Tag Archives: Miles

Le Jog – Aust Services

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At the beginning of December Le Jog passed through Aust Services for an Autotest in the Car Park, below are some of the runners and riders.

MG A, Volker Haltenhof, Horst Pokroppa, Le Jog, Aust Services,

Volker Haltenhof and Horst Pokroppa collected a nice round 100 min time penalty and were classed 30th in their 1957 MG A.

Rover P4, Robert McClean, Susan McClean, Le Jog, Aust Services,

Spirit of the Rally Trophy winners were Robert and Susan McClean who were classified 19th in their 1962 Rover P4.

Porsche 356, Jonathan Miles, Andy Elcomb, Le Jog, Aust Services,

The #10 Porsche 356, also built in 1962, was driven by Jonathan Miles and Andy Elcomb who were classified 11th overall first in class and won a Bronze Medal Status.

Volvo 123GT, Roger Osborne, Barbara Osborne, Le Jog, Aust Services,

Roger and Barbara Osborne appear to have retired their #4 Volvo 123 GT early in the event, which was won by a similar car driven by Andy Lane and Iain Tullie who clocked up just 8 mins 1 sec in penalties over the three day drive from Lands End to John O’Groats.

Austin Mini, Rachel Vestey, Owen Turner, Le Jog, Aust Services,

Classified 14th in their 1972 Austin Mini 1275 GT were Rachel Vestey and Owen Turner, Australian Rachel won the Ladies prize too.

MG B, David Maryon, Andy Ballantyne, Le Jog, Aust Services,

The 1966 MG B driven by David Maryon and Andy Ballantyne also retired from the event.

Thanks for joining me on this “Le Jog” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Daytona 24 Hour competitor. Don’t forget to come back now !

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“03” – Chevron Cosworth B19 #CH-DBE-03

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On the 6th of September 1970 Chevron Cars turned up at the Nurburgring for the 500km race with an open cockpit Spyder version of their B16 Coupe, known as the B16S, for Brian Redman to drive. Brian qualified on pole but retired from the race after a fuel line broke causing a minor fire, two weeks later Brian qualified the same Escuderia Montjuich sponsored car on pole again at Spa and this time came home first.

For 1971 Chevron’s production version of the B16S became the B19 and indeed the original B16S after a phenomenally successful career in Southern Africa where at least five victories were recorded, running in Team Gunston colours and a one off appearance for Jo Siffert’s team at Paul Ricard the B16S was stripped down, the frame refurbished by Arch Motors and the car resold as a B19 for Peter Humble to race.

Chevron Cosworth B19, Ross Maxwell, Oulton Park,

B19’s hit the decks running at all levels in 1971 with John Bridges scoring an early class victory for the model in a club event at Oulton Park in March with John Miles and Gerry Birrell scoring a class victory driving another B19 in the BOAC 1000 Kilometres World Championship Sports Car Race at Brands Hatch two weeks later.

The history of today’s featured car #CH-DBE-03 according to the Chevron Heritage website is complicated because another B19 chassis #B19-71-3 claims exactly the same early history on the RM Auctions Sotherby’s website.

Chevron Cosworth B19, Ross Maxwell, Oulton Park,

For clarity on the subject one must turn to Allen Brown’s OldRacingCar.com website where the owner of #B19-71-3 in 1972 Jörg Zaborowski advises that the car was “totally destroyed” in an accident on the at ADAC Bergrennen Detmold in April 1973 and twenty years later the chassis number B19-71-3 was reassigned to the new chassis built by Vin Malkie in 1993 that is seen in the RM Auctions Southerby’s website.

The “chassis number” #CH-DBE-03 is believed to actually be a “frame number” designated by Chevron contractor Arch Motors and as Allen points out in his introduction to the B19 “the number on the frame (stamped by chassis manufacturer Arch Motors) is being mistaken for a chassis number” assigned by Chevron Cars, leading to some cars inadvertently claiming an incorrect provenance.

Chevron Cosworth B19, Ross Maxwell, Oulton Park,

Allen has found that the provenance of today’s featured car, seen being driven in these photographs by Ross Maxwell at Oulton Park, can be traced back to 1981, but it is possible the frame has an older provenance that has yet to reveal itself, Chris Chiles drove this car to International Supersports Championship victories in 1991 and 1994.

In all 35 B19’s were built, including the recycled B16S, and B19 victories were recorded in the 1971 European 2 litre Sports Car Championship by Niki Lauda, Toine Hezemans, and John Hine, but consistent Lola driver Helmut Marko won the drivers championship and Lola the constructors championship.

