Tag Archives: Mercedes

Equalled Best Season – Force India Mercedes VJM06

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Force India’s story begins with a plucky Irishman called Eddie Jordan who 1991 burst on to the Formula One scene with one of the most attractive Formula One cars ever built, a fist full of Pepsi Co sponsorship dollars to fly the 7 Up flag and an Italian called Andrea de Cesaris, who had a reputation for crashing and under achieving, as their lead driver.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Against the odds Jordan finished a highly creditable 6th in their first season of competition. When Jordan’s second driver, Bertrand Gachot, was incarcerated for an incident involving pepper spray and a cab driver in London, Eddie introduced Micheal Schumacher to Formula one at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, but failed to keep him beyond his debut race, from which retired with clutch failure on the first lap, for which he qualified an impressive seventh.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Jordan’s highlight season came in 1999 when with cast off Mugnen tuned Honda V10 motors the team finsihed 3rd in the constructors championship behind only Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes. Jordan’s lead driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen also came third in the World Drivers Championship with 2 victories.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, British Grand Prix, P2, Silverstone

In 2005 Eddie sold out to Alex Shnaider who rebranded the team Midland F1 which became the first F1 entry. Midland F1 achieved nothing in 2006, unless you count two top ten non points paying finishes, and Alex sold the team on to late season Dutch sponsor Spyker before the 2006 season had ended.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, British Grand Prix, P2, Silverstone

Spyker F1, like Midland F1, only lasted for a single season during which Adrian Sutil scored a single world championship point for an 8th place finish in the Japanese Grand Prix. Before the 2007 season has ended Spyker F1 was sold to a consortium led by Vijay Mallya an was rebranded Force India for the 2008 season.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

With the aid of some financial stability the team progressed from scoring no points with their Ferrari powered car in 2008 to becoming 6th place finishers in the 2011 constructors championship.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, di Resta, British Grand Prix, P2, Silverstone

During that time Giancarlo Fisichella, who scored Jordan’s last Formula One win in 2002, scored Force India best ever result a 2nd place in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix with the now Mercedes powered VJM02, a result that led Giancarlo to join Ferrari as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa for the remainder of 2009.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

In 2012 Adrian Sutil sat out the season to focus on a legal issue and Paul di Resta was joined by another German Nico Hülkenberg at Force India. Both drivers scored season high 4th place finishes but the team still only finished the season 7th in the constructors championship.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

With half an eye on a possible drive at Ferrari as an eventual replacement for Felipe Massa, Nico Hülkenberg Force India’s top scorer in 2012 left to join the Ferrari powered Sauber team for 2013 and Adrian Sutil rejoined Force India.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

The design of the VJM 06 featured today was over seen by Technical Director Andrew Green, the all new carbon fibre chassis is powered by a 2.4 litre / 146 cui Mercedes Benz FO 108F motor with a mandated maximum 18,000 rpm limit and a Mercedes AMG Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). The transmission is 7 speed semi automatic built by McLaren Racing.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, di Resta, British Grand Prix, P2, Silverstone

Paul di Resta seen above managed 9 points paying finishes in 2013 with a season high 4th in Bahrain to finish 12th in the Drivers Championship. His services will not be retained in 2014 when Paul is expected to return to the German DTM Touring Car championship.

Force India Mercedes VJM06, Sutil, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Adrian Sutil, seen above, managed eight points scoring finishes but with a season high of ‘only’ 5th in Monaco on his way to finishing 13th in the drivers championship. With Ferrari opting to re employ Kimi Raikkönen Nico Hülkenberg decided to leave Sauber and rejoin Force India for 2014 while Adrian move the other way to join Esteban Gutiérrez at Sauber.

After equaling their best Constructors Championship finish with another 6th place finish in 2013 Nico will be joined at Force India by Mexican hot shot Sergio Pérez for 2014 when the teams VJM07 cars will be again be powered by Mercedes.

You can follow Force India’s progress on their website linked here, Facebook page linked here and Twitter feed linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Equalled Best Season” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an Edwardian Mercer Raceacout. Don’t forget to come back now !river

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It’s Not Simplex – Mercedes Simplex

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On the 1st of March 1902 the; former organiser of steam train races on the Morovian railway, diplomat, tobacco trader, insurance inspector and entrepreneur who sat on the board of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG), Emil Jellinek took delivery of the very first Mercedes Simplex in Nice, France, a month ahead of the Nice – La Turbie Hillclmb into which it was entered for E.T.Stead. A second Simplex was entered in the same event to be driven by Albert Lemaître, official winner of ‘the world’s first competitive motoring event’ from Paris to Rouen in 1897.

