GALPOT Weekly #9

Welcome to GALPOT Weekly #9, most weeks I manage to have my posts prepared a week in advance so this week I have been preparing the Automobiliart / GALPOT seasonal quiz, the experience has proved to be a strange mixture of sadism and masochism on the one hand the more difficult the questions the more fun the quiz on the other hand the more difficult the questions the more difficult it has been to establish the facts that constitute the answers. I hope I have struck a balance that ensures that everyone who reads the blog gets some pleasure from answering the questions.



On to the last weeks blogs, I started the week with my very first mini road test, the model under scrutiny was the frugal Honda CR-Z a hybrid small on the outside comfortably spacious on the inside and on the evidence of the short test it should be a hit for commuters.



It's hard not to like the type of car you first had the opportunity to drive at 100 mph, legally. Such is the case with the shapely Opel Manta S which I looked at on Tuesday, not exactly a muscle car but for us young Europeans wanting to be cool definitely an affordable fastback to aspire to.



On Wednesday I looked at possibly one of the last vehicles designed in the opulent style of the optimistic '50's Project Sunbird which became the Ford Consul Capri was a pretty cool looking car for the 1950's but it's poor sales figures perhaps reflect the fact that it was not available to the public until 1961 by which time a less gregarious more functional style was beginning to take hold of the automotive markets imagination.




I returned to look at a traditional muscle car on Americana Thursday a 1970 Pontiac Le Mans Sport not quite as cool as the Pontiac GTO of the period but most eyes in Europe would probably not be able to tell the difference, I, a Two Lane Black Top fan, certainly struggled to identify it correctly.



On Friday courtesy of Geoffrey Horton I was able to take a look at story of the Ferrari 375MM Viganle chassis #0286AM that Phil Hill drove with Ritchie Ginther on the 1954 Carrera Panamericana recording an average speed of 137 mph over the 572 miles of the last days stage of the event on which they recovered a second place finish after running out of fuel the previous day.



The cute little Lotus Climax 21 Formula Junior car was the subject of yesterday's blog, the British Racing Green and yellow paintwork of which certainly resonates with some readers.



Today's GALPOT blog is all about the road going version of Fords Le Mans sportscar racing programme the rare Ford GT40 Mk 3 of which only seven were built despite the success of the racing siblings of which 100 were produced.

Coming up next week I'll be reviewing the GALPOT year starting with a review of Museums visited tomorrow a review of Concours d'Elegance vehicles on Tuesday and moving on to motoring and sporting events towards the end of the week.

I hope you will join me daily for all this and more to come in the week ahead at GALPOT. Don't forget to come back now !

PS Don't forget ...

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz



December 26th - January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards



Set 1 Sports & GT Cars



Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition



Set 3 1934 Season



Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950's

or



Set 5 Mike Hawthorn's Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th - January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea's? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Whippin' up a storm - Tornado TSC GT40

A couple of years ago I stumbled across this replica GT40 in the paddock at Castle Combe.



This particular replica marketed under the model name TSC GT40 was manufactured by Tornado Sports Cars of Kidderminster, Worcestershire.



Father and son Alan and Andy Sheldon founded Tornado Sports Cars in 1984 to manufacture self assembly vehicles which could be built by enthusiasts using only simple hand tools.



The first self assembly model Tornado manufactured was the M6GT, a replica of Bruce McLarens well known M6GT road car project which was to take a Can Am Championship Winning McLaren M6 and turn it into a closed cockpit road car for the public to buy. Production of the Tornado M6GT ceased in 1992 3 years after the introduction of the incredibly successful TSC GT40 started.



In 1997 Allan Sheldon retired leaving Andy in charge. Amazingly 22 years after it's introduction the TSC GT40 is still in production with hundreds of kits having been sold in 31 countries.



To my eyes like David Pipers continuation Ferrari P4 the TSC GT40 seems to share rear light cluster designs originating in the humble little FIAT 850.

For further information on the TSC GT40 I recommend visiting the Tornado Sports Cars website which caters for the casual enthusiast like myself and the prospective customer.

Hope you have enjoyed this weeks home built editions of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me for a special two for the price of one edition of Ferrari Friday tomorrow ! Don't for get to come back now !

PS If you have not had your fix of Fords today try catching up with the latest on the rumoured new Ford GT with Michele Rahal over on the Drive Channel.

Continuation Edition - Ferrari P4 #0900

In keeping with a vaguely 60's engine behind the driver theme week for Ferrari Friday I take great pleasure in showing you, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful vehicle on the planet bar none a Ferrari P4 which I snapped at the British GP meeting in 1981.



The P4 won the war but lost it's most important battle against the monstrous onslaught of the Ford GT40 in the 1967 World Sports Car Championship it won the championship but only on a count back of second place finishes. Most importantly the Ferrari could only manage second to the Foyt / Gurney GT40 MK IV at the most prestigious race of the season the Le Mans 24 Hours.



The P4 was powered by a 450 hp fuel injected 4,000 cc 244 cui 60 degree V12 using 3 valve per cylinder heads operated by twin overhead cams.



Thanks to 'Macca' at The Nostalgia Forum I believe this is chassis #0900 one of up to four continuation P4s built by David Piper using original drawings for the chassis and a collection of spare parts. As such it has no world championship race history.

Anyone notice the similarity between the rear end of this P4 and and the Fiat 850 Idromatic I started the week off with ?

Thanks for joining me for another Ferrari Friday, hope you have enjoyed today's continuity edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' tomorrow we will be headed to P'ville NJ for an insight into the heyday of short track racing with my Rowdy buddy Ray Miles. Don't forget to come back now !