Tag Archives: Prix

Half A Car – Lotus Ford T 87 #87/R2 & #87/R4

For the 1981 World Championship Lotus had developed the twin chassis Lotus 86 which I looked at last week, no sooner had testing of that car been finished than the ruling body of the sport outlawed the skirts on which the car depended to seal the airflow beneath the body of the car and mandated a minimum ride height.

Lotus Ford 87, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

This led to the development of the Lotus 88 which had twin chassis as did the 86 but no skirts and a 6cm minimum ride height as mandated by the new rules. Unfortunately while the governing the body of the sport accepted the Lotus 88 as legal most of the other teams did not declaring that the second outer aerodynamic chassis was a banned movable aerodynamic aid and not a fully suspended chassis.

Lotus Ford 87, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Set against a back ground to these semantic arguments between the grandee teams of Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo going up against the garagistes of Brabham, Lotus, McLaren, Williams et al made of high drama and in this instance almost every body building cars turned against Lotus in denouncing the Lotus 88 which meant that it only ever took part in a couple of practice sessions.

Lotus 87, Hall & Hall, Bourne, Lincs

For the first half of the 1981 season Lotus were therefore forced into running the Lotus 81 from the 1980 season. By the time the Formula one circus arrived in Great Britain Lotus made one final attempt to run the Lotus 88 in practice but were again refused by their fellow competitors and so Lotus ran the 88 sans second aeroydynamic chassis and with more conventional aerodynamic side pods and wings as #87/R2 is seen being driven by Nigel Mansell during practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1981 and #87/R4 is seen with the later front wings at Hall & Hall and in the Paddock at Silverstone during the classic meeting earlier this year.

Lotus 87, Silverstone Classic

The single chassis version of the Lotus 88 is known as the Lotus Type 87. The highlight of the Lotus 87’s half a seasons competition career was a couple of 4th place finishes, for Elio de Angeles in Italy and Nigel Mansell at Ceasers Palace.

Lotus 87, Hall & Hall, Bourne, Lincs

Chassis R2 was used by Elio de Angeles in Monaco, Spain and France scoring a best 5th place finish in Spain, Mansell took the car over for the British Grand Prix and failed to qualify. There after this car was used as a spare for the remainder of the 1981 season and the first race of the 1982 season in South Africa.

Lotus 87, Hall & Hall, Bourne, Lincs

So far as I have been able to determine chassis #87/R4 seen in the more recent photo’s was driven by Nigel Mansell in at least four Grand Prix during the second half of the 1981 season. Note that the use of space age Carbon Fiber and Kevlar was becoming widespread by 1981 the following season the majority of Formula One monocoques were made from the material with the exception of Ferrari.

Lotus 87, Hall & Hall, Bourne, Lincs

The absence of any bodywork around the rear suspension and exhaust shows what a rush job it was to get the Lotus 87’s to the grid most of the contemporary cars of the period had the rear axle covered in body panels by 1981 including the 1981 British Grand Prix winning McLaren MP4/1 of John Watson.

My thanks to Rick Hall if Hall & Hall for generously allowing me to take the photos of #87/R4, which is for sale, on his premises.

Thanks for joining me on this “Half A Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be relating a Scandinavian Tale about an unusual fire engine. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Mors Ianua Vitae – Mors Grand Prix

Émile Mors was born in 1859 into a family whose father Louis was a pioneering electrical engineer who founded an electrical equipment manufacturing business bearing the family name.

Mors Grand Prix, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

In 1895 Émile founded his own company bearing the family name to make motor cars, an early strap line for the company appears to have been “Mors ianua vitae” is a double entendre “Mors is the gateway to life” or the more sinister “Death is the gateway to life”.

Mors Grand Prix, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

A great believer in competing against the best in 1901 Mors built a 10 litre / 610 cui V4 engine with side valves and dry sump lubrication that at 950 rpm produced 60 hp for the car that Henri Fournier drove 527 km to win both the 1901 Paris Bordeaux trial by half an hour and 1105 km’s Paris to Berlin race which he by over an hour from Panhard et Levassoir drivers on each occasion.