Mercedes Simplex, Exeter Trial,

As the 35hp Mercedes, driven by Wilhelm Werner, of 1901 had done the new Simplex model swept to a 1-2 victory with Stead leading Lemaítre home. After Werner had won the Frankfurt circuit race later in the same year he and Otto Hieronimus returned to Nice in 1903 and claimed another 1-2 for the Simplex model with Otto beating Werner.

Mercedes Simplex, VSCC Prescott

In his pursuit of a “mechanical greyhound” Jellink father of daughter Mercedes who’s name Jellink insisted on selling DMG’s products under, had encouraged Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler’s son Paul to pursue lightweight designs against all contemporary mechanical wisdom. That wisdom had been largely based on experience with steam locomotives which as a general rule of thumb could be reckoned to be faster the bigger they were.

Mercedes Simplex, Exeter Trial,

While the Simplex was not outwardly revolutionary, it followed the Panard Systém with the engine at the front and rear wheel drive it was the detail improvements which made it such a good performer. In particular the transmission featured 4 forward speeds that were engaged by the worlds first foot operated (Simplex) spring pressure clutch which made changing gears a good deal easier and faster.

Mercedes Simplex, Goodwood Festival of Speed

By enclosing the motor from above and below the Simplex relied on the draft of air through the worlds first honeycomb radiator to cool the motor which was not fitted with a cooling fan, but instead relied for a draft on the air vanes built into the 60 cm / 23 5/8ths inch flywheel. This improved cooling system allowed a 2 litre saving in water coolant over the previous model, now only 7 litres 1.5 gallons of water were required to cool the four cylinder motor.

Mercedes Simplex, Exeter Trial,

Interestingly the vehicle was not only fitted with regular rear wheel brakes as were most vehicles of the time but it was also fitted with a band brake acting on a shaft connecting the gearbox to the sprocket shaft which was also actuated by a foot pedal. When ever the brakes were applied water dripped from a reservoir onto the friction surfaces to keep them cool.

Mercedes Simplex, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the Berlin Motor Show in 1903 when the Simplex was presented to Emperor Wilhelm II he is alleged to have shared some Imperial Prussian humour with Wilhelm Maybach, saying “A truly beautiful engine you have here! But it’s not as simplex as that, you know.” Polish Count Zborowski crashed his Simplex out of the 1903 Nice – La Turbine hillclimb but Mercedes honour was salvaged later in the week when Hermann Braun won the Nice Mile race on the Promenade des Anglais.

Mercedes Simplex, Exeter Trial,

Originally fitted with a 6,786 cc / 411 cui 40 hp motor later models, like today’s featured 1903 example driven by Ben Collings in the Exeter Trial with his father in the passenger seat and at Prescott, were fitted with a 9,236 cc / 563 cui producing 60hp at under 1500 rpm. A further race victory was achieved by Belgian Camille ‘Red Devil’ Jenatzy in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup run over a 40 mile closed figure of eight road course marshalled by over 2,000 police officers. This victory was only achieved after Mercedes lost their intended three 12.7 litre / 775 cui 90 hp machines, along with 87 further vehicles, in a fire at DMG’s Cannstatt plant and the factory had borrowed three 60hp Simplex vehicles from their customers to enter the race, the winning #4 car was lent by US millionaire Clarence Clay Dinsmore.

Mercedes Simplex, Goodwood Festival of Speed

On March 14th 1902 Billionaire William K. Vanderbilt Jr took delivery of the fifth 40 hp Simplex to be built from the Cannstadt factory and drove it 600 kms to Paris where he arrived the following day, this was the first of several Simplex models Vanderbilt would own and this car is thought to be not only the oldest surviving Simplex, but the oldest surviving Mercedes in the world. In January 1904 Vanderbilt briefly held claim to the land speed record when he recorded a speed of over 92 mph at the wheel of a 90hp Simplex at Daytona Beach.

Mercedes Simplex, Exeter Trial,

Louis Rigolly raised the record to 95.705 mph driving a Gobron-Brillie in Nice 2 months later. Pierre de Caters driving a 90 hp Simplex at Ostend in Belgium raised the bar to just over 97mph in May 1904 before Louis Rigolly became the first man to exceed 100 mph when he was timed at 103 mph driving his Gobron-Brillie Ostend in July 1904.

