Tag Archives: Psychoontyres

Firing Up Brand Awareness – BMW GTP

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The early to mid 1980’s were boom years for many capitalist economies as the price hike in fuel prices provoked by the 1970’s fuel crises became normalised as increased oil production outside the OPEC nations that forced the crises became more economically viable.

In 1983 Nelson Piquet became the first driver to win the World Championship driving a vehicle with a turbo charged motor, his Brabham BT52 being powered by a BMW engine that brought the Bravarian brand much attention, despite Ferrari winning the 1983 Formula One Constructors Championship, in almost all of the global automotive markets except the biggest one in the USA.

BMW GTP, Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham

To fire up brand awareness in the USA for the 1986 season BMW tasked McLaren North America to run two BMW North America financed cars in the increasingly popular IMSA GTP series for prototype 2 seat coupé racing cars.

Time and considerable development expense was saved when BMW commissioned March to build four GTP chassis based on the previous race winning March 82G, 83G and 84G GTP prototypes that had been run with Porsche Flat 6, Buick V6 and Chevrolet V8 engines.

BMW GTP, Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham

The BMW GTP prototypes, said to have been designed by Gordon Coppuck, were fitted them with 2 litre / 122 cui 4 cylinder 16 valve turbo charged motors and to be driven by American young guns Davy Jones and John Andretti backed up by the more experienced pairing of John Watson and David Hobbs.

During testing for the Daytona one of the cars caught fire and wary of adverse publicity the team withdrew it’s cars from the season opening 24 Hours race.

BMW GTP, Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham

A second car burned during qualifying at Sebring and it’s sister was withdrawn after a separate accident, but in the remaining races the cars proved fast, regular top ten qualifiers, but fragile recording 8 did not finishes plus two accidents from 17 starts.

At Watkins Glen the team locked out the front row of the grid and the pole sitting youngsters Davy and John drove their BMW GTP to the models only victory in the Watkins Glen 500 while the sister did not finish.

BMW GTP, Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham

At the end of the year BMW announced it’s imminent withdrawal from International motor sport after the BMW powered Brabham F1 team scored only two points and BMW powered vehicles from both series appeared to attract more publicity for catching fire than for racing success.

BMW saw out it’s contract to supply motors to Brabham for one more season and the GTP programme was shut down immediately, although two of the remaining BMW GTP’s, two replacements for the ones that were destroyed were sent to McLaren North America, appeared in 1988 as Buick powered March 86G’s with Gianpiero Moretti’s Momo Racing in 1988.

BMW GTP, Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham

The BMW GTP, like the one seen here at last years Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham, should not be confused with the four Group C spec Nissan V6 turbo powered March 86G’s or the IMSA spec Buick V6 turbo powered 86G supplied to Conte Racing all of which were also raced during 1986.

Thanks for joining me on this “Firing Up Market Awareness” 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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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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City To City Racer – Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R

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In June 1854 on the Bristol & Exeter Railway a broad gauge steam train set an out right speed record of 82 mph that appears to have stood until July 1934 when a Milwaukee Road class F6 recorded a top speed of 104 mph to become the fastest steam train.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

The year before the Wright Brothers made the first controlled powered flight William K. Vanderbilt recorded a top speed of just over 76 mph aboard his Mors in 1902 to set the first Land Speed Record for a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine, the following year AEG and Siemens & Halske built an electric train that recorded a top speed of just over 130 mph.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Having pioneered the Panhard System of placing the engine in front of the automobile and driving the rear wheels with the aid of a clutch operated gearbox and pioneered the use of a steering wheel in place of the hitherto ubiquitous tiller steering Panhard et Levassor were vying with their former collaborator Gottlieb Daimler to supply the best vehicles in Europe to Royalty and industrial leaders at the turn of the 20th Century.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

To ensure their clients awareness of it’s products Panhard et Levassor took part in the popular city to city races of the day, Émile Levassor crossed the line first ahead of another Panhard et Levassor in the 1895 Paris Bordeaux Paris race, but the cars only had two seats, four seats being mandated for prize eligibility.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

