place finishes in Monaco, Britain and Germany. Just before the French Grand Prix Gerard Ducarouge was fired by Guy Ligier.

At the Austrian Grand Prix Jabouille was instrumental in helping Laffite choose the correct tyre to suit both the Ligier and the track which resulted in the car qualifying 4th behind two turbo charged Renaults and Villenueve’s turbocharged Ferrari.

Ligier MATRA JS 17, Test Day, Donington Park

During the race after passing Villeneuve and his quick off the grid Ferrari team mate Didier Pironi, Jaques chased down the leading Renaults. Alain Prost in the lead car retired with collapsed suspension before Jacques passed the second Renault for the lead and eventual victory when René Arnoux hesitated over taking a pair of back markers.

Jacques then retired in Holland and Italy before bouncing back with a win from 10th on the grid in Canada to put him 3rd in the championship table, 6 points off the leader, with a slim chance of winning the 1981 Drivers Championship going into the Caesers Palace Grand Prix held in Las Vegas. In the event Jacques qualified just 12th behind Championship leader Carlos Reutemann who was on pole in his Williams and 2nd in standings Nelson Piquet who was 4th in his Brabham.

Reutemann inexplicably choked under the championship pressure during the race to finish 7th out of the points while Piquet salvaged a fifth place finish, one spot ahead of Jacques, enough to win the Championship. Alan Jones won the race in his Williams thereby depriving Jacques of a third place finish in the Championship, so for the third consecutive time Jacques Laffite recorded what would be his career best 4th place finish in the final championship standings.
With only the #26 scoring any points all season Ligier finished the season 4th in the Constructors Championship.

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

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Forward With Fragrance – McLaren Cosworth M19C

Mimicing the general out line of the 1969 Championship Matra MS80, as did many others including the Tyrrell’s 001-004, the McLaren M19A was designed by Ralph Bellamy for the 1971 season. It’s original rising rate suspension was soon abandoned in favour of the conventional McLaren M14A suspension.

After coming within a few laps of winning the 1971 South African Grand Prix with Denny Hulme at the wheel the cars best championship result came at the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix where Mark Donohue finished third in a privately entered example entered by Roger Penske.

McLaren Cosworth M19C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

For 1972 McLaren found sponsorship from Yardley cosmetics who were less than impressed with the way BRM, whom they sponsored in 1970 and 1971, went about their business. On only their second world championship appearance in 1972 Denny Hulme won the South African Grand prix from 5th on the grid.

The M19 was given a diet in time for the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix where one car appeared in C spec with lightened front chassis bulkhead fabrication and numerous other weight saving modifications.

McLaren Cosworth M19C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Denny Hulme finished second in the 1972 Austrian Grand Prix ahead of team mate Peter Revson both driving M19C’s a seasons best for the ‘C’ spec cars that was matched at the 1972 Canadian Grand Prix where Revson finished ahead of Denny.

McLaren Cosworth M19C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

In early 1973 Peter Revson finished second in the South African Grand Prix driving a Ford Cosworth DFV powered M19C on the models last championship appearance.

McLaren Cosworth M19C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The M19C’s were replaced by the McLaren M23 model, one of which Denny drove on it’s debut in the 1973 South African recording pole position and a fifth place finish.

Thanks for joining me on this “Forward With Fragrance” 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 My thanks to Tim Murray for pointing out Denny’s 1972 South African Grand Prix victory which I omitted from the original text.

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