Manufactured from 1902 to 1909 there are thought to be just 13 Simplex cars still in existence, GV 602 has been in the Collings family for many decades.

Thanks for joining me on this “It’s not Simplex” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a how the Red Bull young guns team got on in the 2013 Formula One Championship. Don’t forget to come back now !

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VSCC University – VSCC Prescott Speed Hillclimb

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Apologies to all for the absence of any blogs over the last week, unfortunately this was unavoidable after a moment of absent mindedness. Over the weekend I popped over to Prescott with regular GALPOT contributer Tim for the VSCC Speed Hillclimb.

Ceirano S, VSCC Prescott

As ever the days education started in the car park where among several manufacturers, brands and models I’d not heard of before was this 1925 Ceirano built in Turin by SCAT (Societa Ceirano Automobili Torino) some years after founder Giovanni Ceirano, a prime mover behind the formation of FIAT in 1903, had died. Ceirano cars are best known for winning back to back victories in the Mille Miglia in 1911 and 1912.

Vauxhall Prince Henry, VSCC Prescott

The paddock was of course equally full of unusual delights above the nose of a Roland Duce’s 1913 Vauxhall Prince Henry.

Lees, Vauxhall Viper Special, VSCC Prescott

Another 1913 Vauxhall was Tony Lees Vauxhall Viper Special powered by a 200hp, 12 litre/732 cui Wolseley Viper aircraft motor of the type more usually found in late versions of the Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a and Avro 522.

Scaldwell, GN/JAP Grand Prix, VSCC Prescott

Among the fastest ladies present was Anne Scaldwell driving the GN JAP Grand Prix which was featured on this blog a couple of years ago.

Collings, Mercedes Simplex 60 HP, VSCC Prescott

Another familiar car was Ben Collings 1903 Mercedes Simplex 60hp.

Martin, Morgan Special, VSCC Prescott

Displaying maximum attack skills on the hill, what ever the conditions, was Charlie Martin in the fabric bodied Morgan Special entered by CJ Maeers.

Cobden, Riley Falcon Special, VSCC Prescott

Robert Cobden seen above driving the Riley Falcon Special did well to keep his car on the road after executing an unintentional 180° spin coming out of the Pardon hairpin.

Hulbert, ERA 4D, VSCC Prescott

Fastest time of the day was keenly contested with Mac Hulbert taking the honours and The Mays-Berthon Trophy 0.36 seconds from James Baxter, both driving ERA’s. Mac is seen in the 1938 ERA R4D which appropriately enough way not only conceived by Raymond Mays and Peter Peter Berthon but also driven to many post war hill climb victories by Mays.

Grafton, VSCC Prescott

On the way back through the car park we stumbled across the JAP powered Grafton cycle car, the vehicle was built by Tim Gunn, seen on the left, of the Gunn Cyclecar Co in 2001 using a timber frame and an assortment of vintage parts.

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

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20th Anniversary – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

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Last weekend saw the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. According to tea total journalist Doug Nye the event only got off the ground because he was present at a rather drunken evening at which Lord March and some friends were fantasising about an event which might attract a few thousand motor enthusiasts. Next morning when Doug reminded the Lord of what had been said they decided to act and so was born the Goodwood Festival Of Speed which has become one of the highlights of the British Motoring Season.

Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

The event has become so big that it sells out on both the Saturday and Sunday and an extra day has been added on the Thursday, called the “Moving Motor Show” on which the hill climb track is turned over to corporate sponsors who entertain their guests with rides up the hill. It was on the Thursday that I went with my parents after my Dad found a free ticket offer in the “Daily Telegraph“. Many anniversaries besides Goodwood’s 20th were being celebrated, the three Porsche’s above formed the tip of a sculpture by Gerry Judah celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911 featuring a 1963 911 on the left, a ’73 Carrera RS in the middle and a 2013 Carrera 4 on the right.

Mercedes W196, Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

On the Friday a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196 similar to the one pictured here was sold at the Bonham’s Festival of Speed Auction for US$ 29.6 million to become the most expensive car ever sold at auction. John Lennon’s Blue ’64 Ferrari 330GT fetched US$ 543,750 setting a new record for the 330 GT 2+2 model.

Honda RA300, Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

In the autumn of 1967 my folks purchased their first television, a black and white model, one of my earliest memories of it was a news cast featuring the 1967 Italian Grand Prix which was won by John Surtees driving this very V12 Honda RA300, a car that was very easy to distinguish from the rest of the field because it was white and all the others were various shades of grey.