Thanks for joining me on this “03” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Formula One Car that tragically never got the opportunity to be raced in period. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Americana – Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

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Last month Geoffrey Horton kindly asked Karl Krause to take some photo’s of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion festivities at Laguna Seca, I’ll be running a couple of blogs featuring a selection of the vehicles that were present starting with five American vehicles and one from Canada today.

Ford Model T Speedster, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

First up is a the #81 1922 Ford Model T Speedster known as the Hudkins MoTor Special in deference to Bruce Hudkins who built the immaculate boat tail body.

Caballo de Hiero, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Fast forward 31 years to 1953 when a pioneering Hot Rodder Akton Miller took it upon himself to build the #11 “Caballo de Hiero”, Iron Horse, above using a Ford Chassis and an Oldsmobile motor to take on the might of Europe from Lancia, Ferrari, Talbot Lago and Jaguar in the 1953 Carrera Panamerica in which he and co driver Douglas Harrison finished a respectable 14th overall, the following year they returned and came home an even better 7th overall covering the 1921 mile route at an average speed of 94.1 miles per hour.

Bocar XP5, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

In the late 1950’s BOb CARnes set out to design and build the fastest and safest sports car in the world that would be both fully operable on ordinary roads and track, at a price within the reach of ordinary people. By 1959 he was on his 5th design the XP5 like the example owned by Wesley Abendroth above which I believe is chassis XP5043, that when powered by a 290 hp Corvette V8 was easily capable of 160 mph.

Dailu Mk2, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Even more obscure and rare than the Bocar XP5 is Greg Meyer’s Dailu Mk2 built by DAvId Greenblatt and LUigi Cassiani in Canada. After the pair turned constructors and successfully built the Chevrolet powered Dailu Mk1 to improve upon Davids 1960 Sadler Mk IV, they built the Dailu Mk2 with a coupé fiberglass body, Jaguar XKE rear suspension, and a 430hp Ford Traco engine. John Canon drove it to victory on it’s debut and owner Peter Lerch continued the cars winning ways even after electing to remove the roof.

Ford GT40 MkII, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Probably best known of today’s featured cars is the Ford GT40 MkII chassis P/1015 which Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby drove to victory on it’s debut in the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours and was then driven by Ken and Denny Hulme to a second place finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours, subsequent starts in the same events in 1967 yielded no finishes.

Chevrolet Monza, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Fourteen years further down the line and Chris Cord Racing were entering the second of their DeKon Engineering built Chevrolet Monza’s for Jim Adams in the IMSA GTX series. Other drivers of chassis #1012, seen above now owned by Ken Epsman, in the 1980 – 81 time frame included team owner Chris Cord, Rick Koop and a chap, or these days I believe more correctly a chapess, called Bruce Jenner who is apparently a darling of the moment in the media .

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for organising these photographs for me and to Karl Krause for their execution, more will follow next week.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1975 World Constructors Winning Ferrari. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Secretaries Turnkey Racer – Shelby G.T.350 R #SFM5R098

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Allegedly when Carroll Shelby first saw a Ford Mustang his original description was of a mere “secretary’s car”, but that did not stop him building a run of over 500 2 seat 350 G.T.350 variants to meet the Sports Car Club of America’s requirements and a special run of 34 G.T.350 R turnkey racers like today’s featured chassis #SFM5R098.

The 34 G.T.350 R cars were fitted with blue printed motors that produced up to 360hp, weight saving plexiglass side and rear window’s and Goodyear Blue Dot tyres mounted on American Racing 15″ x 7″ wheels.

Shelby G.T. 350 R, Concours On The Avenue, Carmel By The Sea,

Today’s featured G.T. 350 R, photographed by Geoffrey Horton at Concours On The Avenue, Carmel by the Sea, a couple of years ago is the 7th to have been built and the fifth to have been delivered to a paying customer in the form of Ned Owen.

Ned raced this car, which featured an Essex Wire Black stripe with orange pin stripe in SCCA class B Production races from 1965 to 1967 with Ford drivers Skip Scott and Ken Miles also said to have had one off drives in the car.

Shelby G.T. 350 R, Concours On The Avenue, Carmel By The Sea,

In 1967 #SFM5R098 was purchased by a Canadian who crashed it in 1969 after which it remained in an Ontario barn until it was bought unseen by Shelby aficionado Rick Kopec of Connecticut for $5,000.

