Tag Archives: Silverstone Classic

Anti Rattle Fastening – Chevrolet AK Pickup

1 Reply

In 1941 Chevrolet introduced the AK series pickups to compete with the likes of the Prow Front Fords and Job Related Dodges.

Chevolet AK Pickup, Silverstone Classic

AK series trucks were related to but more substantial than the Chevrolet AG series sedan delivery and pickup vehicles sharing a 90 hp 216 cui straight 6 engine option.

Chevolet AK Pickup, Silverstone Classic

The AK was also offered with a Load Master six cylinder 93 hp 235 cui motor that offered substantially more torque.

Chevolet AK Pickup, Silverstone Classic

The windscreen on the AK model could be cranked open and ordered with an optional second windscreen wiper, the only other option was a heater.

Chevolet AK Pickup, Silverstone Classic.

Sales literature noted that the AK’s heavily reinforced all steel tailgate was fitted with an “anti rattle fastening”. The AK series was built between 1941 and 1947, there are no official details available on the age of the vehicle see here at the time of writing.

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

Share

Flint Stones – Surtees Ford TS14A #03 & #04

1 Reply

In 1972 new regulations were rushed through for Formula One cars mandating deformable structures be fitted to the sides of the vehicles in an attempt to reduce the risk of cars bursting into flames in the event of a side impact. Two sets of regulations were written one for more or less immediate effect in 1972 and a seperate more robust set of deformable structures regulations for 1973.

Surtees Ford TS14A, Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold Aerodrome

Towards the end of the 1972 season John Surtees 1973 challenger was the first to appear at the 1972 Italian Grand Prix built to the latest safety regulations. John qualified 19th and retired from what turned out to be his final Grand Prix race after 113 starts over 13 seasons which included six wins and one World Drivers Championship. Tim Schenken qualified 31st in the final race of the 1972 season at Watkins Glen but also retired.

Surtees Ford TS14A, Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold Aerodrome

During the off season John Surtees was caught on the hop with the wrong tyre contract after Firestone which had been used by the 1972 Champions Emerson Fittipaldi and Lotus were to quit the sport at the end of 1973 and would not be developing their tyres any further through the 1973 season while their supply contracts to the likes of BRM, Surtees and Williams ran out.

Surtees Ford TS14A, Silverstone Classic

So with little hope of achieving any worth results Surtees ploughed on through the 1973 season. Nominal team leader Mike Hailwood managed a season best qualification of 6th in the 1973 US Grand Prix, using the #04 chassis seen carrying the #23 race number here at Wings and Wheels at Dunsfold Aerodrome, and a best season race finish non points 7th in the 1973 Italian Grand Prix.

Surtees Ford TS14A, Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold Aerodrome

Team mate Carlos Pace meanwhile scored a season high 5th in the 1973 Italian Grand Prix and finished 4th in the German Grand Prix and 3rd in the following Austrian Grand Prix as well as taking fastest lap on the way to both points scoring finishes. Carlos finished 11th in the Drivers Championship and Surtees 9th in the 1973 Constructors championship. For 1974 Surtees built two new TS16 cars to be driven by Carlos Pace and Jochen Mass. When sponsorship for the season failed to materialise Carlos found his way into a drive at Brabham.

Surtees Ford TS14A, Wings & Wheels, Dunsfold Aerodrome

Mike Hailwood drove a third works car for McLaren in 1974 until an accident at the Nurburgring prematurely ended his career. Jochen Mass would end up taking over the drive at the end of 1974.

The low point for the Surtees team in 1973 came at the British Grand Prix where they had three cars of Hailwood, Pace and Mass all wiped out in the first lap collision at Woodcote Corner that eliminated a six additional vehicles see this linked clip, note that thanks to the new deformable structures no fire’s were started in the accident.

Share

Oblique Mounted Engine – Lotus 16

Leave a Reply

The Lotus 16 was Colin Chapmans second single seat / open wheel design built for the 1958 season with lessons learned from the Lotus 12.

Lotus 16, Silverstone Classic

Unlike the 12 which had an offset motor fitted so that the driver could sit next to instead of on top of the prop shaft running to the rear of the car, the Lotus 16 has an obliquely mounted motor running right side front to left side rear which made a big difference to the way the car handled.

Above Eddie McGuire is seen at Silverstone in the remains of the very first Lotus 16 chassis #362.

Lotus 16, Goodwood Revival

The Lotus 16 did not prove particularly successful with Graham Hill scoring a best 6th place in the 1958 Italian Grand Prix. Though it should be noted the cars motors were giving away 500cc / 30.5 cui to their rivals. Lotus persevered with the 16 the following season, now with full size 2.5 litre / 152.5 cui Coventry Climax motors with Innes Ireland scoring 4th and 5th place finishes in the Dutch and Portugese Grand Prix respectively.