McLaren M23, Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

Emerson Fittipaldi moved from Lotus to join the McLaren team which had relieved BRM of Marlboro sponsorship and Lotus of Texaco sponsorship for the 1974 season. Emerson driving a Marlboro Team Texaco McLaren M23 ended up winning a very open World Drivers Championship by just 3 points from Clay Regazzoni driving a Ferrari 312 B3.

Renault RS01, Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

Having won Le Mans in 1978 Renault put all of it’s effort into winning the Formula One Drivers and Constructors championships with the first turbocharged Formula One car. Above is the 1978 RS01 which proved fast on occasion, particularly at altitude, but fragile.

Audi R18 E-tron Quattro, Goodwood, Festival Of Speed

Fresh from victory lane, and looking several thousand miles the worse for wear, in the 90th Anniversary edition of the Le Mans 24 hours was the Audi R18 E-tron Quattro driven by Tom Kristensen, Alan McNish and Loic Duval.

Campbell-Railton Blue Bird, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Sir Malcom Campbell became the first man on four wheels to exceed 300 mph when he set a new Land Speed Record at Bonneville of 301mph on September 3rd 1935 when driving the 2300 hp supercharged Rolls Royce V12 powered Campbell-Railton Blue Bird. The piece of land on which Blue Bird was displayed normally serves as Lord Marches cricket pitch.

Lotus Ford 29, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Regular readers will remember that the #92 Lotus Ford 29 driven by Jim Clark at Indianapolis in 1963 was destroyed in a fatal accident with Bobby Marshman at the wheel during a gruesome testing accident at Phoenix at the end of 1964. The car seen above is chassis #29/1 actually driven with a white and blue paint job by Dan Gurney to a seventh place finish at Indy in 1963. The car has been seen at the Indy Museum for many years (decades ?) bearing Jim Clark’s livery. The spare ’63 Lotus 29 chassis #29/2 currently carries the #91 white and blue livery used by Gurney.

Ford Galaxie 500, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

“According to the programme” the Ford Galaxie 500 above was driven to victory in the 1965 Daytona 500 by Fred Lorenzen and then given a ’66 body for testing at Daytona the following year, however a search on the internet show’s that this might not be the only car sharing the story.

Peugeot 208 T16, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Another car to arrive at Goodwood from victory lane was the 875 hp twin turbo V6 Peugeot 208 T16 with which Alsatian 9 (nine) time World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb won this years Pikes Peak race to the clouds hill climb in a mind bending 8m 13.8 seconds an astonishing 95 seconds faster than Rhys Millens 2012 full 12.42 mile course record of 9m 46.1s. Tighten your reality belts to see how Mr Loeb set the record in the film linked here.

Mercedes 60hp, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Any one who was reading GALPOT back in January might remember I spent a night and a day on the Exeter Trial being chased by a 4×4 Panda and following this 1903 Mercedes 60 hp Simplex crewed by Ben and Roger Collings, my appreciation of what these vehicles can do rose sharply as a result of the experience.

Porsche 911SC, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Car of the show for me was this 1978 Porsche 911 SC driven by Kenyan Vic Preston Jnr with co driver John Lyall to second place in the 1978 Safari Rally. I always thought if I was going to have a 911 for the road I may as well have one that could survive the rigours of Africa where I learned to drive and this one has a particularly cool paint job.

Over the coming months some of these vehicles will be featured in more depth.

Thanks for joining me on this “20th Anniversary Festival Of Speed” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Check out the latest from the Formula One silly season at Motorsports Unplugged on this link.

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Mille Miglia Tribute – Goggomobil TS Coupé

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Over the last couple of years here at GALPOT Towers I have seen a few tribute cars from a modest #177 1967 Monte Carlo winning Mini to the enormous #3 1950 Le Mans Cunningham Cadillac Petite Pataud with the occasional odd ball like the #88 Mountain Dew MG B thrown in, but I’d hazard a guess that today’s cut down Goggomobile TS Coupe which stands as a tribute to the #722 1955 Mille Miglia winning Mercedes Benz 300 SLR of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson is the strangest tribute car I have seen yet.

Goggomobil TS Coupe MM Tribute, Goodwood Revival

Goggomobil was a brand belonging to Glas that manufactured 4 different micro vehicles between 1955 and 1966 when Glas was taken over by BMW.

Goggomobil TS Coupe MM Tribute, Goodwood Revival

The car seen here would appear to be a TS Coupé that has had the roof and doors removed while the windscreen has been replaced by two ‘Brooklands’ aeroscreens.