Rick had #SFM5R098 restored to the condition it was in when bought new by Ned Owen only changing the race number from Owen’s customary #92 to #98 in deference to the cars chassis number.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Secretaries Turnkey Racer” 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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Hot In Miami – Jaguar XJR5 #006

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If one foreigner deserves a knighthood for trying to keep the British Motor industry alive while it was in self destruct mode twixt the early 1960’s and late 1980’s my nomination without question would go to Bob Tullis who prepared and raced a succession of British sports cars from Triumph and Jaguar to numerous victories over the 30 years in question.

Perhaps most remarkably of all having been a successful driver for 20 years, which included driving a few non British vehicles like the Dodge Dart, AMC Javelin,Bruce Jennings Porsche 911 and a one off drive in a works Oldsmobile Cutlass, Bob and Group 44 Inc business partner Brian Feurstenau managed to persuade Mike Dale of Jaguar Cars Inc, New Jersey, to fund an IMSA GT Prototype project which would see Jaguar return to Le Mans nearly 30 years after their last official appearance at the circuit in 1955.

Tullis who’s diverse endurance experience included driving the Triumph Spitfire Coupé and Howmett gas turbine car at Le Mans employed Lee Dykstra to design the new Jaguar XJR5 IMSA GTP challenger.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

The XJR5 was to be powered by a variant of the 2 valve per cylinder 5.34 litre / 326 cui Jaguar V12 which Bob had successfully campaigned in his Trans Am Quaker State Group 44 Inc Jaguar E-Type and later XJS models since the mid 1970’s.

In August 1982 Bob and long time co driver Canadian Bill Adam drove the XJR5 to a debut 3rd place finish behind two of the outgoing Porsche 935’s at Road America to score a debut class victory.

Bob and Bill scored the teams first overall victory at Road Atlanta in April 1983, two more followed at Lime Rock and Mosport, Doc Bundy then shared the final XJR5 victory in 1983 at Pocono with Bob.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Today’s featured chassis #006 first appeared at the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours where Bill Adam, Pat Bedard and Brian Redman qualified 6th and were classified a disappointing 24th, the sister car driven by Doc Bundy, David Hobbs and Bob Tullius qualified and finished 3rd.

Next time out at Miami with Brian and Doc at the wheel chassis #006 qualified 4th but more importantly crossed the line first when the chequered flag fell. Despite the team increasing the capacity of it’s V12 motors to a full 6 litres / 366 cui a couple of months later this would prove be their only overall victory in 1984.

After Porsche’s top driver Derek Bell had been suitably impressed with the XJR5 after testing it in 1983 Jaguar gave the green light to Bob and Group 44 to take the cars, one of which would be #006 driven by Tony Adamowicz, John Watson and Claude Ballot-Léna to Le Mans in 1984.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Tony, John and Claude qualified 19th and retired after an accident on lap 212 while the sister car driven by Brian, Doc and Bob qualified 14th and made it to lap 291 before the gearbox gave up.

Chassis #006 returned to the States and finished the season with a 2nd place finish in the Daytona 3 Hours with Brian and Hurley Haywood at the wheel.

For 1985, by which time Lee Dykstra reckoned he had redesigned 99% of the XJR5, #006 was prepared for the Le Mans 24 hours.

Jaguar XJR5, Miles, Silverstone Classic

Jim Adams joined Brian and Hurley in chassis #006 where the car was qualified 17th and retired after only 151 laps with a constant velocity joint failure.

The sister car driven by Bob, Chip Robinson and Claude qualified 16th and finished 13th overall and first in the GTP class.

The cars final two races were back in the States where Chip Robinson joined Hurley to score a best 2nd place finish at Pocono in September 1985 on it’s final in period race appearance.

At Daytona in December 1985 the XJR5 model appeared for the last time, before it was replaced by the all new XJR7 in 1986, Brian and Hurley sent the model into retirement with a fine second place less than 8.5 seconds behind the winning Hobert Racing Porsche 962 driven by Al’s Holbert and Unser.

Today #006 is owned by Don Miles who can be seen driving the car at Silverstone Classic events in these photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hot In Miami” 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 !