For 1960 the Lotus 18, with it’s motor in the back replaced the 16 but the 16’s were used on four further occasions with out any further success. Bruce Halford who made an ill feted start in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix driving a private John Fisher entered Lotus 16, bought a similar model in the mid 1970’s and turned it into a regular winner of historic events.

Jochuln Folch-Rusinol can be seen in the #12 above overtaking the 1959 Technica Mechanica Maserati of Tony Wood at the Goodwood Revival. These two cars along with the 1959 Ferrari 246 Dino represented the pinnacle of front engined Grand Prix racing cars that were comprehensively beaten and superseded by the rear engined Coopers in 1959 and 1960 when Lotus joined the rear engined revolution with the Lotus 18.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Oblique Mounted Engine’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 6 cylinder V8 star of the small screen ! Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Pro ET – Race Ventora

1 Reply

The Vauxhall Victor FD Series was built between 1967 – 1972 the Ventora ws launched in 1968 with a 3294 cc / 201 cui 6 cylinder motor replacing the standard Victor FD series 4 cylinder motor.

Race Ventora, Silverstone

This Race Ventora, seen here at the Silverstone Classic, is powered by a 468 cui / 7669 cc V8 and driven by Ray Walker Pro ET drag events.

Race Ventora, Silverstone

Pro ET races see drivers paint the elapsed time (dial in) they believe they can achieve on their back window’s races are then staged between cars of different performance levels with the release times staggered by the difference dial in times. So that each driver should, in theory, cross the finish line at the same time.

Race Ventora, Silverstone

If a driver jumps his release time he is out, known as a ‘Red Light’, if a driver beats his dial in he is out, known as a ‘Break Out’, unless both drivers beat their dial ins in which case the driver who beats his dial in by the least amount wins.

While I was looking for information on Ray’s car i came across some information on another Vauxhall Victor of the same FD type that goes by the name of Red Victor.

Red Victor has gone through three evolutions and in the process lays claim to being the world fastest street legal car with a 0-60mph time of 0.9 seconds !

This link takes you to a youtube clip of Red Victor 2 and this second link takes you to a fascinating thread on the building of Red Victor 3.

I’ve just finished watching Tony Stewart round out a tremendous victory at Homestead Miami over his championship rival Carl Edwards. Kudos to all the fans of the Big 14 what an achievement to win the Cup as an owner driver. Commiserations to Carl who has earned my admiration for the way he competed and handled his defeat having drawn with Tony on points and lost on tie braking victories. Can’t wait until the new season starts at Daytona in February.

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

Share

Monterey Classic Meets Woodstock – Silverstone Classic 2011

5 Replies

Berliet, Silverstone Classic PD

A couple of weeks ago I was looking around Silverstone regarding a film project while several teams representing over 100 years of the automobile history were fettling their vehicles for the forth comingSilverstone Classic 2011 meeting which runs from July 22nd to 24th.

Chevrolet AK Pick Up, Silverstone Classic PD

If your into powered transport be it steam, diesel, petrol, 2 wheeled, 3 wheeled, 4 wheeled or more you will probably find something of interest during the day and if your camping there will be 2 nights of music headlined by the likes of tribute bands Legend, Queen On Fire and The Rolling Stoned on the first night, followed by Suzy Quattro, 10cc, Wishbone Ash on the second night topped off with an afternoon of classical music from Tetra Electra, Tenors Unlimited and the 40 strong Amadeus Orchestra.

Ferrari 512M, Silverstone Classic PD

What has really helped this event grow in stature is the participation of numerous owners clubs, the Jaguar Owners clubs have chosen this event to officially celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the E-Type and hope to gather over 1,000 of the 70,000 plus E -types built together at the same time, a race for E-types will be held with 58 entries.

Ford Galaxie 500XL, Silverstone Classic PD

Other marques including Porsche who also intend to gather in similar numbers, with smaller marques like Bristol being represented by the Bristol Owners Club.

Hesketh 308B, Silverstone Classic PD

Silverstone Auctions the event sponsors will be holding an auction at the Silverstone Classic on July 23rd that will include the sale of the last truely privately built and entered Formula One Car to win a Grand Prix.
HWM Jaguar, Silverstone Classic PD

For those less inclined to the racing which will include classic saloons, sports cars and Grand Prix cars there will be a fun fair, arial displays and gathering of steam powered traction engines to keep you entertained during the daylight hours while you wait for the music to start.

My thanks to Jonathon Gill who facilitated this fascinating day at Silverstone, I look forward to visiting the event in July and sharing more details of some of the vehicles I saw during preparations for it in the weeks ahead.

Thanks for joining me on this Silverstone Classic edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be sharing some photos of a fascinating workshop in Warrington. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share