Goggomobil TS Coupe MM Tribute, Goodwood Revival

Because the car is on foreign plates I have not been able to determine either it’s age or the engine size. What ever the exact details the engine will be an aircooled two stroke straight twin of between 250 cc / 15.3 cui and 400 cc 24.6 cui which would give somewhere between 13 hp and 20 hp depending on size.

Goggomobil TS Coupe MM Tribute, Goodwood Revival

The #722 Moss/Jenkinson 300 SLR, which won the 1000 mile street race at an all time record average speed of 97.96 mph, is widely regarded as being the worlds most desirable and expensive car, if Mercedes Benz were to ever make it available. One of the remaining Goggomobil TS Coupés, of the total 66,511 built, could be purchased for anything up to €7,000/£5,800,/USD 9000 depending on condition.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mille Miglia Tribute” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a li’l red Corvette. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Shelby Pierce Arrow – Niello Concours at Serrano

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The weekend before last Geoffrey Horton took his Jaguar out of it’s garage for the last time this year to attend the Niello Concours at Serrano. He kindly sent today’s featured photographs for us to enjoy.

Pierce Silver Arrow, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

The achievements of Pierce Arrow and Carroll Shelby were being celebrated at Niello, above a 1933 Pierce Silver Arrow one of only three such 115 mph V12’s known to exist.

British Salmson S4C, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Suffering from slow sales of aero engines made under license from (French) Salmson in 1934 British Salmson extended it’s license deal to include local manufacture of Salmson cars. Above is a 1936 S4C similar to it’s French counterpart except that it has syncromesh on the top two gears of the gearbox. Around 250 S4C’s were manufactured from 1934 to 1938.

Delahaye, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

For a Delahaye the vehicle above is pretty tame, by Delahaye standards, I’m not sure of either the year, model or coachbuilder, looks most likely a 135 which could have been built 1935 and 1954. If you know which more please do not be afraid to chime in below.

Jaguar XK140 MC DHC SE, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

As regular GALPOT readers will know Geoffrey Horton restored a rats nest back into a 1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC SE / MC which he now enters in Concours events. The 1956 example above has been in the same family since 4th January 1956, it is totally original and unrestored, as the owner says “cost of $90,000” and “cost of to keep it original, with sentimental value = priceless”

FIAT 1200 TV Spider, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Not sure what this one is at the time of writing looks a little like a Mk 1 Triumph Spitfire with a lot of additional chrome, the wheels look like they come from a Berkeley. If you know what this one is please chime in below, it’s certainly not in my I-spy book of cars.

Shelby King Cobra, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Carroll Shelby ordered two new Cooper Monaco’s beefed up to carry Shelby’s 289 Ford V8’s for the 1963 URRSC sports car championship.
Chassis #CM/1/63 seen here was driven by rapidly rising star Dave MacDonald to victories in both the 1963 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside and the Monterey Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca which along which helped MacDonald secure the 1963 URRSC sports car championship.

Shelby GT.350, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

The 1965 Shelby GT 350 was built to compete in the SCCA National B Production Championship with full race suspension larger oil pan and straight through exhaust side pipes. It was fitted with ‘only two’ seats to comply with the SCCA regulations. This particular copy, one of 562 built in 1965, has been in the same family since new.

Mercedes Benz 280 SE, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

For 1970 the US Department of Transport demanded extra visibility over the bonnet / hood of all cars and so all post 1970 model year Mercedes 280 SE’s received a lower grill than in previous years. The Low Grill 280 SE Cabriolet above is one of just 237 built in 1970.

Ford Gran Torino, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

Capable of reaching 60 mph in six seconds and covering the quarter mile in just 14.4 seconds the Ford Torino GT introduced in 1970 could be ordered with sports deck, hideaway head lamps and reflective side stripes, just like the one seen above.

Triumph TR8, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

The English Corvette as the Triumph TR8 was known was manufactured 1978 to 1982. This one would appear to be one one of the 2400 dropheads built between 1980 and 1982.

Panoz Esperante GTLM, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

The Panoz Esperante can be ordered in GT, GTLM and GTS specs with an after market JRD upgrade available if you need the speed and have the budget to satiate it. The car above is a 2005 model is the first of 80 Supercharged GTLM models. Amongst Wild Bills other vehicles are an amphibious Amphicar and Messerschmitt Kabinen Roller !