By 1903 Panhard et Levassor had developed it’s 70hp model to compete with the Mercedes Simplex.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

The 13672 cm³ / 834 cui 70 hp S²4M 4 cylinder motor and chain drive train was fitted to an R chassis along with two seats and a fuel tank and enough space to carry a few spare tyres.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

16 70hp Panhard et Levassors are believed to have been built, I believe Charles S Rolls, of Rolls Royce fame, drove one in the fatal 1903 Paris Madrid race, but retired before the race was abandoned at Bordeaux and city to city racing was banned in France.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Felice Nazzaro won the 1km flying sprint at Florence in June 1903 aboard his 70hp and 2 days later won the La Consuma Hillclimb in the same car, a week later Baron Pierre de Crawhez won the 500km Circuit des Ardennes driving another 70hp and Felice rounded out his season with a win in the 10km Padua-Bovolenta Sprint and flying 1km Padua Sprint in October.

Panhard et Levassor 70hp S²4M R, Brooklands Double 12

Richard Black’s 70hp, seen in these photographs at a Brooklands Double Twelve meeting with Michael New at the wheel, was first registered in the UK on the 1st of October 2007.

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Windowless Aluminium Door Roadster – Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SL

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In November 1955 Hong Kong Army Seargent Douglas Stearn drove a Mercedes 190 SL to second place in the Macau Grand Prix for the Zung Fu Company, finishing behind the Austin Healey 100 driven by Robert Ritchie.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

For 1956 Mercedes Benz built two light weight competition 190 SLR’s, featuring window less aluminium doors.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Additional weight was saved by replacing the windscreens with perspex racing aero screens and deleting the soft top, front and rear bumpers.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Power was also increased from 104 hp to 115hp which gave the car a top speed of 121 mph, though these speeds are unlikely to have been reached around the tight Macau street circuit.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

One of the 190 SLR’s was delivered to the Zung Fu Company, the offical Mercedes Benz dealers for Hong Kong and Macau to this day, for Douglas to drive in the 1956 Macua Grand Prix.

Mercedes Benz W121 B2 190 SLR, Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands,

Douglas duly won the race at his second attempt beating the Ferrari 500 Monidal driven by Mário Lopez da Costa and the MG A driven by Fernando de Macedo Pinto.

The 190SL seen in these photographs taken at Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands, was imported to the UK and first registered for the on March 5th 1957, it appears to have been converted to an approximation of the SLR spec by Redcastle Classics in 2008.

The whereabouts of the two original 190 SLR’s are unknown to me at this time if you know please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for joining me on this “Windowless Aluminium Door Roadster” 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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34mm Turbo Restrictor – Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype

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The second generation Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero was built between 1991 and 1999, today’s featured 1996 T3 Prototype was built to compete in the Granada Dakar Desert Rally and aside from the name and a few components shares little in common with it’s commercial namesake.

Going into the 1996 Granada Dakar Rally Mitsubishi were looking to win their 4th Dakar Rally 4 wheel title outright, their first since 1993, as were ’91, ’94 and ’95 winners Citroen.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The T3 Prototype was built on a space frame competition chassis featuring double wishbone and coil spring suspension all round, the tad over 2m / 6’6″ wide, with a 3m wheel base chassis was covered with a 4m carbon fibre and Kevlar body.

Weighing only 1410 kgs / 3100 lbs the vehicle was powered by a 2.4 litre / 147 cui 4 cylinder 16 valve 4G64 motor fitted with an inter cooled Turbocharger and a new for ’96 mandated 34mm air restrictor that kept the power output down to a claimed 300hp.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Thee T3 Prototypes were entered for crews; Bruno Saby/Dominique Serieys who won in 1993, Kenjiro Shinozuka/Henri Magne and Jean-Pierre Fontenay/Bruno Musmarr.

A fourth T3 Prototype with RVR Space Runner bodywork was entered for Hiroshi Masuoka / Andreas Schulz and the whole team was backed up with 9 trucks and 76 personnel led by Ullrich Bremer who were also mandated by the regulations to compete.