Mors Grand Prix, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

Despite customers that included the Honorable Charles Stewart Rolls (before making the acquaintance of Henry Royce) and William K. Vanderbilt Jr, Émile’s business fell victim to fall out from the failure by F. Augustus Heinze’s United Copper Company to corner the copper market in New York and he had to sell to André Citroën who became chairman of the company in 1908.

Mors Grand Prix, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

André decided to try and revive the companies fortunes by building three cars powered by 100hp 12.5 liter / 775 cui motors with overhead push rod actuated valves and minimal brakes for the 1908 French Grand Prix.

Mors Grand Prix, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

As often is the case more haste meant less speed and one of the under powered cars failed to start while the other two finished 17th and 16th almost 90 mins behind the winning Mercedes driven by Christian Lautenschlager.

I believe the example seen here at Goodwood last year owned by The Revs Institute was the one driven to the 16th place finish by the bearded Belgian Camille “Le Diable Rouge” Jenatzy ahead of his team mate known only as Landon, on what proved to be Mors final Grand Prix appearance, by 1925 André dropped the Mors name entirely in favour of his own.

Thanks for joining me on this “Mors Ianua Vitae” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a spot of Banger racing. Don’t forget to came back now !

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Minimum Weight Restricted Bore- 1908 Mercedes Grand Prix

The very first Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France run at Le Mans in 1906 was run to a maximum weight of 1000 kgs / 2204 lbs and maxiumum fuel consumption formula which encouraged manufacturers to put large engines into flimsy chassis, the winning car was a 90hp 13 litre / 793 cui Renault with shaft drive to the rear wheels driven by Ferencsz Sziz.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

For the 1907 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France run at Dieppe the maximum permissible weight restriction was abandoned but the 9.4 miles per gallon maximum fuel consumption was retained, this much shorter race run over a single day was won by 1906 second place finisher Felice Nazzaro aboard a chain driven 16.5 litre / 1006 cui FIAT ahead of the 1906 winner Ferencsz who was again driving a Renault.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In 1908 the Automobile Club de France ran it’s Grand Prix on the same course at Dieppe but for vehicles that weighed a minimum of 1100 kgs and a maximum cylinder bore of 155 milimeters / 6.1 inches for 4 cylinder motors or 127 mm / 5 inches for 6 cylinder motors, no one built a six cylinder car for the race.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Mercedes turned to Paul Daimler to conceive it’s 1908 Grand Prix challenger in the absence of William Maybach who conceived the 1907 Daimler Grand Prix challenger before leaving Daimler to form his own company with his son Karl.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Paul did not stray far from William Maybach’s idea’s, but did build a much lower car which improved the the handling.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Martin Viessmann, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The car had a 2.7 meter / 106″ wheel base with a 1.4 meter / 55″ track, it was powered by a 12.8 litre / 780 cui motor that produced 135hp at just 1400 rpm, the rear wheels were driven through a 4 speed gearbox chain drive, despite a top speed in excess of 100 mph the foot and hand brakes operated only on the rear wheels.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Three cars were built for the 1908 French Grand that were to be crewed by Willy Pöge, Otto Salzer, Christian Lautenschlager and their respective mechanics.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Otto set fastest lap of the race at over 78 mph but retired on the third lap with a broken wheel, Willy came home 5th over 36 mins behind the winner Christian who on his last set of 100psi Michelin tyres came home over 8 mins ahead of a pair of 150hp Benz’s that finished 2nd and 3rd.

Mercedes Grand Prix, Martin Viessmann, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

All three cars were sold after the 1908 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, one of them was tuned to produce 180hp and recorded a speed of over 107mph over the flying kilometer during the Ostend Speed week with the bearded Belgian Camille “Le Diable Rouge” Jenatzy at the wheel.

President and CEO of the family German Heating System company bearing his name, and former sponsor of Niki Lauda’s hat, Martin Viessmann is seen at the wheel of one of the Mercedes Grand Prix cars that is the sister to the one driven to victory by Christian in the 1908 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France.

Thanks for joining me on this “Minimum Weight Restricted Bore” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at a Zeppelin powered Belgian car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Old Nail – Vauxhall Firenza

In May 1971 Vauxhall launched a two door coupé version of it’s Viva sedan known as the Firenza and the shell of today’s car started life as one of the prototype Firenza’s on which Vauxhall put through it’s paces to ensure the model met it’s performance and quality criteria.