Jaguar XK140 MC DHC SE, Niello Serrano Concours d'Elegance

And so it’s time to thank Geoffrey one the last time this year for his fabulous Concours d’Elegance contributions to GALPOT this year, there will of course be further contributions about individual vehicles, and hope that his Jaguar stays safe over the off season in anticipation of the 2013 California Concours d’Elegance season.

Thanks for joining me on this “Shelby Pierce Arrow” 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 Since writing this Geoffrey has informed me that the unidentified car that looks like a cross between a Triumph and a Berkeley is a 1956 FIAT 1200 TV Spider. We live and we learn ! Thanks again to Geoffrey.

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Cum On Feel The Noize – Donington Park Test Day

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When Ted Walker told me about the possibility of a 1939 Mercedes Benz 154 Grand Prix racer appearing for a test day at Donington Park a couple of weeks ago my ears just knew I had to be there to hear it.

Ligier Matra JS17, Donington Park Test Day

At 6 am (ish) I picked up GALPOT contributer Tim and headed up to Donington Park and headed for the Hall & Hall pit where a mouth watering selection of cars was on display including this 1982 Matra V12 powered Ligier JS17 Grand Prix car.

Matra MS 630 C, Donington Park Test Day

Next to and in front of the JS17 were not one but two 1973 World Sports Car Championship winning Matra 670 C’s powered by similarly awesome sounding V12’s !

Lola T70, Donington Park Test Day

As we waited in the pits for the Gentleman from Crosthwaite and Gardiner to prepare the W154 for an engine warm up this Lola T70 Mk 3 Coupe rumbled down pit road to wet our appetites.

Mercedes Benz W154, Donington Park Test Day

After a five minute warm up the plugs on the W154 were changed and one lucky Rob Hall jumped out of his Matra and into the Benz. The car sounded great although it was anything but a smooth test as first a recalcitrant motor had to be cured and then a water leak from the radiator brought and end to proceedings. While it was running cleanly the ear splitting sound of the 476hp 3 litre / 183 cui two stage super charged V12 was music to the ears !

Donington Park Test Day

As the test day progressed Tim and I took a wolk around the track which I had not seen, despite several trips to the Donington Museum, since the early 1990’s. Since my last visit the gravel traps have substantially increased in size and safety fences have increased in height. Above Rob Hall charges down the Craner Curves pursued by a Porsche GT3.

Donington Park Test Day

One of the many advantages of traveling with Tim is that he has breath taking memory for motor racing details, he has won several prestigious motor racing knowledge awards, during the Test day he pointed out that the arch in the Folly above was part of the pre war Grand Prix circuit through which the likes of the Mercedes Benz W154 along with Alfa Romeo’s, Auto Unions and ERA’s once raced in anger !

Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Donington Park Test Day

The works Gulf Prodrive Aston Martin team had three V8 Vantages present the #97 above, seen exiting Coppice, appeared to be the 2012 Le Mans entry driven by Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner which finished 19th overall and 3rd in class behind to Ferrari 458 Italia’s. The distinctive deep thump of these V8’s made it easy to tell where they were on the track even when they were not in view.

Crossle 25A, Donington Park Test Day

When we got back to the pits we found Terry Durdin’s 1972 Formula Ford Crosslé 25F being prepared for an afternoon’s run.

Sunbeam Tiger (Lister), Donington Park Test Day

Another rumbling monster with a Le Mans history was this Sunbeam Tiger Coupé, one of two built by Lister for the Rootes Groups 1964 Le Mans challenge. Keith Ballisat and Claude Dubois qualified 34th for the endurance classic but both cars, powered by Ford 4,2 litre / 260 cui motors failed to finish due to engine failure.

Ferrari F430, Donington Park Test Day

There were two Ferrari’s present a 360 and this F430 driven by Sam Smeeth.

Tatuus FR2000, Donington Park Test Day

Following in the footsteps of Danica Patrick is the ambitious Laura Tillet who has stepped up to Formula Renault this year. Here her Fortec run Tatuus FR2000 is being prepared for a last minute run before the track closed at 5pm.

Ralt RT1 BMW, Donington Park Test Day

We did not time all the cars but thought the 2 litre / 122 cui BMW powered Ralt RT1 Formula 2 car of Philip Harper was amongst the quickest on the track. Ted Walker told us that Philip was running laps in the 1 min 02 second bracket. Tim and I reckoned Philips time would have seen him challenging James Hunt and Mario Andretti for second or third place at the very first meeting held at Donington Park the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy in 1979. To be fair the 3 litre / 183 cui cars of Hunt and Andretti had a much slower chicane to negotiate than Philip did.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cum On Feel The Noize” 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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