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April Fool ? – Lotus 72 B #72/R1

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On the 1st of April 1970 the press were invited to see the Lotus 72 for the first time. The clean wedge shape was a return to the theme from the 1968 Lotus 56 Indy Car and Lotus 58 Formula 2/Tasman car.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

When the car was first tested by works drivers Jochen Rindt, John Miles and John Walkers driver Graham Hill they all reported the cars innovative front anti dive and rear anti squat suspension which aimed to reduced suspension travel under braking and acceleration was difficult to drive on the limit.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

As a result of this Jochen Rindt got his 1970 championship campaign under way with a fortuitous win in Monaco driving an updated four year old design in the form of a Lotus 49 C.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the 1970 Dutch Prix Lotus arrived with the second 72 chassis #72R2 updated to C-specification, with the anti dive and anti squat features of the suspension removed, for Jochen Rindt to drive which he found much more to his liking and proceeded a sting of four successive wins in Holland, France, Britain and Germany which gave Jochen what would become an unassailable lead in the World Championship.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Unfortunately during practice for the 1970 Italian GP when he was testing #72/R2 without any wings, under braking an inboard front brake shaft broke, sending the 28 year old Jochen into a crash barrier post with fatal results.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

New team leader Emerson Fittipaldi won the last race of the 1970 season driving a new 72 C. Jochen Rindt became the only posthumous World Champion and Lotus won their 4th Constructors Championship. For 1971 the Lotus 72 C proved to be not quite so competitive against Jackie Stewart and the Tyrrell Team, but otus would bounce back with the upgraded Lotus 72 D in 1972.

Lotus 72C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Lotus 72 #72/R1 is the only remaining 1970 spec car left, it was the car shown to the press on April 1st 1970 and subsequently entered and raced for Jochen’s team mate John Miles in original and B spec with only the anti squat removed from the rear suspension. John’s best result was a 7th place finish in the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix.

The Lotus 72 spawned many successful imitations including the McLaren M16 multiple winning Indy car and the McLaren M23 multiple world championship winning Grand Prix car.

Today’s Grand Prix and Indy cars all fitted with side radiators in side pods can all be said to be descendants of the Lotus 72.

Note the cockpit surround of #72/R1 has a shallow perspex screen from a later post 1972 Lotus 72.

Thanks for joining me on this “April Fool ?” 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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Loud Engine Test Bed – Lotus 62

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Today’s post comes courtesy of Jon Bawden and his Dad RJ Bawden who took this photograph of the Lotus 62 at the Bank Holiday Monday Guards International run at Brands Hatch in September 1969 when Jon was only 3 !

Lotus 62, BOAC 500, Brands Hatch

For 1969 Lotus produced two prototype racing cars, designed by Martin Waide, that were to replace the Lotus 47 and act as test beds for the 4 cylinder Vauxhall LV220 motors Lotus would develop into the Type 904 motors that would be used in the Lotus Elite, Eclat and Esprit road cars that Lotus introduced between 1974 and 1976.

While the outside shape of the 62 bears a passing resemblance to the Lotus 47 racing cars underneath the fiber glass body a space frame chassis replaced the back bone chassis of the Type 47.

The 220 hp 1992 cc / 121.5 cui Vauxhall LV 220 based motor was modified by Lotus and featured an alloy cylinder block and cylinder head, twin overhead camshafts and Tecalemit – Jackson fuel injection. By all accounts the Lotus 62 was amongst the noisiest motors in prototype racing despite it’s modest size.

John Miles and Brian Muir were the drivers of the car at the BOAC 500, during practice the handling problems became apparent but the car qualified 16th and came in 13th overall, 1st in class. The car was run with a an additional aerodynamic aid above the nose as a temporary remedy to the handling issues as can be seen in this linked photograph.

During the remainder of the season John Miles managed another class win with a fourth place finish in the Trophy of the Dunes held at Zandvoort in The Netherlands and an overall win in the Guards International for cars up to 2 litres / 122 cui.

American Roy Pyke deputising for an other wise indisposed Brian Muir drove the #105, as seen above, to third place behind his team mate in the Guards Trophy. Peter Darley at The Nostalgia Forum has identified those standing behind the Lotus 62 as, left to right, Nigel Bennett (Firestone), Gordon Huckle (Lotus), Mike Brett (Firestone), Bruce Hare (Firestone).

Roy deputising for John Miles won a minor Motoring News GT Championship race at Thruxton in October 1969.

The second of the Lotus 62’s ended up in Portugal where Enesto Neves drove it to at least three victories between 1971 and 1973, while the first one ended up with jazz trombonist Chris Barber’s team who had David Brodie drive it.

My thanks again to RJ and Jon Bawden for their kind permission to use their photograph.

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

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