Vauxhall Firenza, Donington Grand Prix Collection

After Vauxhall had finished with the car they rewarded Bill Blydenstein of Blydenstein Developments who with driver Gerry Marshall had campaigned a success Vauxhall Viva GT with the car and a funding deal which became known as Dealer Team Vauxhall.

01 Vauxhall Firenza_6158sc

Bill Blydenstein and Gerry Johnston prepared the car, which included lowering the front suspension and widening the wheel arches to incorporate wide slick racing tyres, for Gerry Marshall to drive in the 1972 BARC Forward Trust Championship which he promptly won outright.

Vauxhall Firenza, Race Retro,

In 1973 Vauxhall introduced the Firenza HP with its distinctive “droopsnoot” for which Bill Blydenstein claimed some of the credit.

Vauxhall Firenza, Gregor Marshall, Goodwood, Festival of Speed

“Old Nail” as Gerry Marshall dubbed her, was similarly modified and raced to two further Class Championship wins in the BARC Forward Trust Championships in 1973 and 1974 by which time Gerry had clocked up 62 race victories in the car.

Vauxhall Firenza, , Goodwood, Festival of Speed

Bill Dryden acquired Old Nail in 1975 and he drove the car to a further three race victories and a Championship Class win in the 1975 Scottish Saloon Car Championship.

The 250hp 2.3 litre motor fitted with Lotus twin cam heads seen in these photographs, has been in the car since 1973, Gerry’s son Gregor is seen driving the car at Goodwood Festival of Speed a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Old Nail” 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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RIP – Hill Cosworth GH2

After serving an apprenticeship with Smiths Instruments and rising to the rank of Petty Officer in the Royal Navy Norman Graham Hill passed his driving test aged 24 in 1953.

The following year he got the motor racing bug driving a 500 Formula 3 Cooper and joined Team Lotus as a mechanic where he eventually talked his way into the cockpit, in 1956 Graham, as he is better known, made his Grand Prix debut at the wheel of a Lotus 12.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

By 1962 Graham Hill was leading BRM to their one and only Formula One World Constructors Championship and became World Drivers Champion for the first time.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

After winning the Indy 500 driving a Lola in 1966 Graham Hill rejoined Lotus in 1967 to partner Jim Clark and the following year he won his second world championship in the Lotus 49B.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

A year after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours sharing a Matra MS670 with Henri Pescarolo, Graham decided to go it alone and set up his own team in 1973 running a Shadow in 1973 and Lola’s and a derivation thereof in 1974 and 1975.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

Having retired from driving in 1975 Graham put all of his efforts into supporting a rising British star Tony Brise who scored the teams first constructors championship point at the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix at the wheel of the Lola derivative Hill GH1.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

For 1976 Graham was to run fellow Londoner Tony in a one car team for which Andy Smallman designed the all new Hill GH2 powered by a Cosworth DFV, the development of which Graham had been an instrumental part of in 1967 while at Lotus.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

On the 29th of November 1975 the team tested the new car, seen in these photographs at The Donington Grand Prix Collection, at Paul Ricard in Southern France and at the end of the test the core members of the team; manager Ray Brimble , mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards, designer Andy Smallman and Tony Brise boarded the Graham’s Piper PA 23-250 Turbo-Aztec which he then piloted back to England.

Hill Cosworth GH2, The Donington Grand Prix Collection

At 10pm in heavy fog while attempting to land at Elstree Airfield the plane crashed with the loss of all on board.

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

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Pete Aron’s Yamura – McLaren Ford M2B

With the decline in fortunes of the Cooper Car Companies Grand Prix program, for which he had been driving since his arrival in Formula One in 1958, Bruce McLaren decided that with the success of his McLaren M1 sports cars he could follow his former mentor Jack Brabham, who left Cooper to build his own Formula One cars in 1962, and start his own Grand Prix team in time for the new 3 litre / 183 cui regulations which came into effect in 1966.

Through 1965 McLaren built and extensively tested the M2A which was designed by Robin Herd and fitted with a 4.5 litre / 274.5 Oldsmobile V8 from the McLaren M1 program.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

The monococoque of the McLaren M2A made extensive use of compressed balsa wood sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminium called Malite which made the monocoque much stiffer than a conventional monocoque as had been successfully used in the Lotus 25 and it’s successor the Lotus 33.