Mitsubishi Pajero T3 Prototype, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Pierre Lartigue and Michel Perin completed a hat trick of wins in their Citroën ZX Rallye Raid Evo 5, a car which traces it’s origins back to the Peugeot 205 T16, while Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Bruno Musmarr came home in 3rd, driving today’s featured #206 seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed, ahead of the sister car of Bruno Saby and Dominique Serieys which finished 7th and 17th place Kenjiro Shinozuka and Henri Magne.

Kenjiro and Henri went on to win the event in 1997, Jean-Pierre with Giles Picard won in ’98, Hiroshi and Andreas won in 2003 the year after Hiroshi won the event for the first time with Pascal Maimon, all of these victories counting towards the 12 Dakar overall 4 wheel victories Mitsubishi have won to date.

Thanks for joining me on this “34mm Turbo Restrictor” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Mercedes Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #5 – Connew PC1 002

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One of the many highlights of 2015 were a precious few hours I spent cleaning and polishing all manor of wheels, wings, aluminium panels and nut’s and bolts in the company of Peter Connew and his family with his cousin Barry Boor.

01 IMG_5021sc

The reason circumstances brought us together was that Peter, seen at work on his lathe above, kindly accepted an invitation to give a talk about his experience building and racing the Connew PC1 to The Nostalgia Forum Hertfordshire UK Film Show at Ware Village Hall in May.

02 Connew PC 1_5001sc

Peter and Barry, seen below, devoted a huge amount of time to finding and cleaning the bit’s, many of which had not been seen or handled for forty years, to put as much as was possible of the car back together.

03 Connew PC1_5022sc

Along with the foot pedals, steering wheel, instruments, cables, fluid bottles and original leather seat one box contained a couple of Hewland DG300 gear ratio’s which caused Alain de Cadenet to seek a discount when he bought the rest of the gearbox from Peter for his de Cadenet Le Mans car.

04 IMG_5025sc

In the absence of springs and shock absorbers pieces of wood were cut to replace them to keep the front suspension in shape, and in the absence of a Ford Cosworth DFV engine or Hewland DG 300 gearbox a sheet of wood was cut to support the rear of the chassis the correct 2″ inches off the ground.

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Peter’s kids Chris and PC all chipped in on the day before the talk as did Peter’s wife Iris, who helped out back in the day when the car was originally built and on this occasion painted the lettering into tyres, amazingly the 40 year old Firestones and Mag wheels still hold pressure though one would not want to use them for anything other than display purposes.

Connew PC1, TNF Herts Film Show, Ware Village Hall

As you can see by the comments on this link, the first appearance of the Connew PC1 in public since the 21st of October 1973, when a broken shock absorber caused Tony Trimmer to crash in to the barriers at Brands Hatch, and the talk by Peter were both welcome and well received.

Peter and Barry are keen to locate a Ford Cosworth DFV engine block and Hewland DG300 gearbox casing so that they can attach the rear wheel’s if you can help locate either at a sensible price please get in touch so that “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #6” is not too long in the making.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This #5” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Desert Racer. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Finance Chairman’s Choice – Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé #0807GT

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Today’s featured Ferrari is the 23rd of 50 250 GT Ellena’s to be built between 1957 and 1958, it is believed to have originally been delivered to Ferrari’s representative in Hollywood California.

Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé, Blackhawk, Museum

It’s ownership trail is not known until Cy Yedor bought the car in the 1990’s and had it restored to regular Concours award winning condition by Gary Thieltges of GT Motors in Glendale.

Cy was best known as a racer, he Ken Miles MG Special R1 against James Dean in the 1950’s, race starter and Competition License Director of the California Sports Car Club, he later also became Finance Director of The Ferrari Club of America.

In 2001 Cy sold #0807GT to Mark Templeton in Florida and Mark in turn sold the car on to Ferrari Connoisseur Diego Ribadeneira by 2004 and a year later it was bought by Inventor Henry P. Camisasca.

#0807GT was sold for $687,500 at RM Auctions to a yet to be identified purchaser in 2013.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photo taken at the Blackhawk Museum last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Finance Chairman’s Choice” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Wishing all GALPOT readers a prosperous New Year, don’t forget to come back now !

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