However Malite proved to be difficult to work with and repair and so for the McLaren M2B the use of Malite was restricted to the inner skins and upper surfaces of the monocoque which still offered significant advantages to the stiffness of the structure.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

Originally the M2B was powered by a V8 motor derived from Ford’s Indy programme, but this proved way to heavy allegedly when connected to the gearbox the whole power train weighed as much as some rivals entire cars, while later on a much lighter and less powerful Serenissima motor was also tried.

The two engines are easily distinguished the Indy derived Ford has exhausts between the Vee formed by the eight cylinders as seen here and the Serenissima had more conventional side exhausts.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

Bruce McLaren made 4 starts in the M2B, after retiring at Monaco he realised the Ford based motor needed less weight and more power so he secured the use of the Serenissima’s as an interim measure. At the British Grand Prix Bruce scored his first World Championship point in a car bearing his own name. By the US Grand Prix improved Ford based motors were back from Traco and Bruce came in 5th, before retiring at the Mexican Grand Prix which closed the season.

Although the season was a failure the team learned from their mistakes and made do with BRM 2 litre / 122 cui V8 motors for 1967 before becoming one of the three teams using the Ford Cosworth DFV, alongside Lotus and Tyrrell in 1968.

The white and green colour scheme of the M2B is said to have been mandated by a deal between Bruce and the producers of the John Frankenheimer’s film “Grand Prix” which required the McLaren M2B to look like the fictional Japanese “Yamura” which James Garners character Pete Aron drove to a championship win in the film.

Thanks for joining me me on this Malite Monocoque 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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Limited Fuel Unlimited Boost – Lotus Renault 98T #004

The Lotus Renault 98T was a development of the 1985 Lotus Renault 97T Grand Prix Car designed by Gerard Ducarouge and Martin Ogilvie for Ayrton Senna and Johnny Dumfries to drive in the 1986 Grand Prix season.

Lotus Renault 98T, Autsport International, NEC, Birmingham

Note the small vertical “barge boards” mounted on the front suspension, a feature carried over from the Lotus Renault 97T that are still in evidence on today’s contemporary Grand Prix cars albeit mounted much closer to the side pod intakes.

Lotus Renault 98T, Autsport International, NEC, Birmingham

The main difference between the 1984 and 1985 Lotus Formula One challengers was that the FIA had mandated a 195 litre maximum fuel capacity which meant the new car could be built with a smaller and lower fuel tank.

Lotus Renault 98T, Autsport International, NEC, Birmingham

Elio de Angelis who had won one race in 1985 for Lotus and had been eclipsed by new team mate Ayrton Senna who won two races, moved to the Brabham team for 1986. Elio was replaced at Senna’s discretion by Johnny Dumfries a rookie who had dominated the British Formula Three Championship a Grand Prix feeder series in 1985.

Lotus Renault 98T, Autsport International, NEC, Birmingham

Despite running with a limited fuel allowance there were no limit’s on the amount of boost the turbo’s could run and after the introduction of pneumatic valve springs in the cylinder heads and a common rail injection system with water cooled intercoolers it was estimated that the Renault EF15 motors could produce upto 1300 hp at 5.5 bar boost for a qualifying run, though it transpires these figures could never be verified because there were no testing rigs that were calibrated for that kind of output.

Lotus Renault 98T, Autsport International, NEC, Birmingham

Other novel features of the Lotus 98T included two stage ride height adjustment and a six speed gearbox which was used exclusively by Dumfries.

Ayton Senna scored two more victories in Spain and Detroit along with 4 seconds and 2 thirds but although he scored 55 points 17 more than in 1985 he still finished 4th in the final championship as he had done the previous year. Johnny Dumfries meanwhile scored only 3 points and that heralded the end of his career as a Grand Prix Driver. He was replaced in by Satoru Nakajima backed by Honda who were to supply motor’s to Lotus for 1987. Despite scoring 13 points less in 1986 than they had in 1985 Lotus also finished 4th in the Constructors championship just as they had in 1985.

Thanks for joining me for this “Limited Fuel Unlimited” boost 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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